Brad's Corrado VR - Next on the list...Turbo conversion :D

[bradvr6 1]

Just thought I'd start my build thread with a few words and pics from the past 6 years of owning the VR. It's been a nightmare at times but the good bits certainly outweigh the bad.........

First things first, shes a 95 VR6 with 95k on the clock. I've done a whopping 30k of that myself!! Over the last few years I've gone through one top end rebuild, a gearbox rebuild, and a parts list as long as...well, a corrado service book! All for a good cause of course

Back in 2008 I had the rear arches flared and on went the 9J's .Then the rest sort of came to a halt.

Last year I re-awakened the build by starting a DIY full leather re-rtim. It took the best part of 9 months to complete with about 3 months of learning and practicing. I'll add a few pics of the progress and the final outcome.

My exterior pics are a couple of years old. Since then, she now has new fogs and indicators, all red rears and a passat moonroof.

A few from my interior re-trim project;

Original interior trim...

Headliner trimmed in black leather and switches sprayed black to match.

Trimming the centre console;

Managed to get hold of some Porsche 944 seats for £45. Trimmed to match the original design but in black and red leather

Here is the finished interior. Made a few additions. DDI Dials, red led conversion and new Momo steering wheel;

The turbo conversion which I'm planning at the moment isn't underway as yet but once I've made a start, I'll be throwing up some work in progress pics along the way. To be honest, I don't know where to start but theres only one way to learn and thats to jump in feet first! :-d

[spadam 7]

Thats an impressive retrim youve done there.

[hvr6 88]

wow that's amazing, I love the interior and those wheels are just sexual :-D

[J5KE F 0]

Sexual

Nice and wide!!

Love that interior!!

Keep us updated fella, would love to see this at a show or three!!

[nivag27 5]

Nice work dude

[bradvr6 1]

Well, I thought I'd bring this thread up to date a little. Been really busy with work over Christmas and New Year but now I finally have somewhere I can work on the car so been cracking on!

I'm a complete novice when it comes to engineering / mechanics so if anybody spots anything I've done wrong or have any suggestions on how to improve anything, please let me know. I figured out how to trim car seats so thought I'd test myself with something new!

So, here goes. I'm building this as an entry level VRT. It's going to be done on a budget however, I'll be looking to make sure that I don't cut too many corners, especially when it comes to safety and reliability. I've seen some builds which are mind blowing however, it's totally unrealistic for me both financially and with my skill set to aim that high for now. So I'm looking to build a solid conversion which hopefully, someone might be able to take to a new level further down the line.

This is where I'm up to so far:

Stripped down the front and head off. Looks in pretty good nick.

Decided to go for the Garret T3/60-1 with exhaust housing .82 A/R. Just seemed the perfect turbo for the way I want the car to behave. Not too pricey either so ticks all the boxes

Also decided to try some of the Turbosmart products so went for the Hypergate 45 wastegate and Turbosmart BOV.

Spacer plate is in. Installed it using the mk4 metal gasket and copper gasket high heat sealing spray (which took me an age to find!). Also offered up the manifold and turbo. My word, it's a big fecker. As I'm using an ATP copy manifold, it's definitely going to foul the brake pot so I'm looking at either relocating it or go for a RHD manifold.

Schimmel SRI mounted up. I'm a little undecided as to what shape and size of intercooler to go with. I was initially thinking of using a twin pass FMI however, that may change depending on how I mount the turbo.

So that's it for now. As I said before this is really slow going at the moment so any ideas or suggestions are very welcome!

Brad.

[michael5556 247]

Looking good!

[Vw_owner 1]

looking good bud, will be a lil beast when its finished...

[bradvr6 1]

Thought I'd awaken the build thread with a few updates. Due to having to move the car to another storage unit over the winter, I haven't been able to work on it much but since it's now back where it should be, I've managed to progress with a few bits.

I decided to go with the twin pass intercooler which is mounted to the front reinforcer with 'L' brackets. The rad is a little too close to the intake manifold for my liking so I may need to pull it forward a few millimeters to allow for more clearance for the slim fans. I've also mocked up the pipework and all looks to fit nicely

Sent the first 4 pieces of downpipe off to the welders for tigging so whilst that was being done I decided to crack on with wiring up my boost and AFR gauges. I've gone with the innovate LC-1 for now which should provide me with enough data to get me started. Mounted the gauges into the space on the lower dash where the OEM VDO gauges usually sit. I think it's the perfect location as it's much less distracting than having them in your face all the time. They use an ignition switched feed so that they aren't on all the time.

That's it for now. I'll try and keep these updates coming a little quicker now. Especially now I can work on the car without my fingers turning into ice!