Dirtydubbers Resto Corner MK2 Jetta 8v GTI.

looking good guys...ermmm need more photos please NOW!!!!

Hi everyone back again, thanks again for all the comments . Right this is were the fun really starts although most "Tall block" conversions are the same, not every car is the same so we like to mock up everything first just to make sure. We use an old scrap PB cylinder head and build it up with everything needed ie the downpipe, inlet manifold and trottle body just to check for fitment and clearance. We do this because we like to try and stick to the factory tolarances as closely as possible, We wont bore any of you kind people with the boring pics of the mock head fitted we will just get straight to the conclusions. First thing the down pipe and the reason for the old engine mount. If you mock up using a old engine mount then it will allow the front of the engine to drop down this will push the down pipe closer to the floorpan this will tell us two things 1) If the engine mount fails again in the future then we will have made sure that the exhaust system still clears the floor just like VAG intended. 2) If we can make the downpipe and exhaust system fit using this old engine mount then we will get even more clearance when the new one is fitted, well thats the plan anyway . We hope the following updates will help anyone doing this conversion themselves at home. Right then on with some pics, we have for the mean time chose to stick with the original stock dp this is to help with the budget and speed the build up. We have slightly modified it but only by cutting off the heat gaurd to gain some clearance from the 16v heatshield we fitted to the bulkhead earlier in the build.

Dp after a good clean and heatshield removed.

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We have focused alot of are efforts towards keeping engine bay temps down in this build so it seems wise after removing the gaurd on the dp to replace it with something a bit more meaty so enter the heat rap. Its not a job i like very much as i dont seem to be very good at it and the stuff makes me itch for hours afterwards but this is the finished item.

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Removing the heatgaurd and using the rap gave us about 15mm of clearance so smiles all round. This meant the next stage for us was the inlet manifold but we will get to that a bit later. After sitting on are bench for what seems like a life time we could start building the head at last . Heres what the old head looks like stripped and partly cleaned.

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We usually do most of the head work in house but to save time we sent this head to are good friends at SES to build for us. Walst thats away we can get a couple more bits detailed and bolted to the block. First the dizzy Because we are using a 2E block we will have to use the 2E dizzy if you are using any other block like an AGG you will need to get a 2E dizzy or use a TSR adaptor and the old PB dizzy but for are money we would use a 2E dizzy everytime it just fits better and looks stock. This is the dizzy detailed

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fitted with a new stainless bolt and detailed clamp.

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We placed the dp in at this stage but we couldnt help are selves so we snapped a couple of pics of the block again this time with a better light to show the colours off a bit better.

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Sorry for the amount of pics were just really chuffed with how its all turned out .

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Its at this point we had a call saying the head was ready!. They performed two lots of welding on the waterways, replaced the valve guides, stem seals, polished and reseated the valves, presure tested and skimmed the faces and gave it a bloody good clean!. It looked great we were well pleased.

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Before we could build it up we needed to sort a couple of things, the inlet manifold and the trottle body. First the inlet manifold.

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We chose to go for paint not polish as its easier to maintain.

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Now the throttle body this is a painfull job at the best of times but here it is stripped.

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And acid etched and painted. We will get to rebuilding it later.

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With a fresh delivery from are local VAG dealer and some bits we detailed earlier on in the project we had something that looked like this.

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Well thats your lot for now as ive got to take the dog for a walk but we hope you like and all will be revealed in are next couple of visits till then thanks for your time.

Onwards and upwards. I can now report we have a jetta that moves itself around the shop . As we have a few setup gremlins to get rid of and we are waiting on a few body panels to turn up i can devote some time to playing a game of catch up with you guys so here goes. Next step was getting that head built and on! So here goes, first in go the rocker cover studs with the help of some Loctite 243 this will make sure they dont come out when removing the rocker cover in the future and it also stops oil from working its way past the studs and down the front of are nice clean head.

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The injector seats next.

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Without.

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With.

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Next the exhaust manifold with new gaskets and bolts.

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Now the injector electrics which we striped, cleaned and detailed the mounting brakets.

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Fitted.

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On with the inlet and stove pipe brakets next. A couple of things to mention, we couldnt live with the old allen head bolts so they got changed for new stainless items well worth doing if you ever intend to go there again in the future.

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And although the inlet manifold gasket came from VAG its still designed for all 1.8's so we decided to chop off the bit that wasnt needed just to make it look a bit more tidy .

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With it all built up it looked a bit like this.

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We will fit the throttle body once the head is fitted, on that note lets get it on!
This bit is IMPORTANT use a 2.0l Head gasket NOT a 1.8!!!!!

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All bolted down with new 1.8PB stretch bolts.

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Then we could get the down pipe bolted up and recheck for clearance.

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And finally the injector rail could be built.

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As you can see we have cleaned the rail, the injectors and detailed the fuel presure regulator and braket. Now we needed to rebuild it with new seals, gaskets, injector clips and stainless fittings. Here it is built.

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And fitted.

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Its at this point that we could really start putting are foot down. Next was the new gear linkages, we werent happy with the finish so we acid etched and detailed them.

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Fitted with new bushes.

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Well thats it from us for now hope you like? I will try and get back on here as soon as possible thanks again for your time.

LOVE IT!

But if I must know why no treatment of some sort for the exhaust manifold? Looks like everything else possible got some etching/painting, so I know there must be a reason?
Just too hot?
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Hi chap, Yep for just that reason really we have found paints that will take the heat but they just dont last that long (a couple of years at most) they always end up looking a bit shabby so we decided to leave it stock. Also this manifold gets a bit hotter than a normal one due to the heat rap on the down pipe and the car will be a daily so it just keeps things simple. I did contemplate it for a long time though

Top work again guys, i've just had some bits sand blasted and was wondering where you get the zinc primer from?

This build is just emmense.

Awesome job guy's

jedi16v wrote:Top work again guys, i've just had some bits sand blasted and was wondering where you get the zinc primer from?

Hello bud if you mean the acid etch primer then you can get a good one from hellfrauds (halfords) its called Upol acid etch primer its in a pink can with grey cap. If you have a body shop supplier near you a better one to hunt down is Pro-etch That comes in a green can as part of the Pro paints range.

venturbo wrote:This build is just emmense.

Awesome job guy's

Thank you Mr turbo glad you like should be able to get some more pics up this week so keep your eye on us!

Superb work this, Really makes me want to go out and get stuck in, but once again with it being a daily i cant just take it off the road as i need the transport, But i will get it done, !!!

Once again Inspiring thread mate!!

Right! We are at that stage where we could start clawring back soom time on the build now so on with all the little bits and bobs. First on the hit list is the water system for this we will be using most of the 2.0 water pipes mainly because they are stronger and fit better than the 1.8 and there are a few clearance issues with fitting 1.8 water pipes to a tall block ie the taller block and the crankcase breather system gets in the way. The metal water rail that travels round the righthand side of the engine is are first port of call this will need modifing to fit properly so here are some pics of the old and new side by side.

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As you can see we gently heated the pipe and pulled it out straight like the standard 1.8 item this will allow us to use the handy pipe clip that comes brazed to the top of the these pipes and it will also allow clearance past the inlet manifold and onto the heater matrix. Next cleaning the water pipes, front mounted crank case breather pipe and detailing the oil presure switches and water pipe clips enter the dishwasher again .

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We are really against using anything other than the standard clips as they are set to a proper tention to hold the pipes in place and they will not crush or rip the pipes like worm drive clips do plus it was important to stick to a standard look so they all got detailed in the standard colours so not to look out of place. To also stick to a stock look we needed to modify the bracket that holds the metal water rail to the head as we didnt need the loop that holds the wiring on a 2e.

before:

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During:

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After paint and fitting with new stainless bolts and water flange:

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And the rest of the water pipes fitted.

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At this point a new front water flange was delivered, if you are using 2.0 water pipes which we strongly advise then you will find you cant use a 2.0 or 1.8 water flange so you will need to order a 2.0l 8v audi water flange as this has two sender holes and no lower pipe or return to the header bottle.

Standard 1.8 and new audi item side by side.

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This will help us keep that stock look plus it has a nice HT lead holder so it will keep things nice and tidy later on (sometimes i even worry about myself ). Next job fuel lines we had a problem here as replacement items are no longer available from vag and are quite expensive to have made so we opted to use the 2.0l 2e fuel lines and heat rap.

The reason why we had to make the change:

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It was just to much of a safety concern to reuse the 1.8 lines so in with the 2.0l stuff.

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We also tucked the electrics for the MAF sensor into the heat rap this keeps it out of the way and gave us a much nicer look. Next on are list was to get the head fully finished and cambelt on but that will have to wait till next time as ive got to go back to work till then thanks for reading and we will catch you again soon.

Looks cool... never knew the clips were all different colours.. think they look a bit "noddy" though, personally would of done them all grey and kept it subtle.... but judging by your previous decisions on this car i could stand corrected, if i ever pull my finger out and come and see it i'll judge for myself!

More please..you do realise i check everyday just in case!

I will start this next stage with a big apology to everyone for are absence of late its been very busy down the shop and i had some personal things to take care of. On top of this we have had a bit of a wait for body parts and trim to turn up we are still waiting on are rear bumper and i will let everyone know what i think of it when it gets here. Its not genuine but im hoping its going to be spot on fingers crossed . Well on with the show, i guess next up was finishing the cylinder head off first lets get the cam back were it belongs. We treated it to a new bed of INA tappets and a new oil seal aswell.

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Its always a good idea to leave the tappets upturned in oil over night as this will help them run in better.

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Cam back in.

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Next it was the turn of the cambelt this felt really good The final connection between the block and the head . With the lower cambelt cover off the 2e cleaned and refitted with stainless 5mm allen headed bolts and the upper back plate detailed and fitted the same way things looked a little like this.

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Now we moved onto the throttle body this had been fully stripped, serviced, detailed and all basic idol and throttle switch settings completed. Before we fitted it we needed to perform a slight modification to the throttle switch connection. As the tallblock sits a little higher it makes the clearance between the TB and the bulkhead a little on the tight side so we like to make as much room as possible by reangling the switch connection here are some side by side shots the standard one sits straight and the modded one has been shifted over a bit.

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Standard :

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modded :

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This may not be considered as essential but we like to maintain as much of the factory clearance as possible. With that done we could get it fitted, with a new gasket and stainless bolts of course .

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Now the rest of the cambelt covers and lower pulley's can go back together. Before fitting.

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After fitting with more stainless. All belts were OE dayco and the tensioner was a INA item.

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Last bit to finally seal the lump up was the rocker cover, so whats the best way to clean the breather out on your trusty 1.8 well this is a bit and please be carefull if you do this at home i wont be held responsable if you burn your garage down . First soak the mesh with carb cleaner then once its had about 5mins to settle in then hit with a blow touch!. Leave to burn for about 15mins then clean out again with carb cleaner and you should be done! If you have a heavy amount of burnt oil to shift then you may need to repeat the process.

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Once this was done we could give it a good detail. As always a good derust and a coat of acid etch.

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Gloss black finish.

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Rocker cover and fittings including the brackets for the earth strap and ISV detailed.

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Along with a new rocker cover gasket we needed to order a new cambelt cover mounting bracket this is to solve the little issue you have with using a 2e cambelt cover on a pb head (the 1.8 pb cambelt cover is to short) we used a Audi 16v item which looks like this (pd item at the bottom).

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Rocker cover fitted.

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Cambelt cover and Audi bracket fitted.

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We cleaned the cambelt cover, Detailed the clips and replaced the sticker so that if Jettafan has to take the vehicle to another garage then they will know what engine code it is. Im going to have to leave it there for the moment but i will be back as soon as, Sorry this update is not that interesting but it gets better from here on i promise till then see ya soon DD out.

bodyinboot wrote:Looks cool... never knew the clips were all different colours.. think they look a bit "noddy" though, personally would of done them all grey and kept it subtle.... but judging by your previous decisions on this car i could stand corrected, if i ever pull my finger out and come and see it i'll judge for myself!

More please..you do realise i check everyday just in case!

Sorry chap just realised i never responded to your msg . I very nearly did all the clips grey then white but i thought i would stick to the stock look. Next time the misses is away let me know and we'll have a late one down the shop. Ill stick the kettle on and pay for the chips ah those were the days!

Well then on with the next little bits, now we had a throttle body fitted we could fit the intake and breather system the intakes the easy bit just a case of refitting the Pb stuff really but the breather system is a bit more complex. We will start with the air box and intake system first. This is what we started with.

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We started by stripping and cleaning the MAF sensor.

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Then the acid etch.

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Finally the marine grey.

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We also chose to detail all clips alpine white, replace the screws that hold the hot air diaphragm, fit a new element and placed the air box in the dishwasher to make sure it was clean. This was are finished item.

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Before :

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After :

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With a good secondhand stove pipe, new air box bungies a good clean of the panel that clips into the inner wing it was ready to be refitted.

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Thats it for now but we will get onto that all important breather system on the next update till then hope you like? back soon and as always cheers for reading.

been watching this for ages dedicated or what! amazing mate amazing

everything about this build screams quality,

Just A quick one regarding the alternator and belt, I replaced mine which uses the same silly spring set up but it squeaks like mad until its warmed right up, how do you adjust the tension?

cheers

jetta88 wrote:been watching this for ages dedicated or what! amazing mate amazing

Well thank you very much kind sir .

Mozza wrote:everything about this build screams quality,

Just A quick one regarding the alternator and belt, I replaced mine which uses the same silly spring set up but it squeaks like mad until its warmed right up, how do you adjust the tension?

cheers

Do double check on the size of the belt there are thousands of types of this belt and my suppliers are always sending me ones that are to small or to big and usually by only a couple of cm's. Secondly replace the spring that goes under the altinator they can snap or sag after time, had the same problem on my better halfs 6n polo. shouldnt cost more than a couple of squid at the dealer.

Cheers mate. Was just wondering if it might have been the spring being old but there seems to be quite alot of tension on it and is a good drayko (or how ever you spell it) belt

No worries mate you might want to check the bottom pully some cracking in the rubber buffer is normal but if they is any wobble then you this will course some noise plus make sure the altinator pully hasnt any corrosion in the grooves as this will allow the belt to slip also. Thats about it i think hope all go well.

Another quick update, A bit of a follow on from last time really but walst one of us was down the breakers yard on the hunt for some pipework we could use for the breather system i got on with some other bits. First was the wiring loom but i wont bore you with pics of that, OH! i will mention the battery cables we wanted to use the 2l items as they are much stronger and can handle much more current than the 1800 items but we were not happy with the standard fit so we modified them. The positive cable was fine just a few plug adjustments but the earth was too long and the first earth point needed to be shifted. This is a side by side of the cables.

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Then after shifting the first earth point.

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Then the modified cable with the old 1800 item.

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Now it was time to get rid of that horrible self adjusting clutch cable these are the vein of my life so i get rid of them when i can. Another side by side.

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The new fitting kit.

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Oh and a new throttle cable aswell.

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To retro fit one of these we needed a new cable support/rest we keep good secondhand ones in stock so with a quick tidy up and paint its was fitted to the box with the cable braket and new cable clip and of course a new stainless bolt.

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And finally it all in place.

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At the same time the speedo cable got refitted after a little tweek of course .

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Couldnt help are selves we had to get a bit more red in there somewhere. Next the new front engine mount the one we chose to use is a genuine G60 item we like to use these over solid types as they are uprated over a standard item but not bone shakingly stiff like Vibratech items in fact you really cant tell the difference when fitted. If you use a standard 1800 item the chances are you will be changing it again very soon. Here they are holding hands.

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And fitted with some stainless.

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Also the cover plate for the lower part of the bell housing needed refitting so here it is.

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With a new gasket and bolts.

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fitted.

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Thats it for now just few little items to get done and she was ready for the first turn over!! . Cheers for reading hope you like? Back soon DD team.

you embarress my efforts with your eye for detail!

top job!

Always impressive man!! Very nice work!

Thanks alot guys it really does mean alot to us at the shop. We really liked this part of the project as it gave us a chance to get all the colour coding matched up and start to spread a bit of colour around the bay. We kind of make the colours up as we go but we try not to over do it to much! .