MK1 Jetta Coupe 20vt

I thought i'd bung up some information and pics of my little car.

It a 1981 Jetta 2 door converted to RHD.

Now some of you may have seen this car before, even tho its only had 2 owners in this country it does seemed to have been pimped out a bit on picture threads, probably because its a dam cool car.  I'd never ever normally buy a car that has been part built by someone else, but i love this little car and just need to but my own flair to it.
My mate brought it about 6 months ago and i did encourage him to get it because he'd always wanted a 20v mk1. It needed a bit of love and would be an easy project for him to spring clean. He brought a few parts for it, but never drove it. In fact i drove it more than him. He's not really a spanner man, but a few of us were willing to help him. He just left it sat in the garage collecting dust.

I sold my 996 and wanted an 80's 911 to add to my collection, then he mentioned he was thinking of selling the jetta and would i be interested. It was a deal to me only because he knew i'd look after it and he can still ride shotgun and borrow it when ever he wants.

Deal was done and now she is mine . He also gave me all the little bits he brought for it, badges, chrome trim, g60 brakes, wheels, sound deadening, lower dash trims, etc, etc,

Now i've had this cough flu thing and felt rough, so i didnt look at it too much until the other day.
Well i'm glad i did because it cheered me up no end.
Where do i start?

Dump valve, well thats fitted in the air intake, so air gets sucked in through the air filter and then goes back out the dump valve 6 inches later, good job batman

Next up the roll cage, well i say roll cage, but its a really a selection of metal tubes in the back. The bolts that hold it to the floor wouldnt even hold a cheese sandwich together.  In a crash the thing would be blooming lethal.

There are plenty of random hoses and pipes hanging about in the bay doing nothing, so they need binning.

The boost pipe to the inlet takes the longest most random route ever, who ever fitted it would get a bus from london to glasgow via bournemouth.

It had the most horrendous rev counter and gauges ever. The rev counter, that bloody rev counter, what can i say, other than oh my god they drilled 2 holes in top of a very good condition dashboard. So i now need a new dash! Out of the other 3 multi coloured gauges only the boost one worked. Of  course the coloured lights worked, but the gauges did nothing other than blind you.


Now dont get me wrong, the engine conversion its self has been done very well and the engine runs beautifully.
It drives really well and the shell in virtually rust free and very straight.


First job even before i rolled it out the garage was to rip that rev counter off. Then i took out the other gauges, added some lower dash trays, some temporary carpet out of a mates 5 door. The buckets it came with had been sold and the stupid little steering wheel binned. Its now running basic 5 door front seats and a stock 2 spoke wheel so it can still be driven. The classic inertia schroth harnesses rock and they are about the only interior part staying. Chrome door pins and mirror adjusters binned. Put a standard gear knob back on it along with an early stock gear gaiter and surround.

It had carbon door cards, i've taken them off. The car didnt lock and the handles didnt work when my mate got, so they still didnt when i got it. I had a key made for the original boot lock so that locks now. Then fitted some black 944 handles that worked and werent bling.  Next up put some badges on, he managed to find a volkswagen and mk1 jetta badge and gave them to me with the car. Then i put the lower chrome trim on, this will come back off to be polished soon. Someone had rattle canned the mirrors in the past and they looked awful, so they came off and some black flags went on.  

Someone has also had there rattle can out on the front grill too, so i need to sit and strip all the paint of off.


It arrived like this complete with 3 OZ polaris and 1 steel.



Then it had some re built RM's on it and the interior changed.




Gash rev counter hanging off and the carpet, seats, steering wheel, etc are in.



These have now gone too



Handles, flags and trim on





I have quite a few plans for the Jetta, already got lots of little bits for it and still getting more.

First up is to get rid of the nasty number plates, then the interior is being stripped back and being re done.

I like that.  8)

Hope the Golf Police don't bag on you for it being a Jetta.
Had a Mk2 jetta, loved it, my dream car is a Mk2, synchro, 2 door with some looney engine.  

For most pics I could use my thumb to cover the boot up !!

Yet again proof the 2 doors are far superior to 4 !!!

Keep the pics coming !!

i put the dash and dash loom in that when Ste converted it to rhd, you might wanna source a new engine loom as that one is a bit of a mess (if i remember right the lighting loom was melted)

shame to see it being passed around so much now, give it some love, its a right weapon, pulled 230bhp on the rollers at performance torque

i have another dash and a set of stock black door cards if interested?

Which part of the loom was cooked and do you know why it was cooked?
It all seems to work fine, but i will check it out. Thanks for the heads up.

I could be tempted for the dash, i#m off to look at one tomorrow if its no good i'll give you a shout. PM with a price for the cards

I'm in shock it pulled 230 on the rollers. It runs really rich and cant be doing more than 140 bhp. I was planning on getting it mapped at jabba or the phirm as they are just down the road. I can imagine the rubbish boost pipes with holes in help and the fact the dump valve is dumping all the air it needs .  If you've seen it run 230 then the map should still be in there and i'll make sure its back healthy soon.

Cheers for the comments people off to get loads of little bits tomorrow.

Got some front seats on the way.

I'm ordering some carpet from Newton next week as they did a cracking job on the carpet for my Ghia.

I also got an original set of 7 x 16 RS's too. I will split them and spruce them up a little and make them fit.
There is 4, the rest are in the boot.

lhasadreams said

For most pics I could use my thumb to cover the boot up !!
!

Ha ha yeah we do that all the time if we're unsure how its looking

Surely the mk1 police will be ok with it, if you dont look in the rear view mirror you'd never know

loom for the o/s headlight if i remember right, ste imported it as a non runner and was like that when he got it, i juts chopped the feed out for the lights and run a new one in with whatever cable i could find in the unit at the time (needed to get it working asap as was about to go to international or something that day)
100% pulled 230, it runs qpeng management on a ko3s (its a new/rebuilt turbo too and also a rebuilt 16v rod change box so picks up real fast too)
i loved that car when he had it, the only thing i couldnt live with was that the fuel pump was on the inside of the car and was a bit noisy.
sent you a pm too

A bit noisy, my god that is an understatement , Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggggggggggghhhh
hhhhhhhhhhhh
click  BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
H!

Its been moved to the boot, but its still silly loud. Its either going under the car or in the spare wheel well that will by sound proofed and the pumps wrapped in a silicone hose to deaden them.

Its a bitch to get into first, i guess it must be the bushes. The box is spot on. Glad to hear it has a k03s, i hadnt got as far as checking what one it was running. Knew it was on qpeng so thought i'd get the map looked at once i've done all the other bits.

I'm also after some mk1 golf or jetta LHD wipers.
Also some MK1 Jetta front indicators in orange.

If anyone has any pm me.

have sent you a pm fella

I absolutly love 2 door Jettas, and can see that this'll be a beaut when your done. Those BBS really suit it, and I love Jetta rear seats with the head rests built in. I'm defo gonna keep an eye on this build thread, are you coming to the AGM in july in it?

Nice looking Jetta, are you going to be taking it to Dubs at the park?

Yep i will try and take it to dubs in the park, but it will still be looking a state.

I'd like to go to the AGM. but its blooming miles away. May camp over, i'll see nearer the time.

s1oww said

Yep i will try and take it to dubs in the park, but it will still be looking a state.

That's ok, this might be of interest then http://www.vwgolfmk1.org.uk/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=72136&start=15

Sweet, cheers for the link. I'll try to make it.

I've been stuff shopping, got a new dash, fan switch, rhd early sun visors, window winders, front number plate mount, ash tray, cig lighter, could go on  but its a boring parts list.

New seats arrived today too. Now to the trimmers to have a few tweeks done to them.

I took it to to see Tim at the Phirm and we went through lots on it. All in all he thought it was done really well, just needs some love and a lot of tidying, just as i planned.

I'm sure it cant have run 230, it has the std outlet on it, dump valve is in the wrong place letting in and out air, it also only peaks at about 8-10psi.

All the bloody noisy fuel pumps are fitted in the wrong place. They are gravity fed pumps mounted higher than the tank with no lift pump so they are struggling all the time.
A lift pump will be going in and a swirl pot to make sure it never misses a beat.

its got 230 fella, 100%, ran a 14 sec quarter at the pod with a slipping clutch
power is all there, just hit it with the spanners to release it

Tim and i sat and looked at it for ages, it must have had some bits taken off since it ran 230 then.
I will certainly be on the hunt for this 230

I'm aiming to run it at just over 200.

Yay i'm back

Havent had much time to do anything to the jetta this week, anytime has been on the merc.

I have managed to get the cage out, even tho some of the bolts needed cutting off because they'd pulled into the floor. Its left plenty of holes that i need to weld up.

I've also got another dash, some new seats that will be trimmed.
Ordered the new carpet, but it will take 3-4 weeks to be made.

Ripped off that horrid square plate and found even more holes for me to fix.


This is now gone. Still cant get over the bolts that held it in.







Much better




One of the engine, including my tapped up boost pipe










Took it out to dubs in the park with a few mk1 golf owners, even if it did look a state.
I managed to get the odd snap of my car in between the chavs surrounding Tims mk4




I've stripped the interior back out to fix to few holes left by the cage. As i thought, the cage did nothing, there is no more scuttle or twist than before.
I'll leave all the braces in as they are doing a good job.

I took it for a spin as a bare shell and it's so much fun. I'd forgotten just how much fun a fast front wheel drive car is. It puts a much bigger smile on my face than the porsche did thats for sure.

Welded up all the cage holes and tidied up a few other bits. I couldnt find a brush so i had to put the seam sealer on with a trowel, hence why it looks a bit rough.

I've taken my new seats to be trimmed and the carpet arrived this morning.







A quick snap from my front door.

Been out and made the door cards, just need to do the rear shelf and then they can be trimmed.
Struggling to find the material i want, but i'm sure i'll find something.



Split one wheel (and what a sod that was) so i can take it round a few machine shops.