Cali the Jetta

Time to update the exterior…

Wheels and tires… I have wheels that I bought off of my Miata friend Sameer… they are the 7 spoke, 10.3 lbs. Cheap and with tires. They look like this:

They MAY need spacers too look better, but they are SO light. They will make for good track tires eventually. I keep seeing rims I WANT, but I won’t likely buy for a while…

I upgraded from the aeros to euro quad rounds (again, from Dylan). I wired them up via relays to the battery and put in new bulbs. MAN do they light up the road MUCH MUCH better now. I can actually SEE stuff. SO nice. I will eventually get a quad round badgeless grill. Rebecca also bought me a quad round upper eyebrow that I will put in eventually, probably after I get some paint on there.

Chris got me new front bumper, which was a very nice visual improvement on the car. I also got a GLI rear spoiler in black that I may repaint and install as well as a later GTI rear hatch spoiler with an integrated brake light. I would like to figure out a way to install that on the edge of the roof and use the brakelight. We shall see.

I also installed a roof mounted antenna, or fuba. I took the time and ran it through the A pillar as well. It works, although I should reseal it, I don’t think it is tight enough.

That is all the exterior work I have done so far. I would LIKE to eventually paint the car, although I am not sure what color I would do, and I would certainly like to clean up the dings and surface rust spots. We’ll see though, I am not sure I want to spend much money on it though. Perhaps this winter I will sand down the bad places and clean them up… perhaps I will do a coat of flat black or something. heehee.

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SOOO since I started this a bit after I got the car, here is time to update…

I have installed new door cards, Trophy Cards IIRC. They came from Dylan and are in pretty good shape. Small doors rule. All the door vapor barriers were gone, so I had to make new ones. I used a bunch materials, but rumor is that rubber cement works the best. I have yet to try it, but it seems to make sense.

Since the headliner was sagging, I pulled the whole thing down and recovered it. I had visions of ultra-suede/alcantara, but I decided it wasn’t worth the money/time. I ended up with standard black headliner material from the fabric store. The headliner itself was in a couple pieces, but I duct taped it all up and used popsicle sticks to reinforce it. It looks fine. (enough).

From one of the junkyards (the hub) I got a whole bunch of interior panels in black. The A/B/C pillars, the rear parcel shelf in black, visors, oh shit handles, etc. Most of those are in the car….

I ordered black carpet from AAA Auto or something like that, although it remains in the box, as it still occasionly leaks water in big rains, so I need to address the first. I also bought some big deep rubber winter floor mats to protect the pan.

I installed a new head unit where the ashtray was, as well as new speakers and 6x9s in speaker boxes in the rear parcel shelf. They are all cheap components, I think I have like $175 in it all, and it was all new. It sounds good enough for what I use the car for.

I would like to install more interior lights. I need new front seats and a new back seat, preferably black or with black trim. I bought a black dash, but it was kinda damaged in shipping, and I think I have a lead on a better one via Dylan and company.

The plan is to fix the leaks, install the dash (perhaps a mk3 cluster? I need to do more research on that one). Put some gauges in the factory radio spot (I bought a 3 gauge panel already), I am thinking Volt, Oil Pressure, perhaps A/F or oil temp or coolant temp. Once the dash and carpet are in, get the seats in and a couple little things (interior lights, etc) and the interior will be done.

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Stuff I know I need to replace/do, but not sure what the plan is…
front seats
steering wheel
brakes
exhaust
paint

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The current plans:
Missing Linkz
ITBs off a GSXR
Megasquirt
Some stock spark with knock (CIS with Knock, Digi2?)
replace the rear shocks
perhaps get the bilstiens rebuilt
finish the 2.0 ABA bottom
finish the 8v counterflow head
miata rims
badgeless quad round grill
upper grill spoiler
GLI rear trunk lip (maybe)
mk2 golf/gti roof spoiler with brake light (if I can figure out the install)

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I really like these rims for some reason. A couple pics…

That dude had his color matched and polished, stock they are just metal, nothing exciting.

Sure the adaptors are going to cost money. And sure the rims are gonna cost money. And sure, I would have to get the staggered set (16×7 up front, 16×8 out back or something like that…). And rebecca thinks they are ugly and that I don’t need any more wheels and tires. And sure I already have the super sweet super light miata rims.

Maybe when the project gets further ahead. I am looking at more for the adaptors than I am for the rims. That is kinda dumb really.

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So I was driving out to the burbs on saturday afternoon to go visit Rebecca’s family… rebecca was already out there… and the motor mount on the jetta broke. I think it broke a bit before that, but it was just sagging (it kept pulling the wires tight) and it finally gave out… I got the her towed to our garage, and I will need to start working on it sooner rather than later. I am excited. I have big plans…. I would eventually like individual throttle bodies….

The car is in the garage, nice and safe. The plan is to start up the new motor…

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