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1990 Corrado G60
aka Project Beater; 05-30-07
Here at EPM the projects are countless and ongoing. We are always working on something when time allows.
The latest is this 1990 G60 Corrado.
This is a Single pump Corrado with ABS and the square breather cap
on the valve cover
We didn't buy this Corrado with the intention of restoring it, we knew it would cost too
much,
although they are disappearing which the thought is kind of bothersome since we will be using it as a donor car
for say a A2 G60 conversion.
The goal is to get it as mechanically sound as possible before we
do something with it.
Items wrong with the Corrado many besides the body.
Sunroof (Appears
to have broke cables)
Wing (Motor only clicks like it's in a bind)
ABS light on in dash (Could be
dirty wheel sensors or worse)
Needs alignment or worse frame could be bent not sure car appears to dog walk. Has
alot of bondo but no frame damage. 08-16-07
Camber off on front end could be a bad ball joint or strut tower bushing
ect. Needs alighment only. 08-16-07
Passenger window not operable motor clicks thats all. Regulator bad. 08-16-07
Key operated window feature does not work.
Odometer not working although speedometer does. Bought good used cluster
on Ebay $61dls.
A/C not working no idea at this time. Could be low on freon only have not checked. Yeah right.
Bad front engine mount. Replaced
Engine surges a little. Could need an O2 sensor.
One last major thing is a bearing
noise coming from the engine area.
Could be a Supercharger bearing or alternator or A/C Comp or something totally different.
Time will tell Supercharger needs a rebuild though.
The main thing engine low on power. (We suspect it's
off timing, Supercharger appears to be weak.
Fuel pump bad or fuel filter plugging.
When doing a first
gear run at full throttle there is a slight bog in the middle of first and beginning of second.
To
a vehicle there is a standard, it's either Ignition or Fuel.
In this case we feel it is fuel related due to the
symptoms.
We can always be wrong though or it could be something totally different.
These Corrados have
an engine cooling fan and fuel pump afterrun feature that does not operate on this one.
We will know more
as we spend more time with the car.
We bought this Corrado for 1200 cash.
This Corrado although it is a running car is in the poorest
of shapes we have ever witnessed.
Every panel has bondo or has been hit in one way or the other.
After
driving the Corrado we noted it was underpowered and had
a terrible 1st and reverse gear grind and underpowered is an
understatement.
For starters the steering wheel had to be clocked it was at the 12 and 6 aclock position
instead
of at the 9 and 3. (Cost just labor)
Next we could hear the radiator fan hitting on something.
We opened the hood and noticed
it had a new starter recently installed.
Apparently thats when some of
the wires were just left hanging or just left in the way of the fan.
Complete neglect by the starter installers I wont
call them mechanics. (Cost just labor)
Next was fixing the dome light assembly. We had a spare assembly from
our spare parts bin.
Dome light sunroof motor cover and the correct screws that hold the cover.
Also reran the
wiring it was just bunched up under the cover.
(Cost don't know say $50 for the dome light and cover with
the factory screws.)
Did readjust the passenger side wiper arm it was sitting a little high on the windshield.
It had the windshield
replaced not long ago we figure thats when the wipers were removed
last and not installed properly the passenger
side anyway.
Not blaming the person we bought the car from which was a woman who we are sure
had the
work done by someone else.
Next was addressing the annoying grind when shifting into first or reverse.
We could tell the clutch was not disengaging all the way.
From past experience we new where to start looking.
Sure enough the clutch slave cylinder
was leaking bad in fact it came out in two pieces. (Cost 64.99 for the slave)
That done we took off the plastic panel under the fuse box the see what some of the
wires that were hanging
were to.
Here is what we found.
Total cost as of now 1314.99
Yes you guessed it an alarm system that must of been installed by a well to say the least an incompetent installer.
Take a look at the pics and get a visual.
Below is the extrication process.
It was more than just an alarm system situation here.
Once removed we found alot of the fuses on the fuse block
in the wrong position and the horn fuse missing.
We thought we were finished and decided to look at the fuse block a
little closer.
There was a relay missing not including the door chime relay and some in the wrong place.
To our astonishment we found a bobby pin and a wire stuck where there should have been a relay.
The wire
is visible in one of the pics on the box flap the bobby pin was left on the floor-mat and not in the pic.
The wires
in the box is the alarm wiring harness that was pulled out.
There was a total of 11 relays two brains and 3 or
4 sensors with the systems antennae
Here are the before and after pics. There are still some wires to be addressed but they are nothing compared
to
the harness just removed. Some wires are the radio and some are left over tie-ins.
There was some soldering and taping
and u-name it done here.
The result is a much cleaner area free of a fire hazard and was it a fire hazard and electrical
short hazard.
Car appears to run better also. This could just be our thoughts.
We forgot to mention tie wraps
this whole car was held together by tie wraps.
A whole lot of labor.
A couple of relays
and a few factory fuses Say 25 dls.
Still 1339.99
Next on the list to do are a couple of burnt-out instrument cluster bulbs.
Stay tuned for the engine
diagnosis.
We will make this beater scream like a stg.III G60 will, with the present engine save for a rebuilt
supercharger and a few bolt-ons. It should run really good now but it doesn't.
Also a tune-up is in the works
Update... replaced the cluster lights... what a difference!
The A/C
was next we had no history on the A/C so we had it checked
out by our favorite A/C shop what we found was amazing.
The A/C compressor would not even turn on we figuered it was the compressor
but looked at the positive side of
things, maybe it's low on freon.
No matter what car it is all have a pressure switch if the system is low on
freon the compressor will not kick on.
This Corrado had been converted to R-134, we could tell by the fittings.
We charged it w/R-134 and low and behold the A/C compressor kicked on,,, and sounded good!
We knew there had to
be a leak so our A/C guy checked everywhere and found nothing.
So we asked could it be leaking at the fittings
and of course it could be so it was checked next.
Not only was it a leak but it was a major leak.
The system
was evacuated @ 30" of vacuume,fittings tightened. Recharged with the new HC-12,
a new freon and our A/C blows
ice cold now.
HC-12 has a bigger molecule which is better for minute leaks gets colder and lowers the head pressure
off the compressor discharge saving your compressor.
This is all good but now we have discovered a new problem
the Dynamic oil pressure warning system
alarms after driving on the highway.
Oil pump bad or the suction screen
is plugging... oil is clean though
Stay tuned
We have a POS w/A/C... Cool... no pun intended
Update 2
Did a alot of
maintenance work on the Corrado this weekend 07-28-07
to see if we could diagnose and fix the low power output
among
some of the other problems.
Here's what we found.
Replaced the the Autolite plugs the car had with the
Factory Bosch platinum plugs a G60 should always run with.
Here's where we ran into a littlle problem.
The
# 1 Spark Plug would not break loose after using considerable force we got it to turn and the ceramic part of the plug broke
from the amount of force and angle we had to use. My first thought is what did I get into here.
At this point
there was no turning back. We continued on thinking of the worst possible situation. The plug was hard to turn
almost all the way out.
Finally got it out and looked at the threads, they didn't look all that bad but the
first thread was a little damaged.
At this point we were happy again what a relief. Pulling the Cylinder
head for a cross threaded spark plug is not fun.
Next we took a break and decided to tap all the plug
holes. We took off to buy a tap as we didn'e have one.
Don't buy a cheap spark
plug tap in fact don't buy a spark plug tap at all especially the kind that does both size plugs. Make sure
you get a machine tap which is the best type of tap to get, our threads came out clean and crisp. We used WD40 during
the machining process. Don't worry about getting a little aluminum down in the piston area it's only aluminum
and will go out the exhaust valve. Also use a little grease on the tap to catch most of the shavings. Clean and wash out the
tapped threads we used WD40 and a shot of brake cleaner on stubborn shavings followed by some more WD 40. Don't
flood the cylinder you are only trying to clean the spark plug threads. Also clean the spark plug seat at the head we
used Brake cleaner and try not to get any in the hole if you do its ok as long as it's not excessive
Tapped all 4 holes and installed our new Bosch Platinum plugs. After tapping what a difference, we were able to
run all 4 plugs down by hand. Torqe is only about 15 Ft/Lbs.
Before installing the plugs set all your timing marks
makes it alot easier. Here we discovered our timing was off by 2 teeth distributor and 1 tooth cam.
So we continued on and replaced the ignition wires with Red Neuspeed Ignition wires.
Also replaced the Cap and rotor
on the distributor.
The Supercharger was next we had a low mileage supercharger sitting on the shelf installed
it along with a Neuspeed 68mm pulley also did a BBM RSR outlet kit, we did not use the metal 4" tube in the RSR kit we
used our own which is polished aluminum it's less than half the weight does not rust and looks alot better every little
bit
helps.
At this time we replaced the front engine mount with an A2 Diesel solid mount and while we were
there replaced the oil filter. Changed the oil, used Mobile 1.
Next we started the engine and set the
timing. Set timing according to the bentley 4-6deg BTDC. After we chip it we may need to reajust timing.
Replaced
the ISV to help with the Idle problem. Fixed idle. Tune up helped also.
After all this work you would
think the car would run alot better well it did and didn't.
It ran better, idles great but is still severly
underpowered.
Boost leak? We checked Boost with the MFA after converting the MFA readout to boost pressure it
was determined we had 11.5Lbs of boost at aound 3500 or 4000 RPM don't really know exact RPM didn't look.
We only did one full throttle run to keep from blowing up the engine due to a lean condition and that was to
approximate 4000 RPM. Car feels like it's underpowered even at full throttle more so than at 1/2 throttle. Still
boost PSI not bad considering we still don't have an ISV reroute kit on the car.
We still
have to install a Stg 3 chip we have for it and increase our fuel pressure to make sure we don't run lean.
Drive time is a good way to bring out all the gremlins, I was easy on the car due to prevent running lean but power
is still not there.
After driving out to the 290 area from my home which is a about 80 miles round trip I
started to feel a miss as I was returning home it got worse.
I was approximatley 3 miles from the house when the
car finally quit.
I coasted to the side of the freeway and called the wife (bring the truck) ....towed the car
home.
At first I thought fuel but it felt more like spark it was cutting out too sharply. I took a
look had no spark.
Ok we have a place to start, distributor maybe but lets keep looking. Ignition coil maybe,
it was one of the things that I was going to replace but didn't. I tested to see if i had power to it I did. Had
a signal, everything was right but no spark coming out. I had brand new coil that I had previuosly bought anticipating
replacing the old one just because of the age of the car.
Decided to replace the coil since we had one on the shelf
ready, it took about 20min and the car fired right up.
Ran a little better but still very low on power.
We were hoping it would help in the low power situation.
The only thing that we can come up with at this time
for the low power situation is fuel about the only thing left. We have not done a compression test as it's hitting on
all cylinders and has an excellent idle. This is also next just to see what kind of compression we have. Could it
be exhaust related not really unless the catalytic converter is plugged. When they do plug you can usually feel alot
of heat in the area of the exhaust inside the car and usually hear a pinging when you turn the car off not to mention low
power at all RPM's. Still worth taking a look.
Next is replacing the fuel filter then test the
fuel pump to see how much dead headed pressure it will put out should be over 75lbs.
We think this is where we will
find our problem.
There's still alot of things we will be replacing,
The other two mounts 1 transmission and
the other engine mount.
We will be doing an EPM timing belt kit complete with water pump 180deg. Thermostat
and 180 fan switch along w/ Serpentine and P.Steering belt.
Replace numerous vacuume hoses.
Heater
core for some warmth during the winter. We don't plan on doing a swap very soon so we will make it a comfortable DD.
Car came with decent brakes and good tires. Does need a suspension, debating on spending the dough since it will be
a donor at some point later in time. We are planning on using the suspension for the swap so we may go all the way and re
do the entire suspension and just swap it into the other car.
Fix the non working ABS.
Fix the
sunroof and wing.
Also annoying is the non working pass. door P. window.
We will be flushing out
the old brake fluid as its dark very dirty. Using
Motul for best results. Will also change the coolant when we do the
timing belt.
For now the Corrado G60 has an excellent idle A/C and drives great.
It is low on power
and it kind of surges as I rev through the gears at about 1/2 throttle trying to keep boost down but enough to put
it under a slight load.
This surge leads us to believe the low power is fuel related.
Will find out
on 07-31-07
Stay tuned.
EPM
Update #3 07-31-07
We were
eager to diagnose our Corrado today.
What we found was surprising and not.
Before we did anything we
tested the fuel pressure without changing the fuel filter.
This test was done dead heading the fuel pump. Pressure was
just under 70Lbs.
We have seen better from a G60 but still not bad. What we did notice is the amount of time it
took to get at that pressure, a few seconds to long.
Approximately 68Lbs. We have seen almost 80Lbs.
Well
first thing first we changed the fuel filter.
Once we freed the filter from it's mounting we noticed that clean
gas would come out the outlet side of the filter, we tilted it back the other way and the color of the gas went from clear
to black.
Ok were on to something could this be our problem, we blew into the filter in the direction of flow and it
would blow but it was very hard to do.
After installing our new fuel filter we took a test drive.
WOW what a difference. Power Power Power. Wheel spin is now a problem. Quaife or Peloquin?
We finished off the
day by installing a BBM STG 3 chip, and now even more power. Car now really pulls at all RPM's.
At this point more
gremlins came out.
Really nothing new the stock suspension which is bad really showed us how bad it is.
Our G60 really pulls now and in first gear starts from a dead stop the front end points to the sky.
The
1 to 2 shift is a nose down nose sky high thing with alot of wheel spin.
We can now lay some serious rubber in
2nd gear now. (for the first time)
Still this is with a 3bar FPR getting a 3.5 one tomarrow at that time
we will do our first full throttle run to 3rd gear. Now we need to install an EPM 2.5
exhaust with a 300
cell metal RT cat.
We think for a stock headed G60 2.5 is a bit much most likely we will get a Neuspeed VR6 exhaust
and modify the mounting points to fit our G60. The Neuspeed Exhaust is all stainless too.
At this point we
are so excited about our G60 that we will be installing a BBM fuel rail modified by us with tig welded ports for a plug and
play Autometer FPGuage and a shraeder valve.
Installing all the gauges Voltmeter. Oil Pressure, Fuel Pressure, Boost,
and a true Lambda gauge for fine tuning.
We still have alot of maintenance to do for starters the timing belt,
water pump and so forth. Take a look at our timing belt kit Stg 2 which is what we will be installing it's on our G60
OEM timing page.
We do notice the Corrado running a little hot, we think it's a bad thermostat but who
cares all that will be replaced.
For now our beater runs so good, like it should even though we don't know
the mileage. Well tuned G60's are bullet proof.
Mileage at this point does't matter it pulls
like crazy as it should. Also there is no detonation which is good.
This beater just turned into a very fun car to drive.
Cleaning it up and modifying is what we will be doing. It will still be a donor car but we will concentrate on making
it a pleasure to drive before we take it apart for a swap.
Tomarrow we will install the 3.5 bar FPR and a
Neuspeed Aluminum Timing gear pulley.
Stay tuned.
EPM
PS. if you need help
with your G60 just call or email and we will be happy to help.
Update #4... 08-01-07
The biggest gremlin reared it's
head today.
After installing the 3.5 FPR it showed it's self in full force.
We thought our G60 was
going to be screaming up and down the road, WRONG!!!
It would bog severely Fuel filter again we thought NO!
It has got to be the Fuel pump.
We get the car back home pull the fuel pump and the O-rings are all disintegrated. The
pump has allot of corrosion O-ring material sitting at the bottom of the housing and the pump screen was plugged.
We found the source of the black gas coming out of the fuel filter inlet as mentioned in Update 3. O-Rings Disintegrated.
At this time it was too late to pick up a complete new fuel pump. We have access to our main suppliers warehouse most
of the day it's like having parts in stock.
We will pick up the new fuel pump first thing tomarrow
Stay tuned.
EPM
Update #5 08-03-07 Update 5 is mainly what happend in update
4.
This latest fuel pump situation really ate our lunch yesterday.
Project beater is down at the moment
waiting on a fuel pump sending unit and some wiring, evidently VW did a revision on the fuel pump as the fuel pump our G60
came with from the factory is not available anymore.
No problem we'll take the new one.
Not that
easy apparently when VW revised the fuel pump for our G60 the fuel sending unit was also changed. So now when
needing a fuel pump like us you have to purchase the new style fuel pump, the new fuel gauge sending unit and
wires. There are 3 parts that we purchased we are waiting on the sending unit and the wiring for our G60 we have the
pump it is very different. Keep in mind this is a single unit (Fuel Pump) vehicle. Pics of the old and new pump coming. Also
we have the part #'s for all the new parts. We will also sell these parts.
We now know
exactly what was wrong with our G60.
We chronologically analyzed our situation and understand many things
from the past even with other G60's we have dealt with in the past.
Concerning project beater, since
we bought it we have kept the tank pretty much full.
We drove to the 290 area (about 70 miles round trip) back to
back without filling up the gas tank started out with about 1/2 tank this last time. After the second day our gas level
was down to just over 1/4 tank. This is when we parked it to do the 3.5 FPR.
Atfer installing the FPR the
modified G60 had already more pull with all the other mods was taken for a test drive. With just over a 1/4
tank of gas and more pull the gasoline sloshed, after making a right turn we straightened out and got on it. The
yank this G60 has now is very hard. At about 3500 RPM we lost power for a split second.
Fustrated we get home and determine
it has got to be the fuel pump. So we pull it. Finally we find the problem we have been looking for all long. The fuel pump
O-rings located in the housing are in pieces and completely disintegrated. The actual fuel pump still works of course but
not like it's supposed to.
What was happening was when the fuel level got low enough to expose the
top of the fuel pump the pump would starve of gas because the top O-ring was gone. This O-ring seals the top of
the pump from the pump housing, if gone the pump still pumps as long as the pump is completely submerged, like when you have a
full tank of gas. Once the top O-ring disintegrates you are no longer taking gas off the bottom of the tank but rather from
the top of the pump especially when you have a plugged fuel screen. This poses many problems especially when the gas
sloshes around and vapor bubbles starts mixing with the liquid gas. This is when you get that slight power loss
a miss at the top end when revving hard and so forth or a severe bog.
What happened was at the time we demanded
the most fuel pressure and fuel volume the pump wasn't able to deliver because it was starving of fuel. This is extremely
harmful to a boosted engine including our G60, running in a lean condition will destroy the engine as what happened to a G60
I owned about 5 years ago. It was one of my first corrados and sold the car after cracking a piston. This explains very similar
symptoms from this past silver corrado and also from a friends corrado.
This goes for VR6 corrados MK2's
and MK'3. Although running a normally aspirated engine with this kind of fuel problem problably wont hurt it. Havn't
taken a look at the Mk4 and 5 but were sure it can happen there too time will tell for sure. On a boosted engine a fuel
pressure gauge is essential could potentially save your engine if you look up and notice you have a fuel problem early on.
We could have replaced the O-rings only but after 17 years this pump has been in service we weren't taking
any chances especially when pumping fuel for our boosted G60 running lean is not an option. In fact we will be upgrading
the fuel rail to a BBM Billet aluminum unit with tig welded pressure ports for our fuel pressure gauge sending
unit and an Aeromotive rising rate fuel pressure regulator along with stainless steel fuel lines just like on our silver
corrado seen in the Buildup Projects page just to make sure we don't run lean.
We may also go to 30# injectors
if needed.
We will have pics of the fuel rail and all the parts we use.
If anything inspect your fuel pump and
clean the suction screen located at the bottom of the pump.
One last note we have not experienced this on the
MK2 style dual pump early corrado. Not that it can't happen just havn't owned a dual pump corrado with this problem
in the past.
We now have one it's alpine white with the black interior and the dual pumps. One pump is
in the tank and the other is under the car. We are not getting any fuel to the injectors so the G60 doesn't
run at the moment. We wonder if we can convert it to a single pump corrado simply because of the simplicity.
One pump and fuel tubing all the way to the injectors.
The dual pump corrado is a little more complicated you
have two electric fuel pumps and wiring to both pumps and the fuel filter is a little harder to get to on the dual pump set
up. Although the dual pump corrado's intank pump appears bigger than the single pump. But logic tells us
that the single pump has to be stronger than the dual pump corrados intank pump alone. Now single pump corrado vs dual pump
corrado we don't know which makes a stronger combination. We would guess the dual pump but don't know for sure,
we have heard the single pump is but have not tested for ourselves. Are 2 pumps needed no there are many sports cars
out therewith much more powerful engines running only one pump and VW went to the one pump set up. It was probably an
engineering learning curve with electronic fuel injection.
Remember this was 1990 and there wasn't much experience
with EFI. The earlier VW's up to 92 had the mechanical FI (16V) with mechanical injectors and probably
required a stronger fuel pump system, could be the reason for 2 pumps or this was just carried over technology to the
early corrados till technology and experience caught up.
Really who cares just trying to explain the two different
fuel systems installed in these vehicles.
Also $350+ dollars worth of fuel pump and hardware plus labor (although
we do the work and don't charge ourselves) still is a stiff one. This is over a 1/4 of the initial cost of our corrado
(1200dls).
Also not including all the trouble shooting and diagnosing that it took to get this G60 where
it's at. It is a wealth of valuable experience that we have now acquired with this little corrado g60 and it's
still not over.
Project beater although not cheap has taught us and gave us allot of understanding of these vehicles.
We can say that the Corrado G60 is not what many have considered.... an unreliable, a money
pit and a constant pain to drive and maintain. We have to keep in mind that they are getting up there in age 15 +. Also many
owners tune these cars to the moon without really understanding them, then you get blown engines and broken parts. I was one
of those persons although I didn't go that extreme with the car and still managed to crack a piston. These corrados wereway
ahead of their time and allot of the problems that we have seen with them were not due to the vehicle it's self. These
vehicles were introduced into the world right about the time when vehicle alarm systems were getting popular. There were allot
of these corrados destroyed by fires problably due to bad alarm installations. Also the corrado G60 was one of the most
hard to understand vehicles back then and you needed to have the right tools and training to properly work on these vehicles.
What the Corrado G60 is,... it is a very tunable and extremely fun to drive VW. For the money the Corrado G60 is the
best handling car I have ever driven. Probably why I have owned 7 including one VR6. At the moment I'm looking for
another G60.
From the very first time I drove my first Corrado G60 I was hooked.
I have had a 93 Corrado
VR6 still have it but i got rearended in it and using it for a swap into an 92 Jetta.
I have not bought another
VR6 not that I wouldn't. Even though the VR6 doesn't handle as well, and is a little nose heavy. That could probably
be helped out by a high quality suspension and a few chassis tuning tricks. Just don't have 10,000dls for a clean
unmolested low mileage VR6 Corrado. I did almost buy one but someone else got to it before I did. Haven't
tried again.
G60's are a little more affordable and I like the way they handle the power curve and the
tunability they have this is why I have more of them.
To date we have spent approximately 3600dls. Some of
the parts we had and we just added what it would have cost us if we didn't have them like a rebuilt supercharger
but we had a good one so we used it. This is including the cost of the vehicle but not labor like if we had
taken it to an independent shop we wont even mention the dealer.
Tomarrow we will get PB back up and running
if all our parts are in and do another update.
Again stay tuned.
EPM
Update #6 08-06-07
Here are the pics of our Fuel
Pump job.
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These first 4 pics are dedicated on showing the difference betwwen the factory pump our Corrado
came with and the VW revised pump and fuel gauge sending unit.
We will say that VW sold us what they called needed wiring.
We didn't use it we figured out what we needed to do and used our own wiring connectors. There really is no need for new
wiring just two different style connectors. We will point these out in the corresponding pic. This pic show us the two pumps
with the fuel gauge sending unit installed.
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Pic 2
Old pump with fuel gauge sending unit installed.
There is an O-Ring on
the actual part that does the pumping (the center aluminum housing in this pic is where the O-Ring once resided)and
the housing on top and bottom both were completely gone disintegrated. We found some of them in the fuel filter
and bottom of the fuel pump housing in pieces the rest just of the material was in the fuel filter.
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Pic 3
New pump with fuel guage sending unit installed.
Notice the center part of the
pump (copper ring) it is well secured unlike the old pump which came out in two pieces.
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Pic 4
Different take of pumps.
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Pic 5
This is a take showing both pumps and it's components including the hardware that
is used for either pump. The fuel sending units installed in this pic.
All these components reside inside
the gasoline tank.
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Pic 6
Ariel view of the original factory pump and fuel gauge sending unit not installed on
pump housing.
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Pic 7
Ariel view of revised pump and fuel gauge sending unit not installed on pump housing.
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 Pic 8
This pic shows allot. First of all the fuel guage sending units are laying in front
of the side of the pump where they go installed on the pump housing. You can pretty much determine where their location is
when installed on the housing. On the old pump the connector harness with the green wires we cut (these are the wires that
run to the fuel gauge on the dash after reading the fuel level sending unit here in the tank) go in the slot just visible
in this pic on the left side of the old pump then the black fuel gauge sending unit connector connects on top of that
piggyback style so no external connectors are needed. The new fuel gauge sending unit has the connectors exposed needing the
new connectors supplied by us and not extra wiring as VW suggests. The revision called for extra wiring but it is not neccesary
just simply attach new connectors to the old sending unit wires. See pic 10
They are the little green ones
attached to the factory connector located inside the sealing ring (Black O-ring in pic). These are for the fuel gauge sending
unit for our fuel level gauge. We simply cut the wires at the plastic connector and utilised our own connectors again visible
in pic 10
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Pic 9
This pic shows the new style fuel gauge sending unit with its exposed connectors on
the left side of the pic opposite of the stamped #59. The old harness has the sending unit connections integrated into
the black connector harness and these are slip on style connectors much like the factory radio harness connectors.
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Pic 10
Here's a detailed view of the connectors. We used our own after determining we
had better connectors.
Ours have the copper collar very visible in this pic. We were going to solder them but determined
it unnecessary and didn't wan't to use heat around plastic wiring insulation after having been soaking in fuel
for 17 years.
With the right crimping tools it was a snap.
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Pic 11
The plastic housing is designed to float and direct fuel to the metal pump to prevent
fuel pump cavitation due to vapor bubbles in the gasoline tank mixing with the liquid gasoline. Here is a view of where the
fuel pump resides.
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Pic 12
Here pump is installed we did have to make some minor adjustments like the hose clamp
from rubbing against the outer gas tank flange this was just a precaution as the pump swims around in place.
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Here is the finished fuel pump job. Notice the little wire that locks the harness connector on
is missing. We do know that this corrado had been fitted with a fuel pump before when we noticed the hose
clamps were not factory when we took the metal cover off, also when we got into the tank the hose clamp to the fuel pump was
not the factory one but the one to the housing was. We wonder if just the O-Ring was replaced or just the pump and
not the housing.
Don't matter now we replaced it all.
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Here are the part #s
1. Fuel Pump 1HO
919 651Q /List $349.99
Our price $209.99
2. Fuel Pump sending unit
1HO 919 673 F /List $185.73
Our price $129.99
3. Wire set (per VW)
000 979 105 /List $7.01
Our price...... free
Also comes with customer
support.
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I'm sure your wondering how the G60 runs now.
First off we never got to install
our Neuspeed aluminum cam pulley but we will.
We took it for a full throttle test run after determining our new
pump was up to the task.
Well here goes it was a full power run all the way till about 4000 RPM and notice a slight power
loss.
At first again frustrated and confused, we get back home and pop the hood a hose had come loose off
the intake manifold(Boost loss).
We secure it with a new hose clamp again we do another test run again the same
thing, this time the ISV comes off we tighten the hose clamp again we do another test run.
By this time our
g60 is pulling unbelivably at the top end it feels strong but not like it should we have determined this to be our exhaust
which is about 1.5" in diameter and not mandrel bent, we have taken our G60 to the limit with this exhaust.
Still it pulls amazingly strong. We wonder if the G60 came with this very restrictive exhaust tubing we don't think
so, we think it was changed at some time.
We still have not addressed the ISV leak with an ISV reroute but we will
soon, along with an exhaust system.
This G60 still has allot of hidden horsepower we are determined to wring every
bit of it without removing the valve cover. Also the suspension is now really holding us back.
One
last thing our clutch now seems to slip (SHOCKER).
The pull is again amazing even with boost leaks and a very
restrictive exhaust. We can only
guess in what kind if shape the stock cat is in. If there is one.
Stay
tuned
EPM
For the first time mentioned our goal is mid 13's in the 1/4 mile.
Update #7 08-07-07
Drove PB around some-more today.
After doing those few full throttle runs yesterday our clutch has retaliated.
Very next thing to do is a little
maintenance like our Timing Belt Kit. After that an Exhaust System.
At this time we will take it easy with
PB till we do a clutch job along with the lightened flywheel to wring out some-more Horsepower out of it. Although
a lightened flywheel doesn't add horsepower it will free up some.
We are also getting together and planning
for a front mount intercooler. If we see enough interest we will make it a kit for our customers.
We looked at the flywheels the aftermarket has to offer and we have decided to go with one from our supplier Autotech, an
Aluminum Autotech unit weighing in at 8.3lbs. Very Light and it will go perfect with our Sachs Power clutch. Quik update it's
up in the air between a Fidanza flywheel and the Autotech both are aluminum and very light. At this time we are leaning
towards the Fidanza not decided yet. Also thinking of an XTD race 6 puc sprung disc clutch.
We have a Neuspeed/Sachs race clutch and aluminum flywheel kit in our 90 silver show corrado that stays
in the garage. We love it so much and it makes the G60 rev like a motorcycle. We don't know the specs on it but it is
very light and it has a 4 puc sprung disc which is lighter than a full face disc and it grips like crazy.
We
are hoping for the same results from the Autotech or Fidanza units coupled to an XTD race clutch kit.
At this
time we are having too much fun with PB, going to install every bolt-on we can and post the results. Our goal is mid 13s with
the stock head no porting and stock cam. This may change if the engine lets go. For now we hope not and we do not abuse the
car so we have a good chance of keeping it together.
We are also putting PB on a diet. Have already started with
some of the bolt ons added and also a good Stainless exhaust will help. A Lightened Flywheel next. How about a carbon
hood. The list is endless or taking out the back seat.
Our goal is to keep PB comfortable we wont go to extreme
measures to take weight off but we don't need the rear seats so they will come out but we will keep the carpeting.
The plan is to keep PB on the road without taking it down and leaving it down for extended periods of time due
to waiting on parts or we got busy on other things or whatever. It will be my daily driver and will also serve as
a test vehicle for the bolt-ons we use on it.
Stay tuned
EPM
Update #8 08-16-07
Here's an update to keep current.
PB continues to run without a problem Engine sounds, runs, and idles great.
After the onslaught
of gremlins PB seams to be doing great and has turned into a very dependable Corrado G60.
Most of the problems
were just due to the age of the Vehicle and lack of maintenance. As we searched for more power the weak components surfaced.
One problem that we thought we addressed was the transmissions first gear grind. We thought we had it covered
when we replaced the clutch slave cylinder. It worked till we gave the car a good run seams like the transmissions first
gear and reverse syncros are out. We have good clutch hydraulics but there is still a severe grind. We have determined
we have a bad transmission. We still have one last try, to adjust the cable shifter. It does need adjusting.
When
we turn the engine off first gear goes right in no problem we turn the engine on and drive and all the rest of the
gears go in without a problem.
From a light we have to take off in second gear. With the additional power
it's no problem but our clutch takes a little abuse due to the tall second gear. A little to tall for a proper take
off, once going it's ok. At first we had a little clutch slippage but that was problably due to the back to
back runs we did it's not slipping at the moment.
This failure may be due to the car being driven with a bad
slave cylinder.
This is what we are looking to get for PB in the near future.
 This is a Eurospec Transmission the Ultimate tranny.
TRANSMISSION
(6 SPEED) 4CYL -3.94 R&P COMPLETE RACE TRANSMISSION
Pt.# 02J 304 627 L 394 LS
Complete 6-Speed Race transmission
for 4 Cylinder applications.
Custom 1st through 6th gears and limited slip differential installed.
Has hardened
gears and upgraded syncros and alot more.
3.94 R&P, 2.7 1st, .75 6th. I little
pricey but will serve well for our 13.50 1/4 mile Et.
This tanny will set us back approx. 4 times the original cost of
PB.
For the moment we have a Techtoninics Tuning
2 1/4 All Stainless steel cat back with a 300cell
RT cat Brospeed header and new bosch O2 sensor ready to go not on the car but to send off to jet hot coating
then we will install it and a few other performance mods like our ISV reroute, TT aluminum alternator pulley and a smaller
supercharger pulley 65mm and (30lb. injectors if needed) with aluminum fuel rail with a 1to1 rising rate FPR.
Front
mount intercooler for this mod we are planning on a Dietrich style front bumper.
At this time we will upgrade our
Chip with an SNS chip.
If we still can't get into the mid 13s after the tranny and most of the bolt ons we will
port the head and add a cam and another custom chip.
If we still don't achieve our goal a 16V head, maybe lysholm.
We will do what is reasonable and within reach of most corrado G60 owners. We think that we can
without going to the extreme.
Although the tranny is going to the extreme this is a necessary mod for several reasons
reliability for one. Two the one we have is bad. With the kind of power we will be putting down a limited slip diff
will be highly needed also our clutch by then will surly again start to complain so we have decided to go with a Fidanza Flywheel
and Sachs racing pressure plate with a 6 puck disc.
EPM
One last thing we are not
going to try to run the 1/4 mile by redlining the engine and power shifting and just flat out abusing and driving the balls
out of our corrado.
We don't want that we want a very streetable vehicle who even a grandma can drive
save for maybe a little stiff clutch that the Sachs racing pressure plate will have, with power steering some tunes and
still be emissions legal and be able to drive away in A/C comfort from the track.
Update #9 09-07-07
Project Beater continues to run Flawlessly.
We have rediagnosed a few existing problems like the shifter grind we have determined it is not the transmission but rather
the brake fluid. We rebuilt the shifter and are in the process of assembiling a shifter short shift kit and a bushing
replacement kit to restore your shifter back to new. Our shifter feels awesome but we still can't get it into first or
reverse without the grind. We did change out the clutch slave cylinder and added a shot of new brake fluid. This
helped for a little while but after driving about a month or so we lost hydraulic pressure in the clutch and the ABS brakes
during a prolonged drive in this hot weather today.
We have determined this was due to the really bad and
old brake fluid in the car. This is why we can't shift it into first or reverse. Only when we turn the engine off can
this be accomplished. Also our clutch master cylinder may be bad or going bad. We will change the brake fluid to our high
quality Motul from a newly opened and fresh bottle. The CMC will also be replaced at this time. Stay tuned tomarrow for the
results.
EPM.
Update #10 09-30-07
Shortly after update #9 on 09-11-07 Project beater dropped the clutch. We did everthing we could to save
it purged the hydraulics and replaced both clutch cylinders and still no luck.
The source of the gear
grind became obvious when we could no longer drive PB, the clutch is out.
Replacing the clutch will
not be a problem we do have another project ahead of PB for now. We are doing a G60 brake conversion on a 92 16V GTI including
a Bilstein PSS 9 coilover suspension kit. As soon as this is complete PB will have a new clutch. An 8lb. lightweight Fidanza
flywheel a 4 puck disc and can't decide on the pressure plate but it will be either a sachs racing pressure plate or a
standard sachs pressure plate we could be going with a Sachs racing for added grip but don't really want a stiffer pedal.
We are also going with an EPM teflon stainless steel braided clutch line much like our brake hoses. This will be an EPM
exclusive product and cant wait to try it for the first time PB will be our first install for this hose.
Stay
tuned EPM
Update #11 11-10-07
We haven't forgot about PB but we are completing the final touches
on our 92 16V GTI pics coming. We also got ahold of a 94 Passat VR6 BMP for 500dls. We just couldn't pass it up previous
owner thought the engine was bad it was only the power steering pump car runs great but needs a little work we already installed
a Neuspeed intake and it sounds awesome.
Stay tuned.
Heres a pic for now, later
an exclusive list of mods coming.
Update #12 01-29-08
We havn't forgot about project PB new trans with VR6 gear ratios w/posi and a fidanza
and performance sachs, a carbon hood, exhaust and suspension coming. This should really wake up PB looking to get into the
13sec quarter mile with this combo. If not it doesn't matter we have alot more bolt ons to go.
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