Jetta Gti .. new daily

Been wanting a new daily for a little while so have been scanning the classifieds all over for mk2 Golfs and (of course) Jettas. Spotted a Golf I liked the look of, but got messed about by the seller, which was lucky as it turned out because this Jetta Gti turned up locally for a decent price

Tax and test
90k with full service history - just been serviced too
Pas, C/L, Sunroof
Electric mirrors
Awful stainless exhaust - sounds proper chavy so needs changing!
Full leather interior
Cavernous boot as standard

As collected;

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It has a few niggles;

It drives like a boat due to soggy standard suspension
Steering column is bent
Old alarm system disconnected but wiring left is a bit messy
Rear brakes need new pads

Soooo, have a few bits to help sort the above;

Coilovers;

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Wheels (I do have a set of four!);

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Mk4 rear calipers and Goodridge hoses;

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16v hubs and 280mm discs;

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With a few parts sorted it was time to stick it in the garage;

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Old vs new;

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Fitted - had to drive it to work following day so left standard brakes for now;

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Looking promising

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This shows how bad the steering column was;

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So, stripped the dash down a bit;

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You can see the bent part of the bracket on the right;

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Refitted new column with mk3 stalks - nice and straight

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The original clocks were broken and in the boot, so while the dash was apart I thought I'd change the mileage on the replacement clocks to suit;

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And this evening I started on this;

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More soon...

Sweet buddy where on earth did you pick up those GTi Engineering wheels they are rare as rockinhorse poo i searched for ages to source a set for my GT as did many of us

Cheers mate I'd been keeping a look out for a set of the wheels ever since I'd seen an old vw mag with a feature on a Gti Engineering Jetta - which was 7 years ago now come to think of it - then when I found a set a couple of years ago I had cash monies ready. Took them straight to the powdercoaters and had them done in white Just glad I've finally got a Jetta that they suit.

Nearly finished the brakes today, just got to bleed them tomorrow. New hubs on;

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Rears:

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Stripped down and cleaned up;

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Mk4 rear calipers Those of you following my other thread may recognise the calipers ... I decided they weren't refurbished to a high enough standard for the other car;

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Fronts;

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Should be back on the road tomorrow

Nice mate.
Your worse than me ha ha ha

Cheers Have you got a flocked dash in your Jetta now by the way? You'll have to update your build thread

It's up and running now, brakes are sooooo much better, although need to put a 22mm master cylinder in it at some point as there is a bit more pedal travel now. Got my wheel bolts too so all four wheels are fitted, just need to let the coilovers settle then can set the final ride height. Will get a couple of pics uploaded tonight

Nice progress bud, brakes will feel alot better once you get a 22mm cylinder on there

Yeah I thought it'd make a difference. They're ok for now though, I'll put it in at the same time I put the ABF in it

Not a great pic, but it's getting there Getting tracking done in the morning, then just need to give it a final tidy - remove old stickers and such like - then next weekend I'm taking it to a mate to have it polished, will definitely get a load more pictures then

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Looking great buddy keep us updated on the progress

I haven't done anything mate just no time at the mo.

Small update, it's been doing a fine job on daily duties You can see in the pics above that the front bumper had dropped on both sides so I got my hands on a pair of brackets from an aftermarket bumper to replace them.

Unfortunately I didn't realise that the aftermarket brackets are different to the genuine ones .. the pic shows that aftermarket ones are too short;

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So I decided to chop up the original broken brackets and plastic weld them up;

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Job done Rubbish pic but it's sat nice and straight both sides now. A minor job but worthwhile.

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More updates to follow soon

looking good, its nice to meet another person who can plastic weld

Cheers mate, though I just went at those bumper brackets with a soldering iron so 'plastic welding' is a bit of a loose term

Today I cleaned up a diesel rod change 'box using petrol, 'wonder wheels' and a pressure washer;

Before;

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After;

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Also gave the Jetta a clean and fitted my bonnet bra. Discovered whilst cleaning that I need a boot seal if anyone has one..?

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Also got some new front stoppers and a 23mm master cylinder

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you can shorten a golf boot seal
; )

Good to know, cheers

Liking the calipers are they the audi ones? jetta is looking

brilliant work!

Nice work on her man!
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Cheers for the comments, yeah they're Audi S2 front calipers (Girling 60s) which will fit over the 280mm discs.

Picked up a new interior yesterday (thanks Dave - re2 - ) so will be fitting that over the next couple of days along with a couple of other bits, but today I polished it up so it's looking pretty reasonable (from a short distance away at least )

A sort of half and half shot, but my camera is rubbish so you have to look hard!

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After a coat of wax etc;

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Things are moving a bit slower than anticipated as had to fit a new gearbox and a few other bits into my mates mk2, but finally got a day on the Jetta

Plan is to strip it out then add;

Gti interior
Black carpets
Front electric windows
Remote central locking
Mk3 fuel tank and wiring
Refurbed rear beam with poly bushes from other Jetta
New brake lines
Replace n/s rear plastic arch as it is scuffed
Weld necessary areas

Few pics of progress;

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Nice tidy rear panel

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But a little rot where the boot seal join is

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Inside of car was pretty grubby so going to get a good clean;

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Rear o/s arch needs a little bit of attention;

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And then there's the usual spot where the fuel tank bolts in

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All this work means I can get the G60 engine ready and hopefully drop it in quite quickly - this is my daily so have to plan its garage time.

Plans sound good buddy the damage doesnt look too bad belive me i had to refab the hole join on the boot there wasnt nice however there is now a company doing a full rear pannel if it helps ill dig out the details for ya

Cheers mate, but as you say it's not severe so will just chop that bit out and patch it using some donor metal from a mk2 golf I've broken up

Didn't get as much done today as I'd hoped, but that always seems to be the way. Few pics, mostly self explanatory;

Snow foam and pressure washed the underside;

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Then dropped the rear beam off;

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Started tackling one of the arches, but as always when you start digging it gets worse;

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Other side of same arch;

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Bit more done today though welder was spitting at me loads which was a pain (literally!)

Chopped out the rot in the fuel tank mount;

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Made up a patch, bit crude but fitted ok;

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First patch on bottom of arch;

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Second;

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Third;

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Formed the lip;

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Welded up, just need to run the grinder over it in the morning

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