Adventures with bikes & "regular" cars - The 3.2 is finally in the Corrado :)

[Heidel_Kakao]

New clutch guide tube, release fork and release bearing fitted.

And with a bit of lifting help from my sister the 02A box of gears is mated with the 3.2 😀I did briefly consider using the 6 speed 02M that it came with but you need custom driveshafts and other stuff and really there is nothing wrong with the five speed.

The front engine mount bracket interferes with the 3.2 oil cooler housing so I will have to rob the 12v housing off the old engine.

[Heidel_Kakao]

No photos today as I left my phone at home 😔 I fitted the starter motor and thought it would be a good idea to connect it to a battery with some jump leads and wind it over briefly as although I am fairly certain I have fitted the timing chains correctly I always have that lingering doubt lurking and I just wanted to make sure it sounded normal.

Anyway I am glad I decided to try as the original Corrado starter motor seems to have given up the ghost, it span but didn't engage so I took it off and freed off the Bendix but it still wasn't right so rather than faffing about further I have ordered a used MK4 Golf VR5 starter for £28 delivered which is apparently beefier than the original which will help with the higher compression ratio etc of the 3.2. It's also cheaper than a rebuild of the original or a brand new one so should hopefully be worth a punt.

[Heidel_Kakao]

The eagle eyed amongst you may have noticed the remains of a sheared off bolt in the front engine mount bracket in a previous photo. As there is plenty of access the other side to get a nut on I just drilled it out rather than going to the effort of trying to recover the old threads.

The old engine has two oil pressure sensors and an oil temperature sender for the MFA display.

The new engine is not as generous with oil ports so I used a T piece for the 3.2 pressure sender and a new sender for the oil pressure light.

Three was a blanking plug for one extra port on the new engine so I put the pressure senders in that and temp sender in the original port.

The new starter arrived, it's on the right. It worked fine and the solenoid is good too, it's even a bit lighter than the original which is nice but still had no problem turning over the engine and I am happy to report it made normal compression noises and no nasty sounds so it appears I did correctly fit the timing chains 😀

I am not exactly going for perfection in terms of presentation of the engine etc but I still couldn't put the new starter on with scrapyard writing all over it so I hit it with a quick coat of Poundland's finest black spray paint.

[Heidel_Kakao]

Engine is pretty much ready to go in now, as a finishing touch I fitted a MK5 R32 Golf intake manifold so it has a VW logo on it rather than Audi. It's funny how even VW themselves called it a V6 rather than VR6 sometimes.

[catsinthewelder]

On 10/07/2025 at 21:51, Heidel_Kakao said:

The new engine is not as generous with oil ports so I used a T piece for the 3.2 pressure sender and a new sender for the oil pressure light.

 😀

 

Is it made of wood? 🤣

So glad to see you back on form mate,  going to be a great car when you've finished.

[Heidel_Kakao]

Not much left to do now before I can install the engine, I assembled the Black Forest Industries Stage 2 engine mounts which replace the OEM rubber mounts that are like Swiss cheese in terms of hardness and also they have holes in them lol.

I fitted the 02 sensors to the Trackslag conversion downpipe "Using this downpipe with the mk4 style manifolds gives you as close to tubular headers as you can get, without the massive price tag!"

Removing the old fuel filter resulted in a sheared off mounting stud so I cut of the remains with a Dremel then drilled it out so I can put a bolt all the way through the floor.

While the filter is off I am going to connect a battery directly to the fuel pump and pump out whatever stale fuel is still in the tank. I need to research if a stock 2.9 pump can flow enough fuel to support a 3.2. I do have the pump I removed from the TT and it's supposed to be a straight swap so I should probably just fit it to make sure.

 

[Heidel_Kakao]

Well today was exciting as I finally dropped the 3.2 into the engine bay 😀

I got it off the stand and fitted the downpipes (I have wrapped them) and rear engine mount bracket but in my haste I made a silly mistake......

Yeah I fitted the bracket the wrong way up doh. I also cut myself so it's got blood on it. It's definitely taken blood, sweat but not tears yet lol.

Four bolts later and it was on the correct way up.

Then it was finally in the car. The bonnet wouldn't close 100% as the throttle body sticks up but looking at reference photos I have installed it wrong and I need to rotate it 90 degrees so it's flatter. If it still fouls the bonnet then I will have to break out the grinder to make some clearance.

Can't wait to get it all plumbed in and fired up!

 

[Heidel_Kakao]

Throttle body rotated to it's correct position.

And with that done the bonnet closes properly and there is tons of clearance especially considering the bonnet is sitting lower than it will be once the wings and rubber bump stops are fitted.

Approximately two gallons of five year old petrol pumped out.

[vaughant]

Looking forward to seeing this finished 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻, always loved the corrado but but the time I could afford one, I'd moved onto other things and now of course they're worth millions again 🤭🤭🤭.

That bike looks fabulous as well.

 

[Cluffy]

At times I miss mine... Great to see you work towards getting another back on the road. I always thought of my 2.9 went pop I'd work out a way to get a 3.6 into it..!

[Heidel_Kakao]

@vaughant There are still bargains to be had, for all the talk of them being future classics values haven't risen as fast as other contemporary cars, possibly because of parts supply issues.

@Cluffy a 3.6 would be interesting but if I ever find the 3.2 lacking I will just turbo it but then the gearbox will be the weak link. I am planing on having the O2A rebuilt with O2J internals and an LSD but that won't be till next year at the earliest when I have shaken everything else down and my finances have recovered.

[Heidel_Kakao]

If you don't follow the grumpy thread I managed to have an interaction with a car that pulled out in front of me causing the above damage to my bike and leaving me a broken collarbone & a bunch of broken ribs. The bike was then subsequently stolen from my mother's driveway and found by the police two days later dumped in a park.

At this point I am hoping it gets written off so I can get myself a new 2025 Z900 RS but the SE this time.

I didn't get an SE before because I really liked the blue of the regular model and was not really a fan of the yellow especially with the gold parts of the SE.

However the 2025 SE looks evil in a good way with it's grey on black scheme and they have also blacked out a few parts that are silver on the regular model. You obviously also get the SE's Brembo brakes and Ohlins rear shock, I would still prefer that the gold bits were silver or black but I could live with them lol. I briefly had a look what alternative bikes I could get for the same money and came to the conclusion that I still think Z900 RS is easily one of the best looking bikes currently on sale and something I can see myself keeping forever.

I am supposed to be recovering from my injuries and letting my bones heal but it doesn't stop me doing some light work on the Corrado. I wanted to work out how I am going to mount the Aircon radiator and started by removing this bracket/gusset thingy from the front cross member.

With the stock radiator in its factory position the A/C rad fits roughly in front of it.

I would rather it sat a bit lower as I think it's going to interfere with the slam panel but the pipework on the right hand side is in the way. Worse case scenario if I can't use the TT A/C rad I can always find a smaller one but I would like to try and use the one I already have as it's free.