Grocery Getter Build

[dorkage]

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...

[Curtis_conway]

Nice turbo!

[dorkage]

I still have it somewhere. We should have made it a trophy.

[logg_frogg]

That's def trophy worthy

[P 987S]

Agreed

[Steeldon]

No need to replace the springs. Just cut the others to match the ride height lol.

[P 987S]

Isn't that the way??? Or just heat up the others with a torch lol you'd be surprised what a little heat can do to you stance

[dorkage]

Well I finally worked on the wagon a bit recently. I was installing a stereo and found a bunch of dried up vomit...

Out came the interior. I pressure washed the carpet and it turned out amazing.

Most important thing, the failomatic has been removed:


Should have the 5speed in by the end of May long. I'll be putting larger nozzles in at the same time, should get about 110HP (90 stock) and closer to 175lbs-ft (around 150 stock) without a tune. Hopefully unit can fab up a exhaust out of a hole bunch of 2.75" mandrel bend pipe I bought. I'll wait until I have a larger turbo before I get a tune.

[Steeldon]

Failomatic? Conway would be all over that if it fits into his VW lol

[MiniD1CK5]

Did Conway lose the use of his left leg or something?

[dorkage]

No, that's Jesse. I'm attempting to convince the cripple to get a GTI with a DSG.


Anywho, test fitted amps and most cabling today, looks like it will work out. Had to modify the spare tire cover slightly, though it was broken when I got the car.

3x Stereo RCA from Headunit,
Sub directly to 3+4 of the 4 channel amp, Front and Rear wired to the front and rear crossover input, midrange output goes to 1+2 of the 4 channel, for the midbass in the doors, and highrange goes to the smaller (yet really big for what I'm using it for) Clarion amp for the tweeters.

[Twitch]

Won't take convincing for Jesse to go DSG, its finances. And the silly little man doesn't seem to want to sell the cars he has for sale.

[dorkage]

He sold the Golf!
Seems to be hard to sell RSX's in town though.

We did have a fucking blast in a 2010 GTI we test drove. Launch control for the win




Tried to make a new post and it combines it... lame.


Transmission finally got in, not without a few minor mishaps. Current one is that the transmission mount from Ben's old Jetta, which donated the 5 speed, is stripped. I'll have to round up another one. The wiring is all done, the stereo is all hooked up, just need to tune the crossover. Ordered some FK lowering springs and some Koni shocks and struts. I'm afraid it will be as low as my Jetta, but we'll see how that goes. I'll get a skidplate if that's the case.


Lifetime warrant on these guys, good price too. (learned my lesson from the coilovers, don't buy FK struts.)

---------- Post added 06-17-2012 at 07:32 PM ----------

Struts and springs should be in this week, got the rebuild compressor on this afternoon and just need the exhaust to actually start the car. Spent the afternoon tuning the stereo, sounds great with the bi-amplification. 60watts to each tweeter (but the gain is set pretty low) and 80 watts to each mid. Incredibly loud with no clipping on the tweeters. The battery took it like a champ, played the stereo for a few hours and it hasn't been charged in months.

This week for sure I'll be driving it, no more fucking set backs.

---------- Post added 06-19-2012 at 02:57 PM ---------- Previous post was 05-13-2012 at 06:00 PM ----------

Started it today:

[Kaiser]

I am just going to leave this here...



Video Unrelated to build...

Good Progress! Keep it up!


Math

[IhateUSERnames]

so your going to be snowplowing this winter?... perfect ill give you 10 bucks to do my drive way!