Dirtydubbers Resto Corner MK2 Jetta 8v GTI.

Hooray!! an update.. need another fix!

Any further updates with pics

Hi everyone sorry for the delay just havent been able to grab the time in the evenings to get on here. Quite a bits been going on down the shop of late so i will start were we left off. We start with the finished and fitted pics of the rear beam. We will just show this in before and after shots.

Before :

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After :

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And so on :

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Sorry again for the amount of pics but we still just cant get enough of how different it looks now .

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We stopped counting at a 100hours on this rear beam and floor section. We guess it to be around 150hours in total . To finish off some close ups of the fixtures and fittings .

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Well thats it from us for now we have had loads of progress over the last couple of weeks, we will be back soon with lots more pics i just havent had chance to take them of the camera yet so stay tuned. In the mean time let us know what you think so far?! cheers guys.

Thats seriously good work there mate, Im Very impressed!

Cheers mozza. We were happy to see this part of the project finished its on with the fun stuff now..... well nearly .

I need to do what you have done but my jetta is my daily, and funds are really lacking at the moment,

Yep i hear you there! Jettafan took the smart route with his car and took it off the road when the gearbox failed. He then saved for well over a year. Big respect to him for living without a car for that long plus on top of this, the length of the build itself so to say he's itching to get back in her is an understatement!! It has to be said taking your motor off the road like this is the only real way to do it properly but if your like me and you go out and get another daily walst you take your last daily off the road then you can end up with quite a few projects.....

Looking great gents....has made such a difference glad to hear there are more pictures on the way too!!

Wow!

I've just bought my project... and this has certainly sparked a degree of enthusiasm to do mine 'properly'...! Good work fella... and fantastic write-up!

Hi everyone were back again. Well we have a bit of catching up to do on the updates front so here goes. First we will start with the final push on the floorpan, now i wasnt going to bore everyone to death with this part and was going to go straight to the rear brakes but the Jetta had a few corrosion issues that we thought we would point out so you peeps can check your own mk2's. So here goes we just had to put the rear boot floor overhang section to bed but we had a few spots of rust to deal with first.

So here it is before we started and during prep.

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During :

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And so on.

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All the usual affenders im sure you will agree but we also found this little bugger hiding right on the join were the standard Golf floor ends and the Jetta overhang starts.

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We think this would of started right from day one as it seemed to us that the factory seam sealer had cracked walst drying.

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Any how after a pick at it we could see the damage are main concern was how far between the seams the rust had crept.

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After a quick grind back it looked a bit better and it was clear to us that the metal was still very strong but it was very hard to get the rust out and from the aspect of cost we didnt really want to start cutting and welding.

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As you can see we had just got there in time you can spot a nice healthy out line of galve, it had just stop short of the seams or welds. So it was time to use an oldskool restoration technique and cure the metal with heat this is not for the faint hearted and should be done with care as you can easily catch the wax oil alight in the inner panels without realising, plus the factory seam sealer catches very quickly. Its a simple idea but works a treat the idea is that you burn all the moisture out of the rust it then becomes dry and easier to grind out.

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Now to see how well it cleans up fingers crossed or weve just set alight to JF's car for no reason .

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Now that thats done we can seal all the patches up and give it all a quick spray up for extra protection. You must all know by now that we have a very unhealthy obsession for seam sealer and copper slip so here it is finished.

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Well thats it for the floorpan other than the jacking points but we will deal with those when we dont need to jack her up anymore. Im sure your all glade to hear that thats the last of the floorpan pics and its on with the fun stuff from now on, so stay with us as we get to the rear brakes next . As always thanks for your time and all the kind comments see you again soon.

Back again and due to a fairly early finish down the shop i thought i would do a little more catching up on here. Rear brakes next we knew we had to replace the rear calipers but due to the rear end always being the worst affected by the elements we had alot of detailing to do aswell so here is what we started with.

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We started with the caliper carriers.

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After this we were not happy with how it looked so we started again.

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Its amazing what you find under all that rust. After a second attempt they looked like this, much better

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As you would expect from us by now these were given a coat of acid etch then a nice thick top coat. Then on with the backing plates or water splash guards.

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The same process for those and the rear stub axles we chose to save JF some money and keep the old ones and rework them as they had very little wear on them, Every little helps! (other supermarket brands are available ).

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Next was a delivery of calipers and slider boots.

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The standard silver wouldnt match the work we had already done on the front ones so we washed um done and gave um a new matching coat of red this was also followed by a delivery from VAG of new stub axle bolts, washers and inner bearing guards. We also through new stainless steal caliper slider bolts and new caliper carrier allen key bolts into the mix. At this point we ended up with this little lot.

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Plus the last of the Goodridge brake lines and the handbrake hangers.

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Now all thats needed is to remember how it all goes back together .
But for now thats it, if i dont get off here the better half is going to spread my ashes out to sea a bit earlier than i had planned . Hope you like back soon, DD team.

This is just showing off now

Top work.

Thanks for that. Its looks real good on the car (even though we do say so are selves ) shame it will end up covered in crud in no time but this car was always meant to be driven. We have so much to catch up on now, weve even been able to start on the new engine upgrade but more on that later .

Time for another update we fear. So carrying on from last time we now fitted the rear brakes there are some tips here that we think might help others so we will do this in a step by step fashion just in case it helps, as i can whine on a bit i will try not to make it to dull promise .

First stub axles and water splash guards, new bolts and washers optional but well worth it, it makes the job so much easier.

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Then the inner bearing dust guard, we made a very simple tool to do this its just a short length of thick plastc irrigation tubing with the centre bored out but you could use copper dont use anything to tuff like steel as these guards are very soft and deform easily.

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Just use the tube to tap the guard in place.

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Next build your discs up we chose to be tarts and detail the them aswell what ever floats your boat really.

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We also used the same tube to fit the bearing cap, as dented bearing caps are a really big pet hate of mine sorry its just one of those things that grate on my nerves stupid i know . We bored the other end out to a different size to fit the cap then just load it in and tap it on.

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Then its time to get the caliper carrier, sliders, boots and flexi brake line clip fitted.

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Everthing copper greased and torqued up time for the pads for this we used genuine pads.

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Once these are copper slipped and in you can fit the flexi hose and mount the caliper for this we used stainless steel bolts with a splash of thread lock. Now it is worth pointing out here there is a procedure to follow when fitting new calipers so first you must set a 1mm gap between the top and bottom of the caliper and pad like this. Do this by turning the caliper piston (with a caliper rewind tool) in or out to set the gap.

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Then you must bleed the brakes and pump the foot pedal BEFORE you set up the handbrake. We clipped the handbrake cables into place but didnt fix them inside the car till we were happy with pedal feel.

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With both sides done they looked a little like this.

N,s,r Before :

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After :

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O,s,r Before :

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After :

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All that was left to do was to vacuum bleed some of TRW's finest 4dot though the system and fit the handbrake cables. We are really impressed with the pedal feel and it hasnt even bed in yet god only knows what it will feel like after its done a couple of hundred miles . This is a real milestone for us in the shop as its the first fluid to go back in the car and it felt goooooooood!! .

Next update will be just a couple of last bits before the engine build so see ya then and thanks for reading.

thats looking good bud

My eyes pop out if my head every time I see this, Absolutely inspiring work mate

Hey dude, good to see you and mrs dirtydubber this afternoon!
The Jetta is just getting better and better, and the sneek previews of the next instalment and not going to disapoint for sure - taking anally retentive to the extreme, and for sure the little touches which no one will ever see should see this car as one of the most thorough daily driver car builds ever..just hoping jetta fan wins the lottery so you never have to stop!! in fact if i had the money i would fund it!

Thanks for the comments everyone we really do appreciate all of what you guys have got to say and i know JF feels the same the only reason he doesnt comment to much is he doesnt have access to the net that often. Andy nice to see you guys again. Also nice to see the mk1 polo on the road Its got a real nice stance to it. You will have to get it ready for the big day it will look good with ribbons on it .

Hi everyone as always sorry for the delay on the update front. So we will press on, one of are stipulations with a build like this is a change of heater matrix, just for the customers safety really as a blown matrix can be very dangerous or at worse life threatening if it causes an accident. So heres the new genuine matrix this the new stronger mk3 item.

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Then after about 15mins the dash is ready to come out.

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Another 20mins and the dash is out of the way.

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Then another 10 see's the heater blower box removed.

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Once we get the blower box out we can see a few problems that will need to be addressed. First some missing screws, clips and a broken tab.

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Whats a bit worrying is the last people to touch this heater matrix according to the date stamp on the matrix and the heater matrix bypass valves was a VW dealer back in 95! But it has to be said that this is not the only time we have seen such poor workmanship from a dealer and probably wont be the last .
On top of this half the screws were missing out of the dash and the heater box itself wasnt lined up right with the dash vents . To add to all this the blower box itself had some issues the internal control flaps were shot to say the least. This is what the hot and cold flap looked like.

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And the directional flap.

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What this means is the hot and cold are going to bleach together causing a constant warmish air whatever you have the slider on the dash set to. The same goes for the direction flap a sign of this happening to your own blower box is a poor flow of air to windscreen in the winter so it takes ages to clear and bits of foam hitting you in the eye when you open the dash vents . Lets face it we all know how that feels. Well after a chat with the local dealer it was made clear to us that we would have to buy a hole new blower box because "You cant open the box up to get at the flaps so we dont sell them on there own" and the price of the blower box was "Around £440 notes mate" . Plus they couldnt tell me if they could get one! As people that know me well will testify i dont take very well to being told i cant do something . So back to the shop to hatch a plan . First i had to split the box to get at the flaps and the dealer was right i dont think these are meant to ever come apart as they are held together by one way clips so this is the path i chose to take. First cut off the ends of the tabs.

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Do this all the way round the box and you can carefully pull it apart like this.

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Then we could have a look at the worn control flaps.

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Yep there useless, we had to replace the foam so we decided to use a sticky backed 3mm thick foam gasket and cut it to size first remove the old foam.

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Then cut the gasket. You dont have to fit the gasket to both sides of the flaps but the old foam was so we did too.

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This is them all finished.

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And then floor feed control flap for good measure.

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After these were refitted with loads of grease sprayed on the hinge points and gears inside and outside the box it looked like this.

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To join the two sides of the box back together we popped down the local breakers yard and got some more of the little metal "C" clips that hold the box together and clipped them over the tabs we cut off earlier like this.

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We then used the same foam gasket to replace the worn bits on the vent for the dash and were the blower box meets the bulkhead.

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After.

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And finally the matrix, after it was slotted in we replaced the screws and the clips like so.

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Now to refit, give the car a bloody good hoover and put the dash back in.

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Job done! And i can report that the slider controls on the dash are the best i have ever felt in any mk2 nice and smooth with a healthy swooosh clunk noise when you go from hot to cold. Who said you cant change the heater control flaps?. Stick that one in your pipe and smoke it VW!!. Well worth the extra time oh and dont worry JF that ones on the house . Weve got some real updates coming soon so keep your eyes peeled we will be back shortly. We hope these threads will help others and thanks as always for reading.

Do you know what you guys are awesome you do a proper restoration you dont take short cuts it makes me want to buy a mk2 so that you can do it too mine but cash wont let me. Well done buddy keep up the great work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for that mate thats awesome. Cant wait to start posting the next updates this is the bits we were looking forward to doing plus its the final push .

OMG buddy talk about attention to detail you guys are are unbelivable keep them coming chap

Thanks Ant keep your eyes peeled as the up and coming updates are a peach.

One hell of an inspiration this build thread.. just gets better & better.

I so glad you have just done this bit as i need to do it to my jetta, as the the control flaps the cogs they move on are they easy enough to come out! as mine has broken