I bought another MK4 this past winter. 2003 Jetta Wagon TDI with a fucked up auto.
I paid $3500 for it and had it shipped here from Hamilton. My friend bought a identical one with a 5speed for $9000 a few months earlier and nearly every other TDI wagon I saw was $6000+.
First thing I did was change the tierod ends and a control arm bushing. I replaced all the springs since two were broken.
Not too proud of this one, but I spliced in a new wire to fix the lack of a speedometer.
I added traction control the day we had that big snow fall and put my Golf tires on it. Combined with newer springs it sits just as high as the golf right now.
It was getting pretty decent mileage overall for not having a torque-converter lockup. way way way better than the VR6. It's current sitting at my parents because the AC compressor clutch seemed to bit the dust. It's also in the middle of a stereo install.
Plans:
First and formost 5speed swap from Ben's old TDI. I just need a VR6 clutch and pressure plate for the MK3 TDI flywheel I have.
Probably swapping in the next few weeks if the weather stays nice.
After the 5 speed swap (or before depending on how much I hate that autotragic) I'll be installing larger nozzles. The manual TDIs come with a 10mm injection pump and .184 nozzles. The automatics come with a 11mm pump and .158 injectors. I have some .205 nozzles in my garage right now. Since the automatic pump flows about 20% more than the manual those alone should be a decent power increase.
After that I'm going to make a 2.75" turbo back for it. I bought 10 assorted mandrel bent pieces from eBay for $20 so it shouldn't be a huge issue fab'ing something up. I'll go with a 3" muffler since 2.75" mufflers don't seem to exist a whole lot.
Next after that will be a larger better turbo. The stock VNT15 is junk and it run to within a inch of it's life constantly. I plan on going with a VNT17 from a 2.0TDI Passat. larger turbo capable of more boost without turning into this:
That was fun to explain to the boyfriend....
With a new turbo I'd need a new tune. It should get from 170HP~190HP depending on what other bolt ons I put on it. It will have over 300lbs/ft of torque.
Quite a upgrade from the 90HP,155lbs/ft stock.
That's the plan for the wagon. Mods on the VR6 are pretty much down now, maybe a downpipe. unless I happen upon a smashed up R32 or 3.2L TT...