Finally got myself a Jetta :)

Hi my name's Chris and i'm 19 from Runcorn, Cheshire. I've been a member on here for ages but never introduced myself. Finally after years of longing to own one I've got one and thought i'd show you all I've bought it to be my first ever car and to learn the ins and outs of car repair/restoration. It's a 1990 Jetta GTI 8v in metallic Schwarz and it needs a fair bit of work to say the least. It set me back only 175 quid so don't expect much. I also then had to pay 180 quid for delivery from London as it's a non-runner. The engine that's currently in is from an earlier Jetta which would have had the Bosch K-Jetronic fuel injection system whereas the original car would have had the Digifant system. I also have the original engine but apparently the bottom end needs rebuilding. The wiring loom needs sorting out to let the K-Jet engine run or I could rebuild the original engine. Most of the dash has been ripped apart and there are wires coming out of everywhere. The interior and boot is full of pieces of the original engine and various stuff just chucked inside. As far as I can tell there's virtually no rust anywhere on the car but granted I haven't taken off the plastic arch covers yet. Around the fuel filler cap and sunroof is all rust free but there are several dings and scrapes on the car. The paintwork isn't actually that bad, maybe a little flat but nothing terrible. The plastic bits are faded but that's nothing to worry about.

My plans are to just get the car running and mechanically sound and maybe higher the suspension a little because it's too low for my tastes. In time i'll probably sort the bodywork, and get a respray (sort of an OEM+ kind of thing). I plan to keep this car forever so in the future I may carry out a VR6 conversion and get the right wheels and maybe a nice stereo (not in a [subcultural stereotype] sense) as being a musician I do like my tunes

Anyway enough talk, time for pics. I would have got more but it went dark. (Ignore the hideous wheels - they won't be staying green for long)

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Welcome!

Looks like you have some work to do!

Welcome to the club ask any questions as you go we wont bite and theres loads of experiance buddy

firstly, welcome Chris, another bargain hunter on J.O.C. the delivery charge of £180 isn't that bad from London to Runcorn. i paid £250 from Birmingham to Deeside for an Astra.
good luck with your plans for your jettcar.

popeye wrote:firstly, welcome Chris, another bargain hunter on J.O.C. the delivery charge of £180 isn't that bad from London to Runcorn. i paid £250 from Birmingham to Deeside for an Astra.
good luck with your plans for your jettcar.

Thats a bit steep Mine was from Laaaandaaan too but was £155 when I got it, cost me about 20 quid to get it home (fuel and a light throttle due to slippy clutch).

Anyway, looks like a nice project in the offing, well done, wish I had another, good luck and sort them wheels sharpish!!

P.S theres someone breaking a Digi Jetta on here, up the road in Stockport if you need any bits.....I've heard he's very reasonable to fellow northerners.......oh...actually it would appear its me!!

Hi Chris welcome to the club.

Jetta looks pretty tidy with a lot of love it will give you many years of happiness.

Runcorn - not a million miles away from where i used to live.

nice little project you have there mate. i used to love my old Jetta, best car i ever had

I doo like to see a proper project, Good luck Mate and keep us posted with your progress

Thanks for the kind/encouraging words Unfortunately i'm on a very limited budget so this car won't be complete for probably a few years yet At the moment i'm just sort of taking bits off and seeing what's going on and stuff. My main goal at the mo is to just stop any rust I find and get to grips with what's going on. I'll probably be asking for alot of advice so be warned

Welcome to the forum was this on e-bay with another Jetta for spares.Peter

welderone wrote:Welcome to the forum was this on e-bay with another Jetta for spares.Peter

Yeah it was. I wanted to buy both but delivery for 2 cars from London was really expensive and we've only really got space for one (just)

I've not updated this thing in a while purely because I'm forgetful I've not really progressed very far with the car because i've been working alot recently and anything i have done hasn't been photographed. I've just been getting used to it really, taking things apart, seeing how they go together and thinking alot about what engine to have and what wheels i eventually want . I've sourced a couple of badges and one half of the rear number plate surround because mine was broken. I've sprayed all the black plastics with CarPlan Original Black which worked well but the leaves streaks when its rained. I've ripped out the K-Jet wiring loom and fusebox and put the original Digifant one back in because i've decided to go down the 2.0 Mk3 bottom endmated to the original Mk2 head route. I was gonna just replace the broken bottom end from the original engine with an original spec 1.8 one but i thought i might aswell go for a mk3 2.0 one while i'm at it I've taken out the door cards/rear seat/rear shelf liner thing and will probably take out the carpets and headliner too at some point (i'll be keeping the front seats for now). The boot trim wasn't there when i got it. I had two choices when i bought the car - make it nice and pretty and install a nice stereo and keep the interior etc., or keep it a bit ratty and gradually prepare it for track use over time. If it was in better condition to start with i would have gone down the shiny paint/stereo route but i've decided to make it a track/fast road car (one day).

My next step is to take the current K-Jet engine out and start sorting out the 2.0 8V. Oh and to sort the bloody leaks out. It seems to leak through the front door window seals and pools in the bottom of the door a little and also in the passenger footwell but i've no idea how it's getting in :S

I really can't decide what wheels i want either (the green ones are doing my head in) The choices are:

17" OZ Superturismos probably in white or maybe black
17" OZ Superleggeras
Azev A's with the spokes painted black
E30 BBS probably with the spokes painted black
VW Sebrings
BBS RM (been done to death and very expensive :S)
BBS RZ
Momo Arrows
TSW Hockenheims
OZ Monte Carlos (rare apparently)
Shmidt MLs (expensive)

Probably loads more too :/

I really dunno -any ideas anyone?

Anyway here's a few pics of what i've been upto (not much )

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Hey,my old jetta,did you get it from a young lad in london,it was running fine when he shot off up the road after buying it from me Good to see it is being kept alive

Im watching with interest if theres anything we can help with let us know.

jetski wrote:Hey,my old jetta,did you get it from a young lad in london,it was running fine when he shot off up the road after buying it from me Good to see it is being kept alive

I had it delivered from London yeah. Apparently the oil pump packed up and the bottom end went hence why he swapped the engine over. Just out of curiosity, do you still have any paperwork for the car as i didn't get much with it. Also, are you the one who sprayed the wheels green lol

Well it's been a while since I last updated this thing and i'm sorry to say not alot has been done. I'm starting to wonder how long this damn car will take lol. Finally after much persuasion my dad agreed to let me have the car at the top of the drive on the flat near the garage where the camper usually goes. We agreed to move it last sunday then he had a heart attack and went to hospital (inconsiderate lol). He's fine now like Anyway suffice to say the car moving never happened but yesterday a couple of his friends were round and they helped me move his bike and the van and push my car up the drive. Now finally i can jack it up and stuff and make some sodding progress on it

Anyway all i've done recently is take the front bumper and bonnet off, take out a little more of the interior, sorted some little rust issues out take the rear bumper off in search of rust (there wasn't any ), take the front wheel arches off to discover i have a rotten nearside wing, and some other little bits really.

Now it's on the flat though i can start to make some real progress (funds permitting of course).

Oh and i've finally decided on the wheels i want and decided to carry out and ABF conversion (not too difficult, creates alright power and cheap enough to do).

Here's a photoshopped pic of how i want my car to look one day:

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Yes i'm sad enough to photoshop my own number plate in lol

Here's a few pics of my slow progress...

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Also does anyone know what this pipe thingy is? I assume it's something to do with the power steering cos as far as i can tell it goes to the power steering rack. The engine that's currently in doesn't have power steering so it was just trailing on the floor but my original engine still has the power steering pump mount but no pump.

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Sorry to hear about your dads ticker - hope he makes a fast and full recovery

Love the photoshop you have done the car will look awesome.

Love the wheel choice too as they are the one's that i have to go on mine, (some day)
Keep the update's coming as and when you can

venturbo wrote:Sorry to hear about your dads ticker - hope he makes a fast and full recovery

Love the photoshop you have done the car will look awesome.

Love the wheel choice too as they are the one's that i have to go on mine, (some day)
Keep the update's coming as and when you can

How much did you pay for your wheels cos i can't seem to find any for sale anywhere. I think i saw a set go for 350ish but they were the 15" ones and i want the 16". They don't come up very often so i hope they ain't that expensive.

cacadoodledoo123 wrote:

venturbo wrote:Sorry to hear about your dads ticker - hope he makes a fast and full recovery

Love the photoshop you have done the car will look awesome.

Love the wheel choice too as they are the one's that i have to go on mine, (some day)
Keep the update's coming as and when you can

How much did you pay for your wheels cos i can't seem to find any for sale anywhere. I think i saw a set go for 350ish but they were the 15" ones and i want the 16". They don't come up very often so i hope they ain't that expensive.

(MIMS) do come about if you look about for them normally on other forums.
Mine are made by (STRATO) a German Company and are 15" that i bought last year for £195.
I've only ever seen one other set of wheels made by this company and they where a different style but with a very deep dish fitted to a Scirocco on ebay last year.

The previous owner paid £500 plus postage from Germany for them and never got round to fitting them, so i got quite a good deal.

Try looking on ebay.de for wheels as there is so much more choice and as these wheels are made there you my hit lucky for a set.

Good luck with your search and let us know how you get on

You might want to join wheelwhores.com as these are the people who have the rare un's.

venturbo wrote:

cacadoodledoo123 wrote:

venturbo wrote:Sorry to hear about your dads ticker - hope he makes a fast and full recovery

Love the photoshop you have done the car will look awesome.

Love the wheel choice too as they are the one's that i have to go on mine, (some day)
Keep the update's coming as and when you can

How much did you pay for your wheels cos i can't seem to find any for sale anywhere. I think i saw a set go for 350ish but they were the 15" ones and i want the 16". They don't come up very often so i hope they ain't that expensive.

(MIMS) do come about if you look about for them normally on other forums.
Mine are made by (STRATO) a German Company and are 15" that i bought last year for £195.
I've only ever seen one other set of wheels made by this company and they where a different style but with a very deep dish fitted to a Scirocco on ebay last year.

The previous owner paid £500 plus postage from Germany for them and never got round to fitting them, so i got quite a good deal.

Try looking on ebay.de for wheels as there is so much more choice and as these wheels are made there you my hit lucky for a set.

Good luck with your search and let us know how you get on

You might want to join wheelwhores.com as these are the people who have the rare un's.

I was considering some MiMs but these are actually called RH Classics and endless googling and ebaying for them hasnt worked :S

I might try wheelwhores but the seller will know what he has and how rare they are and that'll surely hike the price up.

Not much to update except I have new wheels They're called Artec..somethings and are very very similar to the RH Classics that i wanted. They're 16 inch like i wanted aswell. They're not mint but neither is the car but they are gonna look insanely awesome . I've also taken the engine out (in the rain ) after spending a fair few hours on one of the sodding manifold to downpipe bolts because access was a ba****d. I must say i made a bit of a pigs ear of lowering it out because i didn't put the jack on the flat bit on the sump so it came out at a crazy angle but ah well.

Pics:

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Well it's been so long since i updated this that i've forgotten what work i've done since. Alot of time has been spent just thinking about which direction to go in. I kept changing my mind about which engine i want. I wanted a 16v with either bike carbs or twin webers but then thought that's too complicated and expensive for now. Plus it would feel weird putting a 16v engine in an 8v car... dunno why it just feels wrong. A VR6 into an 8v though is perfectly acceptable So i've decided to go down that route. I've bought a VR6 subframe and started cleaning it up and i'm gonna fit new vr6 mounts and make it look nice. I wasn't sure whether to stay for 4 stud so i could use the wheels i bought or go the full VR6 widetrack conversiona nd use the vr6 brakes. I wanted the wide track and the bigger brakes but i really like these wheels lol. However, i've discovered i can use mk3 non-gti wishbones and 4 stud hubs to get widetrack but stay 4 stud so i'll probably do this and eventually fit G60 brakes. For now i might just stay with the narrow track and stock 8v brakes/suspension etc. Does anyone think this might not be the best option considered it'll have vr6 power. Should i go the whole hog and get g60 brakes now?

I've also removed various parts that i don't need ready to replace with vr6 items... pedal box/gear shifter/servo etc.

I've also spent bloody ages removing all the underseal/seam sealer/crap form behind the front wings so i can paint them.

Would it be ok if i removed my stock subframe but left the wishbones/coilovers/brakes and everything still on or would it be too much strain on the suspension. The car is jacked up so all the weight would be on the top mounts.

Also, does anyone know where i can get some fibreglass front wings (i'd like carbon fibre but they cost a bomb)?

Wow, she lives on, well, kind of

This is my old jetta, im the one who bought it off of jetski

Absolutly loved this car and if i had of known she was for sale again i would have bought her back. Drove like a dream when i had it, shame the clutch went.
Does it still have the dent in the drivers rear quarter? some twat in an audi a6 drove the wrong way down a 1 way street and drove into me!!

Last i heard the chap that bought it off me was taking the gti lump out and vr'n it

The green wheels i will own up to, everybody in my area were boring and either had black, white or silver wheels on they're cars, so i thought i'd be different, got alot of attention at shows

Glad its in good hands!

munch8987 wrote:Wow, she lives on, well, kind of

This is my old jetta, im the one who bought it off of jetski

Absolutly loved this car and if i had of known she was for sale again i would have bought her back. Drove like a dream when i had it, shame the clutch went.
Does it still have the dent in the drivers rear quarter? some twat in an audi a6 drove the wrong way down a 1 way street and drove into me!!

Last i heard the chap that bought it off me was taking the gti lump out and vr'n it

The green wheels i will own up to, everybody in my area were boring and either had black, white or silver wheels on they're cars, so i thought i'd be different, got alot of attention at shows

Glad its in good hands!

Nice to hear from you mate yeah it still has that friggin dent in the rear quarter, hopefully i'll get that sorted some day

I'm currently in the process of putting a vr6 into it myself, the guy i bought it off had put an earlier GTI engine in coz the original went but it was too much of a headache trying to get it to work because of all the wiring and shoot so i thought i'd VR6 it I've got the engine/loom/gearbox/ etc. ready to go in pretty much, I just need to make the engine bay pretty first . It's gonna be along time until i can afford to insure it though so i'm gonna tkae my time with it and do it right (not having an interior though:)) I hope to make it into a track car one day so i've been doing alot of weight saving, removing unnessesary parts/wires/seats etc. and with the VR6 power it should be right laugh

Any chance that you've got any old pics of it that i can have coz i'm pretty sad like that haha

Hopefully i'll get to do some shows when it;s finished so there's a strong chance you might see it again (i'll never sell it though)

Just a few pics from over the last few weeks/months. Progress is slow Just want it to look like a car again now so loosely attatched some bits today and test fitted my wheels yet again I now know what steps i need to take to progrees a bit further but don't have time at the mo.

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