ha, i love the way the car sounded on saturday.. thanks for letting me use the tools to wrestle that radiator..

No problem, thanks for the eggs! LOL!

Spent about 4 hours on the jetta tonight. I am starting to paint the thing since the wife wont let me start another project till hers is done. Pulled the motor to start on the engine bay. I need to do timing chains, and while I'm in there I want to replace the clutch, have my flywheel lightened, and port match everything. I am thinking of doing a head gasket while I am there and possibly having the head decked. I think I will never go forced on this car, so might as well while the head is apart getting a freshening up. And if I do deck it I can take turbo charging off the option list so I wont be tempted. I really want to do a turbo 8v, so maybe that will keep me pointed in the right direction. Here are a few pics of the work performed today.




I may have gotten in over my head!! LOL!! I see a lot of 'purple power' in my near future!!

Did some more work today. Finished stripping the engine bay, got some things ground down, got the subframe clearanced more for the VR crank. It still rubbed 'just a little' when the wheel was cranked all the way to the left, so more persuading was required. I got a new hole cut for my ecu wire routing. I have some welding to do on the subframe (where the crank was rubbing), weld in a new coolant tank hanger branket, and weld up some cracks in the firewall. After that I will be ready to clean all the grease out of the bay and start painting. I may do some welding tonight later but for now dinner is in order!

Ok, some more work done today and yesterday. The plan was to finish welding on the engine bay today, but the damn rain came at just the wrong time, so I focused elsewhere. I stripped the motor almost all the way down. Still unsure if I am going to pull the head for sure, I am about 75% yes right now. Here are some pics for your viewing pleasure, not that theres much to see.

Seeing this makes me want to work on some cars....which I have and am just lazy as crap.

Been a little busy around the house the past couple days but I did manage to do a few things. Last night I spent about an hour in the garage and just tinkered. I put my engine stand together and hung the tranny on it, after a slight modification. I also set the engine to TDC, installed the cam lock plate and built a flywheel lock so the engine wont turn while removing crank bolts. Boy does this car need timing chains, they are bad! Today I did some welding in the engine compartment and tonight I cleaned more then half the engine bay. Chop will be over tomorrow and I will get him to help me weld the last couple spots, finish cleaning the bay then hopefully get some paint on it! I will have more pics when it has paint. It shouldnt take more than a couple days if it doesnt rain.

So I have a good update with pics! Finished cleaning the engine bay and
got it painted! Here is what it looked like before the cleaning. I
know, this pic has all ready been posted but it will be easier to tell
the difference looking at it right before the clean bay:



After the cleaning:




And here is it painted:



Here is a couple pics of what I did before the paint and the other night. Made the flywheel locking plate, welded a few things, and got the tranny on the engine stand.




Next is to clean up and paint the things that go back in the engine bay, along with under dash work for the interior side. The whole dash has been removed along with the steering column. I need to install a new pedal cluster, mine has cracked due to less than acceptable clutch master bracket. I have the right one on order. I am going to go through the airbox and make sure everything is good, and hopefully get a new dash since mine is cracked. Damn Ohio winters!! Updates soon!! Are you motivated yet?!

this is an intense build thread ha. love the jetta good work

Nice work on the cleaning and painting. Looks great!

I bet His son did the werk, and he's takin the accolades! HAHAHAHA!



I am gonna try and head that way later on J!

I'll be here!

Spent a few hours outside today. Got the inner fenderwells painted, the subframe clean, the airbox out, new pedal cluster in and my wiring sorted. I need to hit the junkyard for a new airbox for under the dash. Mine is broke and missing clips. I still need to figure out some of the airbox wiring too. I have an empty plug and I think that may be the reason my 4th speed doesnt work on my fan. I also need to get a steering knuckle cover before I can put the column back in. I painted a few more things and removed the suspension. Mine is cheap crap so I think I am going to order some ground controls in the near future. Pics:







Im sure you can imagine what my garage looks like now, and if you cant.....







Full of car crap!!

Hit the junkyard yesterday and today and got some stuff: Steering column cover, airbox, 2 a/c lines, steering column bushing, 2 wiring clips, other odds and ends.
Today I finished cleaning the tranny. Its as clean as its going to get. A toothbrush can only get into so many cracks. I cleaned the starter, alt, water pump, oil filter housing, brake booster, master cylinder, oil cooler, clutch slave and master cylinder too. I managed to get the brake booster and master painted along with the starter.
Inside the car I got the new airbox installed with the b3 passat a/c evap coil so I wont have to have custom lines made. I installed the missing a/c wiring clip and also installed the wiring clip for the rear defroster. It was missing for some unknown reason. I also got the steering column back in too with the boot under the hood in place.
Under the hood I installed and painted the motor mounts along with the power steering line bracket. This is where Im at:






In the next 2 pics, in the background you can see arrows pointing to the clean and painted parts.