My 1998 VW Jetta TDI [Archive] - GrandMarq.NET

91LTDProject

06-21-2010, 09:16 PM

So, as many of you know, I was driving a 1990 Ford Festiva for almost a year and a half. The car was getting to the point where it was costing more than it was worth to keep it going, and there was always the nagging thought in the back of my head about what would happen if I got hit in the thing.

Anyways, I was not really planning on getting a new car at the time, I was going to drive the Festiva until it puked its guts all over the road one day, but the opportunity came up to purchase the Jetta. The car was owned by one of the mechanics sisters since new, and he had been the only one who had worked on it. It had maintenance records and a relativly low for a diesel170xxxkm on the odometer. I'd had a hankering for a diesel for a while, so I went for it.

So far, the car has been amazing. I regularily get 45mpg, 900-1000km a tank, and only have to fill it once every two weeks. I've put 13xxxkm on it in 5 months and its not complained once, besides oil changes and re-packing a rear wheelbearing.

Heres how it sat when I bought it...

http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/ac161/Zman586/DSCF1160.jpg?t=1277172755

http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/ac161/Zman586/DSCF1161.jpg?t=1277172755

http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/ac161/Zman586/DSCF1164.jpg?t=1277172755

And after a quick wash and engine bay cleanup...

http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/ac161/Zman586/DSCF1168.jpg?t=1277172755

http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/ac161/Zman586/DSCF1167.jpg?t=1277172755

http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/ac161/Zman586/DSCF1171.jpg?t=1277172755

Edit: Pictures are not supposed to be this big, sorry...

91LTDProject

06-21-2010, 09:35 PM

Now, being the person I am, I can't leave anything alone, I was buying parts for the car before I even owned it...

The first thing to go was the stock tail lights, replaced with factory tinted Hella ones from a Jetta GT

http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/ac161/Zman586/DSCF1165.jpg?t=1277172755

http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/ac161/Zman586/DSCF1169.jpg?t=1277172755

After that, it was rims. I threw out the hubcaps that were on it, and started looking around for some cheap alloys. I opted for a set of old Passat wheels, I liked how they looked and they were cheap...

http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/ac161/Zman586/IMG_0024.jpg?t=1277172755

Come springtime, I was looking for something else to do. I found a set of lowering springs on kijiji and figured why not. A couple hours of work and they were in. Not the greatest ride, but it corners so much better. Planning on switching to coilovers sometime in the future....

http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/ac161/Zman586/IMG_0079.jpg?t=1277173866

I've also done an interior swap (seats, doorpanels, e-brake boot and steering wheel) with a K2 edition Jetta. Black/dark grey factory Recaro buckets with red stitching, 60/40 rear split, leather wrapped steering wheel with red stitching, leather e-brake boot with red stitching, and all black doorpanels with material on the inserts that matches the seats. The old seats were very un-supportive and were a kinda minty greeny grey, along with the doorpanel inserts. They sucked. I dont have any pictures though, so I will put some up as soon as I do...

91LTDProject

07-04-2010, 09:57 PM

Spent a few hours cleaning/waxing/vacuuming on Saturday...

http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/ac161/Zman586/DSCF1269.jpg?t=1278297839

http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/ac161/Zman586/DSCF1271.jpg?t=1278297884

And on the interior swap, these are my old seats. Old doorcards had matching colour carpet inserts...

http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/ac161/Zman586/DSCF1199.jpg?t=1278297972

http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/ac161/Zman586/DSCF1198.jpg?t=1278298009

And these are the new seats and door panels, along with matching steering wheel and e-brake boot, still searching for a shiftboot. They are much darker than they look in the pictures, couldnt get the camera to take a picture of their actual colour...

http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/ac161/Zman586/DSCF1277.jpg?t=1278298222

http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/ac161/Zman586/DSCF1281.jpg?t=1278298261

http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/ac161/Zman586/DSCF1279.jpg?t=1278298306

http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/ac161/Zman586/DSCF1278.jpg?t=1278298352

Bought a set of K2 sideskirts a couple weeks ago, they should be going on this week. Also picket up a set of motoform aluminum wheels, they look alot like Bugatti Type 35 rims, I'm in the process of painting them and finding rubber. Before I put them on, I have to clean up the drums and calipers and give them a coat of paint, probably going to be doing a rear disc conversion using MK4 aluminum calipers, I hate looking at drums through wheels...

P72Ford

07-05-2010, 10:24 AM

It looks like its in awesome shape, Zach.

Whatever happened with the plan for bright green wheels?

Did you ever do any performance mods to this car?

Lincolnmania

07-05-2010, 12:01 PM

drums on that generation jetta?
took brakes from a 95 jetta and put em on a 85 cabriolet a few yrs ago

i'd be looney if i had to see that many nazi cars in one place and have to work on that many lol

RugerP97DC

07-06-2010, 01:45 AM

MMMMmmmm

Manual

"I can shift my own fucking gears thank you very much!"

Caporegime2

07-06-2010, 11:59 AM

I never noticed it but Jetta's got small wheels.

91LTDProject

07-07-2010, 11:08 AM

These are actually an inch bigger thant factory, and I have a set of 16" rims that I'm re-finishing. I'm going to be painting my winter rims lime green, i tried it on a couple steel rims, and its just too over the top for the summer.

Right now, I've mainly been working on making it handle better. This car handled terribly stock. I have a set of H&R coilovers coming this weekend, made in germany, pretty nice stuff. The lowering springs and the lower profile tires on the passat wheels made a drastic difference, but theres still much room for improvement, and with the springs theres way too much of a rake. After I get the suspension the way I like it, I'm going to be upgrading the brakes all around. The rear drums work well, but theyare ugly as sin, so I'm going to be doing a rear disc swap using MK4 aluminum calipers, the MK3 rear calipers are prone to seizing. I've yet to decide what to do with the fronts, you can do a OEM upgrade using Corrado parts, but its not really that big of an upgrade, rotors are like .5" bigger, still uses a single piston caliper, but its larger. I've been considering a Porsche Boxster front brake kit from ECS tuning. Its like $1299 american, but after pricing out all the Corrado stuff new, its only around $300 more.

As for performance,I have a few things planned/in the works. Theres not a whole lot of aftermarket for Diesels, at least not on this continent. I found a guy on VW vortex that makes custom ground camshafts for older diesels, but has not tried one in a TDI yet. He lives just down the escarpment from me, so we are going to put one in this weekend and check the clearances and see if it works. Other future plans include a 2.5" exhaust with no cat or mufflers Its still pretty quiet, I've heard one with this setup), a 2.5" downpipe, Bozzio injector nozzles, chipping the ECM, and a VR6 clutch to prevent slippage. I've not looked into injector pump modifications yet, I dont know much about them, and its not a cheap part to screw up. I also have to getout to dyno and get some baselines, just because I'm curious.

91waggin

08-26-2010, 08:53 PM

i'd be looney if i had to see that many nazi cars in one place and have to work on that many lol

I'm with you there. Fuckin Nazi sleds.

Also, these cars have the most ANNOYING key-in-ignition chime in the whole fucking world. It's three ascending tones. So fucking obnoxious.

And have fun doing any kind of repairs. Nothing is straightforward.

91LTDProject

09-04-2010, 01:00 AM

I'm with you there. Fuckin Nazi sleds.

Also, these cars have the most ANNOYING key-in-ignition chime in the whole fucking world. It's three ascending tones. So fucking obnoxious.

And have fun doing any kind of repairs. Nothing is straightforward.

I've been fixing nothing but Nazi sleds for the last year and a half. Now the way domestics do things looks pretty stupid compared to what I used to think, but thats a whole nother conversation. I can figure out and fix a VW most of the time with just an explanation of the symptoms in most cases. But I do know where your coming from, they are shitty to work on when you dont work on them all day every day....

I like my key chime by the way, I've not gone out of my way to remove it yet, unlike the one in my '85 Ranger...

Anyways, since the last post, I've installed the rear H&R coilovers, added a set of Votex roof racks and recently picked up a set of widened Corrado steel wheels (staggered front/rear, stupid I know, but these are what I wanted since I bought the car, and these were alot cheaper than the $1000-$1500 I would have had to spend to have a set made, so I'll settle for staggered). The rears were rubbing against the fenders quite bad, so I'm renting a fender roller next week, and possibly switching to a lower profile tire for next summer when I order new tires over the winter. Front coilovers are going in next week in time for my roadtrip to Thunder Bay....

http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/ac161/Zman586/DSCF1454.jpg?t=1283579058

http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/ac161/Zman586/DSCF1452.jpg?t=1283579058

torquelover

09-04-2010, 07:44 AM

Looking good!

91LTDProject

09-07-2010, 08:50 PM

Went up to a friends cottage this weekend, ended up getting lost on some single lane dirt road by Tweed, Ontario. Spent 20 minutes on this road only to come to a hill that the Jetta definatly was not going up, so had to backtrack to Tweed again. Mind the goofy looking rear suspension, I didnt have time to swap my tires back on the the Estorils, so to avoid rubbing I had to jack my rear coils. Looks stupid, and rides even worse, but the clearance issues should be taken care of this weekend.... Oh ya, pulled 1000km/tank on the highway this weekend....

http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/ac161/Zman586/DSCF1474.jpg?t=1283909595

http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/ac161/Zman586/DSCF1475.jpg?t=1283909633

http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/ac161/Zman586/DSCF1478.jpg?t=1283909679

^ the road my GPS led me down, at this point I had to stop, behind me while taking the picture, the "road" was full of 3-6" deep grooves cut by rain water and offroaders. The only time my GPS has done anything like this to me in 3 years...

91LTDProject

09-13-2010, 10:56 PM

So, I've been finding alot of bargains for some reason lately. Picked up a set of of factory foglights and a european VR6 front lip. The foglights are installed, had to change the headlight harness, but it wasnt that terrible. I dont have any pictures of them on my car, so I just used a photo off the net. Very large improvement at night. Have not installed the lip yet, just picked it up tonight. Rented a fener roller last week to do my rear fenders, and the tool didnt fit. I ended up "rolling" them with a heat gun and a hammer. Turned out ok, but it is noticeable, so I have to find a set of fender gaurds to install to cover up the parts that are noticeable. Even when I try to do things properly, it still dosent work....And I sepia'd and messed around with one of my car photos, really just posting it up here so I can set is as a desktop on my work laptop....

http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/ac161/Zman586/IMG_0166.jpg?t=1284435884

http://www.goingfast.info/04_05/ebay_sales/images/vento_diego1.jpg

http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/ac161/Zman586/JettaSepia.jpg?t=1284436532

gabegt90

09-13-2010, 11:14 PM

nice zach I like the wheels you have on it. I still see your rocking your same ontario plates you had on since your first 91 vic lol

91LTDProject

09-13-2010, 11:37 PM

nice zach I like the wheels you have on it. I still see your rocking your same ontario plates you had on since your first 91 vic lol

Yup, had those plates on every car I've had on the road, from my first to the present...

johnunit

09-14-2010, 07:37 PM

91LTDProject

09-16-2010, 06:30 PM

That hill is hilarious. You're a wiser man than I, I think I would have probably tried that hill even in a similar car (probably my mom's focus Zx5).

This is about as nice a TDI as I've seen. Makes me want to add it to my list of potential second/gas miser cars.

Only reason I didnt go up was because the car is lowered, and there wouldnt have been a chance of it making it up without getting stuck, I still stood there and contemplated though....

And thanks for the compliment!

Oh, I put new tires on it today, 195/50R15 Continentals. 2nd time in 6 years I've bought new tires. I hate buying tires for some reason....

Rodentkiller

09-17-2010, 06:03 PM

I had to buy new tires after 2 flats so I went and bought 2 new front tires after buying 2 rear tires.

91LTDProject

09-30-2010, 01:20 AM

Just arrived home from a round trip to visit a friend in Thunder Bay, Ontario, a 16 hour drive each way. Driving there + what I drove there + driving back totalled 3244km in roughly 5 days.

I will apologize in advance, I'm too tired to do all the conversions to miles and gallons at the moment. My total fuel useage for the entire trip was roughly 156 liters, around $152cad. My best mpg to a tank was 52.8, my worst was 46.7, and my average for the entire trip was 49mpg. The last time I drove up there was in my first Crown Vic, and I'm pretty sure I used $500-$700cad in fuel....

All in all, I'm pretty happy with the economy, but it could be better. This is with a bone stock (engine wise) 12 year old car, and these things are supposed to get even better mileage with engine mods, just need the time to gather some parts and install them.

Oh, and heres a map to show the distance between Thunder Bay and Sudbury. Car odo said it was 1024km. From my house to Thunder Bay was 1466km

http://geology.com/canada/ontario-map.gif

torquelover

09-30-2010, 06:51 AM

Sweet. I'd like to snag a MK5.5 TDI Passat, but those things are super rare it seems. Matter of fact, I've never seen one. Did they exist in 2.5 V6 format?

91LTDProject

09-30-2010, 10:32 AM

No Passats have had diesels since 2006, in our market anyways. They probably exist in Europe. There are a few 06-up passats with narrow angle V6's in them, I cant think of the displacement at the moment, but they are fairly rare because they were stupidly expensive. They also hauled ass...

johnunit

09-30-2010, 03:11 PM

91LTDProject

09-30-2010, 03:57 PM

Chipped ECM, injector nozzles and free flowing exhaust are the biggies, a clutch should also be done at this time to handle the extra torque. Easiest fuel saving mod is a OD gear swap. Need about $1500-$2000 and time to do everything I want to do to it...

91LTDProject

10-08-2010, 08:05 PM

Picked these up yesterday. Going to re-finish them over the winter. BBS RM's, German made goodness!

http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/ac161/Zman586/IMG_0183.jpg?t=1286584406

And the potential, pretty much what I'm after...

http://www.wheel-whores.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=10541

91LTDProject

11-01-2010, 12:25 AM

Some updates. Picked up a custom made 3" turbo-back exhaust a couple weeks ago, pretty nicely made and cheaper than I could have replicated it for. Exits out the passenger side in front of the rear wheel, has a turndown that tucks up quite nicely, its almost invisible installed. However, the exhaust was made for an older car with a AAZ engine, so the turbo flange/downpipe are different. Currently trying to find a AHU engine downpipe (my engine code) so that I can take them both into a welding shop and have the 3" one modified to fit, that way I dont have to take mine off my car and then have my car un-usable.

And some youtube videos....

dO1hYwGF12Q

Zc1pXsym_ZA

MVOSdSio_ME

351m

11-01-2010, 12:49 AM

You won't like that turbo back dumped in front of the wheel, it will drone like a bitch, also illegal... If it blows any smoke and the right CVSE asshole, or cop(I use that word VERY loosely when it comes to the RCMP) notices it you are at the least getting a fix it ticket to get it out past the passenger compartment. That said, they are great little cars and it should do well for you.

91LTDProject

11-01-2010, 12:23 PM

Its a risk, but the guy running it before was also running alot of performance stuff, so it smoked much more than mine (performance injection pump, injector nozzles), and he ran it for a year and a half without being bothered, also said the noise was no problem. Will see what its like when its on....

91LTDProject

02-08-2011, 01:54 PM

Been a while since I've posted anything. Being jobless, I've held back on doing some things I wanted to do over the winter besides normal maintenance. I picked up a Hood for $10 from an old highschool friend, and decided to do a little paint experiement. After filling all the dents and prepping the hood, I used a paint roller and put on two coats of tremclad primer, followed by three coats of tremclad flat rustpaint. I was pretty impressed with the results, and the paint seems to be holding up well in all the salt/cold. If the paint ends up holding up well, I'm probably going to thin it and spray the car with a gun this summer, just because the paint on this car is absolutely terrible, and theres not a chance I'm spending thousands of dollars painting it. I also need to take care of all the rust issues it has, since I plan on keeping this car for a long time.

http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/ac161/Zman586/DSCF1812.jpg?t=1297194298

http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/ac161/Zman586/DSCF1814.jpg?t=1297194298

http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/ac161/Zman586/DSCF1817.jpg?t=1297194298

http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/ac161/Zman586/DSCF1820.jpg?t=1297194298

Also test fit my new wheels when I swapped my winters on in December. The re-build has been put off until I'm working again...

http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/ac161/Zman586/IMG_0202-1.jpg?t=1297194495

How it sat last summer. One of the Audi techs at work thought I needed some center caps for my wheels....

http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/ac161/Zman586/IMG_0164.jpg?t=1297194538

After the big storm last week...

http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/ac161/Zman586/DSCF1823.jpg?t=1297194621

And where its sitting right now, in all its dirty, salty, wintery goodness....

http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/ac161/Zman586/DSCF1904.jpg?t=1297194721

I have a job interview at 4 this afternoon, hopefully I get the job and I can start stockpiling some parts for spring. First thing that is getting done is a four wheel brake job with a rear disc conversion and stainless lines....

91LTDProject

02-21-2011, 06:34 PM

Ordered almost all of the stuff today I wanted to re-do my braking system come springtime. Slotted rotors front and rear, front and rear ceramic pads, rear disc conversion kit and a full stainless brake hose conversion kit. All thats left is a disc-brake proportioning valve, new front calipers, new master cylinder and to re-do any brake lines that I think are getting crunchy...

I would have liked to have done a big brake upgrade using OEM parts (I think the front brakes end up being 11.3" over the stock 10.1") However, I would not be able to use the rims I want to use, and since I'm not doing any type of competitive driving or anything on a track, the upgraded stock brakes will be fine...

http://c1552172.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/6996_x600.jpg
http://c1552172.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/7176_x600.jpg
http://c1552172.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/105257_x600.jpg
http://c1552172.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/13047_x600.jpg

91LTDProject

04-06-2011, 10:03 PM

Finally received all my brake parts last Saturday, after ordering sometime in mid February. They also fucked up my stainless steel brake hoses. In the picture above (the picture advertising the kit on their website) the lines needed for converting your rear disc brakes to MK4 calipers are pictured, the lines I now need. Opening the box, I found they had sent lines for normal MK3 calipers. I've emailed them, called and left a couple voicemails, talked to a customer rep on their online chat thing who told me to call customer service, which I've not been able to get through to. Its been five days and I cant get an answer as to what they are going to do to solve the problem....

And I took off my intake manifold and cleaned probably a 1/2 pound of carbon out of it and the intake ports in the head tonight. Its a common problem on the VW diesels due to their EGR systems, and mine was no exception. Car feels a bit smoother accelerating, but I'm more curious to see if the fuel economy will change at all. A picture below for reference, not my car, mine was not as bad, but was getting there...

http://www.myturbodiesel.com/images/a4/TB_head_rem/clogged-intake-tdi.jpg

91LTDProject

04-17-2011, 08:10 PM

Just a little vid of starting the Jetta for the first time after the intake cleaning. So far, I've noticed a fair difference in throttle response as well as acceleration, as well as 50km more at half a tank. Still waiting to burn a full tank to get the final numbers in...

hovDptn7D54

Also bought a TDI parts car just for the drivetrain. My neighbour and I got it running and pulled the engine out last week. The engine removal wasnt as sketchy as it looked...

pbmXVZDoT0Q

Nbfx4-G7LTo

In the works at the moment is the 3" side exhaust. I've decided to just go cat-back for now. The only place that makes a 2.5" aftermarket downpipe for this car wants $470 american for it, fuck that. Hope to have it on sometime this week...

91LTDProject

05-29-2011, 06:59 PM

Got the 3" side exhaust on about a month ago, just have not had time to grab a video until today...

2IeF2YUHPMs

91LTDProject

07-17-2011, 11:38 PM

Gave the Jetta some much needed love today in the form of a inside and out cleaning and a coat of wax. My Mom's Saab is on the fritz, so she is borrowing my car to visit my sister, who is currently 5 hours up north. The bad news is that the body on this car seems to have deteriorated alot since last fall. Debating whether to start saving it, or just drive it how it is until the body falls apart, then find a less rusty MK3 to swap the TDI drivetrain and other goodies into. Not too high on the priority list at the moment, car still runs/drives excellent...

http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/ac161/Zman586/DSCF2023.jpg

http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/ac161/Zman586/DSCF2024.jpg

http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/ac161/Zman586/DSCF2028.jpg

The side exhaust tip...

http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/ac161/Zman586/DSCF2029.jpg

Static, meet bags....

http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/ac161/Zman586/DSCF2025.jpg

Also sold the BBS RM's I had for it to fund the purchase of the BBs's for the Mercedes. I had 5 sets of wheels for the Jetta at one point, down to two now....