Got to crawl before you walk, Carmen is moving

In the beautiful afternoon light of mid Fall, it's pretty clear to see that Carmen, our 1990 G60 Corrado is in need of some love in terms of the paint and bodywork. Still, with the warm glow outlining the well-defined arches, the rare MSW Type 55C wheels and general good nick of the panels, the potential is clearly there. Looks come second, getting things rolling, or rather, driving, comes first.

I did a quick spray down this morning...just to rid the main bits of funk and dirt that three years of storage will bring, and although the paint wasn't hot, the reaction of the heat from the sun and cool water from the hose created an impromptu steam bath. Looked cool, so I took a pic.

But we're not here for that are we. We're here to say that yes, indeed, we have not only a G60 motor which now fires reliably and seems quite fit, Carmen now has the ability to move under her own power. There was no clutch pedal to speak of previously, it just sat on the floor, so the problem was obviously something hydraulic, but exactly what component had failed was hard to guess. When in doubt and time is short, throw parts at it! The slave cylinder was most likely the culprit... They aren't supposed to come out in two pieces are they?

The master cylinder was replaced just for good measure, and after all was said and done (and bled) we have a real live functioning clutch. This slightly better quality video (I think I'm getting the hang of this file conversion thing for Youtube), is only slightly more interesting than yesterdays, but it really was the first drive. I had checked gear changes while running and moved it backwards and forwards by about 2 feet, but otherwise this is 100% the maiden voyage of Carmen. (or as I like to think of her, Project Ultimate 8v. Save the 8v™ and all that)




I'm pleased to say that with 10-15 minutes of driving around the industrial complex we were greeted with absolutely no additional problems, and dare I say it, the G60 engine and G-Lader both sound and feel quite stout! Power builds significantly as revs climb, and I have very high hopes for things once we get on the dyno. More to come...

_WRS