A few of you already know my wife Paulina.
I was lucky enough to marry someone as batsh*t crazy about VWs as me!
In fact I actually noticed her car (16v Corrado) before her!
Anyhow, flash forward several years and at least 3 other Corrados and we happened upon this little 'gem' in a friends garage.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/4516/25098367008_a5ed735f0a_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/EeRG6E)Untitled (https://flic.kr/p/EeRG6E) by Dave Ackerman (https://www.flickr.com/photos/152481044@N07/), on Flickr
It was a Corrado someone else had a go at fitting an R32 into, but using the mk3 VR management, via a box he built himself from maplins!
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50062269742_70709bab82_h.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2jgQdDL)Untitled (https://flic.kr/p/2jgQdDL) by Dave Ackerman (https://www.flickr.com/photos/152481044@N07/), on Flickr
The car ran (kinda) but no one wanted to touch it to tune it, or even get it running correctly, so it sat in my mates garage for several years.
Until one day I was looking for a Corrado VR box/subframe/crossmember etc for my 32 conversion.
He had bought it years back with intention of getting someone to sort it, but couldn't find anyone willing to take on the work and offered me the bits I needed and planned to break the car after I'd been at it.
Then I found out it was a Storm.
At the time Paulina had a Corrado that used to be an 8v (bloody slow) we'd chassis swapped her old, rotten VR into.
It transpired that the insurance wanted a fortune for it, as they decided it was a massively modified 8v. Despite it being bolt for bolt, identical to a standard VR.
At this point, I had an idea.
So we had the car recovered to the unit with the intention of chassis swapping the VR and interior back into the storm, once I'd had the conversion bits off of it.
Did I mention it had a 'custom' interior designed to look like an Aston?
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50062019546_bcc0621686_h.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2jgNWh3)Untitled (https://flic.kr/p/2jgNWh3) by Dave Ackerman (https://www.flickr.com/photos/152481044@N07/), on Flickr
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50061458273_1814958ea7_h.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2jgL4qV)Untitled (https://flic.kr/p/2jgL4qV) by Dave Ackerman (https://www.flickr.com/photos/152481044@N07/), on Flickr
To be fair, the bits he'd finished was to a high standard, The leather covering and alcantera headlining was done beautifully and to this day, I have no idea how he got a mk5 R32, running on mk3 management to talk properly to a set of mk4 clocks!
Either way, I wasn't about to finish it. So out came the interior and in went Paunlias heated set, yes it's supposed to be beige for the storm, but we had black and don;t like beige!!
(https://live.staticflickr.com/4586/38933135812_2f22ffedbc_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/22jouSh)Untitled (https://flic.kr/p/22jouSh) by Dave Ackerman (https://www.flickr.com/photos/152481044@N07/), on Flickr
(https://live.staticflickr.com/4686/38253528424_dff685e902_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/21hkkgw)Untitled (https://flic.kr/p/21hkkgw) by Dave Ackerman (https://www.flickr.com/photos/152481044@N07/), on Flickr
Next the engine made it's way in and the car was a runner for the first time in about 7 years.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/4591/25673601548_e4f8b86927_h.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/F7FVhy)Untitled (https://flic.kr/p/F7FVhy) by Dave Ackerman (https://www.flickr.com/photos/152481044@N07/), on Flickr
Yes, it had a blue slam panel and still has!
Then, all went well.
Until about a month before a Nurburgring trip was planned the car stalled and wouldn't restart.
The starter just clicked and the engine wouldn't turn over.
After swapping the starter and battery out, I pulled the block apart and found this little number...
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50062032906_8c175b7400_h.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2jgP1fo)Untitled (https://flic.kr/p/2jgP1fo) by Dave Ackerman (https://www.flickr.com/photos/152481044@N07/), on Flickr
yep, that's one buggered bearing!
So, rather frantically, another block was sourced a very long trip up to Manchester and back was made.
It was duly thrown in and we had about 6 days grace before thrashing across Europe and round the Ring.
Apart from a coolant leak and a dodgy immobiliser on the day we were supposed to leave, it actually worked pretty well!
Nice to see it put back on its feet. That interior was quite something but much better now you have it back to how it was meant to be.
Black is definitely better than beige. Those interiors are worth a grand these days. Madness but good if you want to sell it.
Yeah, beige interiors wear badly as well, they look a little tired nowadays.
Anyhow, 4 years and 2 Corrados ago, her rear wheel arches weren't looking great.
So I found a scrapyard in Bristol that was breaking one that had some serious interior fire damage...
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50096562246_7e4c47d4fa_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2jjRYBQ)Untitled (https://flic.kr/p/2jjRYBQ) by Dave Ackerman (https://www.flickr.com/photos/152481044@N07/), on Flickr
Got the arch off, which worked out to be a complete waste of time.
As it transpires her Corrado had been hit 6 ways from Sunday and was full of filler!
So we'd have to source another car, as that one just wasn't a runner anymore.
What wasn't a waste of time was the Rotrex supercharger I found under the bonnet of the burnt out Corrado!!
A little haggling later and a lot of effort to remove it all, I managed to get my hands on all of the remaining charger kit.
(https://scontent-lhr8-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/14391003_10209665940542854_1626615694214071431_n.jpg?_nc_cat=110&_nc_sid=8bfeb9&_nc_oc=AQlq-TuPgvuGUV1T2bz4zcYlxoFvVVQOf6TX0XUiWi4ZGbQIpJr8iUTYZ_lfaSb1LP8&_nc_ht=scontent-lhr8-1.xx&oh=0c2b9838589faf6704b12f4d34de4d10&oe=5F2E5EFE)
(https://scontent-lhr8-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/14485068_10209665940022841_4766452167580379423_n.jpg?_nc_cat=101&_nc_sid=8bfeb9&_nc_oc=AQmEJvzZqCFLhG2m1wtA_lTDnCnYX0IrBAgOHNax-6CDrYkKgfPaq94bl0jknIp0Tfo&_nc_ht=scontent-lhr8-1.xx&oh=bf0a2814f6a64ed49820bcbf514a8dfd&oe=5F2CC7C0)
Got it home and checked it out for bearing play and fire damage.
Fortunately, it seemed all good with the charger, though all of the silicon boost pipes and oil feeds were lost in the fire.
After a little searching, we tracked down the original build thread on the Corrado forum and found out a rough parts list.
Also found out he was using water meth and there was questionable routing for the meth and the fuel lines.
That would have to be addressed when we installed it.
But for that year, we already had the mk2 3.2 to finish, her Corrado to reshell and a wedding to plan!
So in the box it went, waiting for its day to come.