The MurderWagen - 84 Mk1 Jetta more-door

Thought i'd start a project thread on my Jetta, dubbed 'The MurderWagen' by my mrs, because she reckoned the boot is big enough to fit a body in hahaha
I've owned it 18 months…bought with the insurance payout from my previous project mk1 caddy being smashed to bits by a school run mum not looking where she was going.
Was bone stock when I got it but I quickly got it on coilovers, and picked up a set of original alleycats locally from a vw owner who was selling a jetta that I looked at before buying this one. Couldnt stretch to his asking price on the car but after I bought this one I remembered him mentioning the allycats he had so I rang him up and made an offer  have since picked up some 8j's and a couple more 7j's so now have two full staggered sets. Found a set of S1 bumpers, from Poland of all places, aircraft grade aluminium so no issues with them rotting in our miserable climate.
Car is currently stripped to a rolling shell and 1500 block and auto box is coming out this weekend so I can get started on a  semi shave of the engine bay and battery relocate to the boot in preparation for a 20vt transplant.
I cut a webasto ragtop in last weekend and it was well worth the stomach churning nerves from cutting a huge hole in the roof….fitted a treat and just awaiting me making the loom for it,  but a test with a lashed up test rig to a battery had it opening and closing perfectly  Got an AJH lump with the cable throttle body from an AGU, 100mm shafts, o2a tdi box, dual bias pedal box to give me three pedals and clear the engine bay of the brake bar and servo etc, recored top fill rad and electric fan, and polybushed mounts etc all ready to go …. just need to sort out management and the lambda side of the ecu loom as I didnt get it with the engine unfortunately……planning to run an immo defeated oe setup on a home brewed loom if I can find a guide on pinouts etc.
Bodywork wise, I got lucky….its a very straight original car with no real rot or repair horror stories to put right… theres some minor tidying of the rear arches, new front wings, prep and paint….gonna have a go at this myself, then fit up all the goodies i,ve been storing up…..polished porsche script handles, popout 1/4 vents etc  long story short, ive got a lot of work ahead lol
Tnhis is how it looked before the stripdown commenced….its now a rolling shell with a block lol
 

Looks like a lovely car, will be keeping an eye on this!! Best of luck!

Great looking car. I have an old style Webasto roof which does not have a windbreak/deflector on the front and I believe the new ones do, if they do can you please let me know how they fit as it sounds like you are fitting the roof yourself. I was thinking of fitting one (if they fit) as on the motorway I get alot off wind noise and draft from under the front edge of my roof.

mark1gls said

Great looking car. I have an old style Webasto roof which does not have a windbreak/deflector on the front and I believe the new ones do, if they do can you please let me know how they fit as it sounds like you are fitting the roof yourself. I was thinking of fitting one (if they fit) as on the motorway I get alot off wind noise and draft from under the front edge of my roof.

I used a Hollandia 400 from a 6n polo open air as its self contained as a unit and electric operation ..just cut the hole and the whole thing drops into place….just needs securing. On a polo it has the bolt on type wind deflector but I didnt use it because its pretty bulky and spoils the jetta roofline. Im looking into lower profile ones from other marques to see if theres anything better looking out there that are the same width.

Picked up an engine crane and my 20v lump from m y mates unit last night….my trusty T2 did the part hauling honours once again lol was a mission getting the engine loaded up, and I managed to snap one of the plastic water pipes dragging it into the back of the bus….more expense then!
Ripping out the autospastic motor and box today so i'll get some pics of it looking all sorry for itself and post them later

Engine and box came out lovely…mainly thanks to thirty years worth of oil and grime all over ever bolt and fixing I think….didnt have a single siezed fastening lol
Got a couple of hours in this morning and got the brake bar, servo and mc out, stripped out the pedal box, and made a start on drilling out the spotwelds for all the unnecessary brackets, battery tray and rain tray in the engine bay. Got the grinder going with a wire cup wheel and started in on the seam sealer on the turrets…..reckon wolfsburg had a job lot of it to use up coz its 20mm deep in places!
oh….and the cab sailed through its mot today so all in all a pretty good day