My Mars Red 1.3 C 1983 Jetta

Hey Sam
Jettas looking splendid!    Id say theres a short somewhere on the back of the instrument cluster thats causing your temp gauge to conk out. It will be summit daft like a bridged cable or damaged piece of circuit track.

Chris

Thanks mate! Yea I'm gonna get the cluster out when I get chance and make sure it all looks ok.

Just want to drive it now!

Nice pic mate.  

Cheers mate!

Grrrr, went to take my mate out for a spin in it today, got to his and he said "show us what youve been doing to it then" so i popped the bonnet, and immediately noticed fuel dripping out the back of the carb…
Also finally stuck a voltmeter on her, and alternator isn't charging the battery, gonna get her booked it for a bit of love, I still need to get the cambelt done so might aswell get a professional eye on it.

Will post results haha.

Get it done properly mate if you aren't sure it'll be worth it in the end.  

Bit of an update,

Since last time I posted in this thread, the fuel dripping from the Carb was because something on the Carb was caught on the bottom of the air box, I don't know what but it was causing fuel to seep out. All sorted though.

A trip to Ultimate Dubs led to some new cleaning stuff!



Problems wise, it turned out the Alternator was kerplunked, due to the head gasket leaking oil onto it. Apparently common on the GF engine. So rather than just sort the alternator I went the whole hog and dropped the car at my mates for some "big jobs" (stuff I don't want to do).

Namely the Head gasket and the Cam belt. Full credit to my mate he spent a couple of hours a night for a week working on it in the freezing cold. I know how cold it was because I was watching and passing stuff haha. With the Jetta's nose sticking into his parent's garage the work was done!



What was going to be the Head gasket and cam belt turned out to be a bit more though!







That rail under the rocker cover on the pic above, anyone know what it is? it had come off and was above the rockers, put it back and it seemed secure.

Anyway, bearing in mind I got a quote for £650 from a garage locally for a cam belt change and head gasket… My mate ended up doing the Head Gasket set, Alternator, Cam Belt, wire tidy, fitted a new rad, new thermostat, coolant flush, oil and filter change, and the Jetta was back together! All for £150!

She would only turn over intermittently though for some reason, I found the main power lead to the starter had seen better days,

so I replaced that sharpish!

Other than that the only issue is coolant leaking from where the flange meets the stat housing, I can't seem to find a gasket so it may have to be a sealant jobby!

Finally discovered today that the intermittent starting is down to a duff battery, put the battery on from my dads Golf and she fired up fine, proper lumpy, but I think I ran her a bit low on the old jungle juice.

Revs seem to stick a bit until I rev a few times… Not too worried though, just want to get to Big Bang!

What a total bargain mate. £150. You owe him big beer tokens mate. Is she running now all sweet?

Haha, tell me about it Smudger!

When he'd finished he said "call it £120 mate"
What a guy… Gave him the £150 obviously lol.

Ordered my battery last night so when that's on she'l be ok I think, got a bit of water coming from near the Heater Matrix so got to investigate that at the weekend.

She runs ok, took her for a spin with my dad and she seemed fine, timing may be slightly out so my mates gonna check.

Fingers crossed she'l get to Big Bang for a good weekend, and hopefully a chat with some Mk1 owners!

Nice one mate. Hope she's running perfectly by then. good to have knowledgable mates who help out

Cheers mate, yea too right!

Smart as

Thanks Dubbuds!

A new shot I took the other day!




Also a quick shot off my phone of the engine bay as it stands, next plans are to hit this with the stick. Powder coating/zinc plating anything I can. I've got a manifold shield on the way with a pipe for the air box. Pretty chuffed with it so far under the bay considering what it was like!

Looks smart mate. Rocker cover needs a clean up

Yea its getting powder coated mate, just gotta make sure its all running sweet before I go spending money on stuff I want rather than need lol.

Strong work cracking Jetta

Just got back from powerflow!
Not to everyones taste i'm sure, but thats a good thing.

Great car, looks very clean. The peashooter exhaust suits the old school look as well  

Did you ever find out what rims they are? (They're almost identical to the early T4 Multivan rims, but obviously with four bolts instead of five)

~ Craig

Thanks mate! yea I was trying to keep it old school.

Still no idea what the wheels are, someone mentioned Passat GT but I don't think thats what they are.

lovely jetta mate