A Corrado Smokin' The Rear Tires! What's Wrong With This Picture? Nothing, Of Course
If Volkswagen ever produced a car with sporty styling to back up serious performance, the Corrado SLC is it; the VR6-powered SLC was designed with the muscular yet refined look of a classic German sports car and few would argue that it doesn't look just as fresh and distinctive now as it did almost 20 years ago.
The only real problem with the Corrado is it was based on a front-wheel drive Golf platform, which was less than ideal for 911-conquering power.
Richard Hawse, a lifetime VW enthusiast, is no stranger to the traction problems associated with the FWD VW chassis: "I started with a Rabbit 16v, I did a Mk2 with header and cams, I got a Mk3 GTI VR6 and turbocharged it - it's been nothing but front-wheel drive VWs since I was 15 years old," Richard remembered.
After working for a number of years at Maryland-based EIP Tuning, he became familiar with experimentation on Syncro systems and realized the disadvantages. The solution Richard came up with was unique in its conception and the quality of the conversion, and groundbreaking in the world of high-performance VWs. The idea was hatched many years ago at EIP, but Richard only recently made his vision a reality.
"A friend of mine, Bob Baker, had a Chrysler Conquest that ran 10.40s. I loved the power and 60ft times the car made so I figured I could do the same to the Corrado using the same rear suspension.
"We measured the width of the Conquest and Corrado. They were similar so I wouldn't need to alter the track of the rear suspension, just put VW wheels on it," Richard explained.
However, it wasn't until he opened his own service shop, European Auto Care, that Richard started on the conversion. Knowing the rear end fitted, the next problem was what transmission to use. After much research he chose the five-speed BorgWarner T5 since it's common in cars like the Mustang, Camaro, 300ZX, etc.
"Once I got that in my head, the key question was how to get a T5 to mate up to a VR6 02A bellhousing. I machined a piece of aluminum that spaced the tranny off the bellhousing so everything lined up," he said.