My 23 month build

[mk3_vws]

So some of you guys might know me with the cabrio, but for the past two years I was cleaning up the bay with tucking the wires in my jetta.

I had a couple issues with the motor burning oil and the tranny making a whining sound, so I thought it was best to just strip everything down and put new rings, seals, and gaskets in.

There were several months were it would sit in the garage untouched, but I think this has happened to each of us one way or another. During this time I also got the Cabrio so that was also a big distraction

Anyways heres a couple pics of the cabrio, and the several sets of wheels its been on...








NOW....onto the jetta

Before what it looked like



Day 1



Did not think it would be sitting in this spot for over a year









Had no space for the parts taken off of the car



Started on the removal of seam sealer







ALL of emissions crap gone!



MANY hours later



I have never welded in my life, and decided to let a buddy of mine who does it for a living handle this task



and shortly after started at the body work...I am no pro, but understand the general basics of this. I decided to just do all the work myself. In my opinion its an engine bay...therefore I couldn't see the point in forking out a ton of cash just to work in it and get things dirty and chipped up...its bound to happen no matter how careful and cautious you are.





My little heater kept the small garage comfortable during the winter



I did alot of fill then sanding, filling then sanding....I used a magnet to keep the filler at a minimum, and eventually got the bay primered!



IN THE MEANTIME...

Tore the trans case apart, and sent it off to a buddy to have the gears pulled and replace the differential bearings (possible cause of the whine). We ended up finding that the pinion gear had a chipped tooth so that was obviously replaced



Also I took the head off the block and found that in two of the cylinders there was a crack between the intake/exhaust valves...Replaced the old head with a obdI head and had the machine shop take care of the rest



Was putting this off as long as I could



I had a friend of mine take care of powdercoating some of pieces for me...Thanks Doug and Pat!



and slowly gathering supplies



Also I spent several nights one week sanding and polishing the lips



and the new look for the wheels!



I was putting the motor back together in my spare bedroom upstairs



I finally got it painted!!! (Hate to admit this, but I felt like it didnt look to shabby for spraypaint...constructive criticism only please )







and I eventually force myself to get working on it....



but I was very comfortable doing it





Skip forward a couple weeks (or months...I forget)....



I got it finally sitting back on all four!

Old set up was 16x8 with 1.5 slants all around & 5.5 inch barrels. I traded for 6 inch barrels for the rear and put on 2 inch slants in the rear to get the back 9 inches wide

Also added some camber....



ET PERFECT



Slowly getting it back together!



After having some issues, and spending a week redoing the wiring .....it runs!!!





I should have never taken me this long, but I am glad its finally done, and I can say I did all the work myself! I was thrilled that I was able to get it done in time for VAG fair a couple weeks back, and cant wait to take it down to h20!!!



Thanks to alot of friends along the way for you help and advice! I owe all of you one

[Mk3vr97]

Good work looks mint!
Nice cabby btw

[vwlennon67]

Looks great man.... Really classy

[VR6 NRG]

good work man, looks great. should be so proud of yourself for the outcome. nice job.

[MahTrek=]]

Jetta is amazing man great work, definitely paid off.

I love the cabby on the th lines too.

[smitty_mcgee]

looks amazing dood!
love the color of the bay you should spray the whole car to match it would looks so bolts

[VeeDubGolf]

great job! i admire you taking on the wiring. as much as i would love to, i'm just too intimated to **** it all up.

car looks really great. and i agree that the paint looks really nice.

[Insan3Vr6]

Nice!

[zrace07]

You know how I feel.

I couldn't tell it was spray paint.

[cramerica]

Nice build. Props for doing your own work.

[Kaleb915]

Looks Great, I think the bay tunred out sweet

[will_t]

bay looks great. awesome polish job on the lips. all around awesome car because you did the work yourself.

[deletedo1m]

Nice work, looks very good.

[bagged_hag]

Awesome work Saw the car at Vag Fair and was very impressed by the work in the bay

[MYGTI_MA]

Always love seeing crazy build threads like this one. Its mind blowing when you realize that for each of the minute to 30 seconds we spend looking at a pictures + text represents HOURS of work.

Amabing job man way to stick with it and see it through. Hopefully, for you, the results are well worth the time/$$$$ you spent.

[BHCfarkas]

Looks amazing

[catalina2.o]

looks good

[PKstrategy]

looks superb, Vaughn.
Missed it this year so far, but h20 for sure.

[Bariman82]

I love the Recarochair!

[lovethelysholm]

awesome cars good taste

[soolow]

looks good my dude, im gonna boogy down and try and get mine down to h20, hopefull meet you down there also

[mk3_vws]

Thanks everyone!

So I have been debating on doing a little work to the bay in the cabrio after H20, so I might continue with a little build on this thread with that.

Always love seeing crazy build threads like this one. Its mind blowing when you realize that for each of the minute to 30 seconds we spend looking at a pictures + text represents HOURS of work.

Amabing job man way to stick with it and see it through. Hopefully, for you, the results are well worth the time/$$$$ you spent.

I couldnt have said it any better myself! Its hard to go to shows and look at a car and appreciate the amount time went into some of those cars I felt I didnt spend a ton of money on this but just alot of stressed out evenings

[sic_null]

Wish i had the time for something like this....

Good job man

[jst dubn]

awesome build man looks really good loving the color combo and wheels look super clean!!

[builtvw]

holy car!!!

[lehr leistung]

Both look good!

[epic d]

looking good man

[1BeatUpDub]

What brand of spray paint did you use? It looks great

[mk3_vws]

What brand of spray paint did you use? It looks great

thanks, It was just rustoleum paint that I got from autozone

[1BeatUpDub]

thanks, It was just rustoleum paint that I got from autozone

cool thanks man

[Murphy95]

It's amazing how well spray paint can look when used correctly, great work!
Car looked great at h20

I see you kept the 020, how is it holding up with the boost? did you upgrade the clutch at all?

[VT-MKJett]

I forgot about this thread, as I meant to post in it before. I love the choice of colors in the bay. Real nice.

[joemiller1989]

love this

[nfx]

I have these wheels still btw

Car looks sick man... didn't get to VAG fair or h2o to see it. BTW your facebook ET perfect post thing I saw a few weeks back, awesome.