Ultra Budget Build/New MKIII Member

[detvw]

A little slow at work today, so I thought I would introduce myself and my most recent project.


Bear with me, I'm going to try and compress this from another lengthy build thread
I picked this up locally from a tip by a friend for $250. it hadn't run in a couple years and the guy was just going to have it towed to the yard. I gave him what the yard offered.




I bought it in non running condition with little knowledge of what was actually wrong with it. What I do know is it has a new fuel pump and exhaust repairs have been done. The PO said they thought it was the ECU. I have a ton of 2 litre stuff laying around, so I knew I could get it going pretty easily. If it took too much, I was just going to strip the good stuff and scrap it. It has some sort of aftermarket or custom exhaust. It appears to be TT, but doesn't have one of their commonly used mufflers.

When I got it home, I threw the battery from the Jetta in it and tried to start it. Turned the key, nothing. jumpered the starter and it turned over, so it's not the starter. I had some stuff to do, so that was it. Probably the alarm.

Sunday, I threw a replacement ECU in it, jumpered the alarm and after a bit of cranking, she fired right up! Although rough, it was running. After idling a bit and some reving, the lifter tick went away and it smoothed out. Found the alternator to either be bad or just need a new voltage regulator. It's not the stock Bosch unit but Valeo. I'm going to try and find a Bosch. I had some time, so I started in on the suspension by swapping in a set of Bilsteins with Ground Control coilovers I had sitting around.

bought new plugs, swapped out the cap and rotor and finished up the suspension swap. The mismatched wheels had to go, so I threw on the bottle caps from the Jetta. They look good, but I need a set of 10mm for the rears. I also noticed today that the wiper mechanism is seized and will need attention.

Went to the yard, and got a pretty good Jetta Hood, some Headlights and a nice grill with broken tabs. After cleaning I was left with this:





After the Hood, grill, light swap


Thought I would throw some wax at it and see how the paint comes out. It shines up real nice, but will need to be wheeled out for the full effect.



When I was at Parts Galore getting the hood, I noticed a little something peeking out from under a 4dr MKIII Golf. I went back the next day and grabbed this:


The cost? $9.80. I would say that's a score. While there I also picked up a wiper linkage assembly and motor and a passenger side turn signal.

Time to save, More to come

[sweetemkayfourbro]

[detvw]

I swapped the new exhaust over and it sounds great. I could deal with getting rid of the hollowed cat, but it will do for now.
I was having a bit of a running issue at low throttle that I just couldn't pin point. I ended up replacing the engine harness with another I had around that I had cleaned up and she runs like a dream now!

Finally started digging into the rust situation which is a bit worse than I thought, but still repairable.
This is what remains of the rear wheel well

I was able to pull all of the metal out with my hands and a screwdriver. It just crumbled.
how it looks now:



I went to Parts Galore with JohnnyB and had some fun with the sawzall

Some of this can be used, but I ordered a new outer wheelhouse for replacement. I want to replace as much as I can in one piece as possible.

Other than that, I got some new kicks

A dented, but solid hatch

recovered the headliner

Replaced the mirrors and cleaned up the interior.

Just like everything else I touch, this has become quite the project. Good thing is, it's coming to a close. After gathering the sheet metal from the yard, I started in on the rust repair. I'll let the pictures do the talking, but the further I got into it, the worse it got. I ended up replacing the majority of the rocker and a big portion of the floor inside and out.


















Which brings us to this.

[Dmoneythegreat]

Go to work man, go to work.

[swirvtheman]

Good f'n work man. I think this is gonna be a good one. So do you have a specific plan for it or are you just "ridin the wave"?

[MKIIITOMV]

Damn man awesome work

[Dutchsider]

Good looking welds, but I have a feeling that all that work will be for not in a couple of years when the rust takes over again.

[PKstrategy]

usalty?

[Dutchsider]

usalty?

Northeast salty

[PKstrategy]

touche

[87veedub]

Great work man!

[Roketdriver]

Saw this on Mive

[Alifuru³]

Wow, rusty, but great work on the repair, curious of what your further plans are

[Bariman82]

Any more pictures of the welding on the gas door area?

[Danny P.]

nice work.

[detvw]

Good looking welds, but I have a feeling that all that work will be for not in a couple of years when the rust takes over again.

Thanks. It should last much longer than I plan on keeping the car. All the rust I repaired was taken back to a solid point, primed and seam sealed. The majority of the factory holes were eliminated to avoid any water/air/salt from getting back in.

My plans are to keep it a simple and cheap, but clean daily. It's not a full on project car, just something I picked up cheap and thought I would fix up a bit.
This is my project car:

http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthrea...Project-Thread
I also have an 84 scirocco Lemons car

[87veedub]

Good work on all cars! Is that coupe Marine Blue by anychance?

[detvw]

Good work on all cars! Is that coupe Marine Blue by anychance?

It is. Thanks

Here's some more photos to tie you over.
Beaters should be flat black shouldn't they?

I tried to get some better pics of the paint this time using a camera. Did I mention this was done with spray cans?


Kidding about the flat black of course. Trying to get the junkyard fender to shine.

I've been poking around with some other stuff while I give the paint a few extra days to cure:
Got the interior all put back together
Replaced the drivers rear door with one I got from Finky
Got the gas tank back in
Fixed a non operational rear speaker(pin was pulling out of a connector under the dash. All the speakers work!
Ran a power wire for a sub amp
Mounted the drivers fender
buffed out the front end
Hung the passenger side doors

I love seeing the garage floor getting cleaner

[Jetta603]

Thought I would throw some wax at it and see how the paint comes out. It shines up real nice, but will need to be wheeled out for the full effect.



NICE!!! I've been looking for a thread like this for awhile, im glad I stumbled a pond yours. I have a car very similar and was looking for a project to see what other people have done. I like what you are doing so far, keep up the good work.

[detvw]

Just about ready for the road. One more stage of buffing to go and refinish the door trim.

This is from the stock drivers side fender

[vento86]

I would've scrapped the car. Brave man for keepin her on the road and fixing the rust

[builtvw]

enjoying this thread

[Nico.]

finally a decent build thread. Awesome!

[Bariman82]

What did you end up doing in the gas door filler area?

[detvw]

What did you end up doing in the gas door filler area?

I cut the area out of another car
Separated the good inner metal by drilling out the spot welds.
Drilled out the welds on what was left on my car
Welded in the new panel.

If you read my post you will notice the entire outer wheelhouse in the back was gone, so that made it real easy to get to. I also had the tank out.

finally a decent build thread. Awesome!

Hardly, It's just become a challenge to see how nice I can make a $250 car without really spending any money. I have learned to love how many MKII's are at the yards. To bad they're all Jetta's

[Bariman82]

^ That's really nice. I've got the same repair coming up on my own restoration.

[detvw]

^ That's really nice. I've got the same repair coming up on my own restoration.

My suggestion, buy a new rocker. I originally thought I was only going to be replacing the worst part. I ended up replacing close to 90%

[zrace07]

Wow, nice work. I wasn't expecting that due to the thread title and the first 5 photos. Keep up the good work!

[Bariman82]

My suggestion, buy a new rocker. I originally thought I was only going to be replacing the worst part. I ended up replacing close to 90%

I was referring to the gas door. On my driver's side, yes, I am fitting a new rocker right now, and I've also patched the bottom side and fitted a new reinforcement plate.

[Tuono5740]

Subscribed! Can't wait to see more

[detvw]

Done




Took it on a little road trip to Grand Rapids yesterday, ran great. 400 mile round trip.

[detvw]

Grabbed a quick snap of my rattle can skills

[haYnGTi]

Good find for 250, damn good turnaround.

[Roketdriver]

Its stuff like this that makes me wish I stuck with MK3's

[jaso028]

dam nice budget build! miss my MKIII

wish I had a pull your own parts place by me like that one, where you could score an exhaust for $9.80 nice freaking find!!