Mk1 Jetta Coupe Build Thread

Hello All,
My name is Patrick and I am from the US, as vortex sucks anymore I figured I would join the community here and see what its like across the pond. I have been into VW for a long time, first had a Mk3 GTI, then a bagged Mk4 Jetta, then played in the aircooled world for a while, still have a '72 westy type 2 I work on when the jetta pisses me off. This will be a slow build thread and I will catch up to where its at today, from there I hope to post some updates here and there between travel for work. Nice to meet you all!
Patrick

Before fitting the motor I painted the bay the OE color, obviously the rest of the car will be this color as well.

 

I bought the VR6 conversion kit from Sal and S&P Automotive and the guy is a rock star, huge fan of Sal, great customer service, and super knowledgeable. Here are some of the pics from going through the motor, freshening everything up and getting it into the car among other parts.

A few in progress interior shots, had some trashy recaro trophy seats that I bought some covers for and upholstered up myself, they will need broken in, got some nice this leather so its pretty thick. Pay no attention to the details too much so far, was still in the get it running and test mode. Have a friend in Bosnia that helped source all the euro goodies you guys take for granted haha.

Now to get us relatively current, the car rips, should have put an LSD in it from the start, lesson learned, so the motor is currently out, transmission is waiting on diff to show up, supply chain issues, currently prepping the exterior for body metal repair, paint prep and paint, homing to have that done this fall. I also come across some RS's on ebay that were flat back and already redrilled to 4x100, so will be ordering lips and hardware soon, but overall in great shape just lots of clear peel. Pretty happy with them, they are RS041. Oh and i cleaned the garage! added a couple photos of when i took a year driving a beater and having fun, now its time to make it pretty and button it up properly.

ptrckndrsn said

I bought the VR6 conversion kit from Sal and S&P Automotive and the guy is a rock star, huge fan of Sal, great customer service, and super knowledgeable. Here are some of the pics from going through the motor, freshening everything up and getting it into the car among other parts.

 

I also want to use sals kit for my r32 but I'm in the uk, I know he will post etc, just got to calculate import taxes.

mk1 daz said

I also want to use sals kit for my r32 but I'm in the uk, I know he will post etc, just got to calculate import taxes.

He is a super cool guy, I'm sure he would work it out so any of that was slightly offset. If there are any work arounds that I can help with with that let me know, he is only about 6 hours from my house.

ptrckndrsn said

mk1 daz said

I also want to use sals kit for my r32 but I'm in the uk, I know he will post etc, just got to calculate import taxes.

He is a super cool guy, I'm sure he would work it out so any of that was slightly offset. If there are any work arounds that I can help with with that let me know, he is only about 6 hours from my house.

Which parts of the kit did you buy?

As you can see from my build I've nothing.

mk1 daz said

Which parts of the kit did you buy?

As you can see from my build I've nothing.

I will PM you my invoice so you can actually see a list, but in short the mounts, axles, harness, full exhaust (he gets a better price than most) prototype reservoir, it might be on his site now, radiator, basically the whole swap kit. It made things easier since I do all the work myself and have limited time with work travel.

Update, got these polished up, still have final polish but these will do for now. Also used a headlight restore kit to wet sand and polish the center caps. Faces go to powder coat tomorrow!


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Got one door pretty well prepped, well the outside anyway . I got bit my a mosquito on the eyelid so I got mad and went inside, ordered a shop fan immoderately


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Nice car! I see you found a set of Euro headlights. I'm so used to seeing them I forgot they don't come that way in the US. I'm US as well but live in Germany.

I have a build thread around here too, and stay off of Vortex… I've got a euro spec "small block" (1.1 liter) Golf, that I imported then exported again. I've had it about 10 years now, also done. It has a 1.4 (stroked to 1.6) 16V from a '96 Polo nowadays.

Hey thanks! Its a work in progress that's for sure. Yeah I made a buddy in Bosnia that has great prices shipped for euro spec goodies so that is always a bonus. full dash etc as well. Also got an oem jetta euro bumper at a stupid fair price shipped considering what people are asking stateside. Ill look at your build sounds super awesome! I wondered if I would be accepted here since i technically dont have a golf haha.

Quick update, doors are final prepped and skim coated a couple low spots, need to feather them today. Brushed the inside of the trunk, that took a while. Truck and hood hopefully tonight, the fender prep tomorrow and primer on those items on Thursday. I will finish paint the insides of those items but will save the outside to spray all at once.

Oh and the barrels are painted and ready for faces!

Lips are on back order

Hope all are doing well!


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Looking good    we don't get many Jetta coupes in the uk

I have been into the vw game for a while in the Midwest USA, never saw one at a show only in photos, so we’re short of them too, I just fell into this one appreciate the feedback!


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