Ade's Mk1 Jetta C

   Wow. How much filler did the previous owner use?

On the brightside though, the car might be a few kilos lighter once you replace it all with decent metal…       

The fun continues at the back!

Untitled by Adrian Child, on Flickr

Untitled by Adrian Child, on Flickr

Behind the offside rear wheel…

Untitled by Adrian Child, on Flickr

I've never seen anything quite like it…  

Look at it this way; when you finish you are guaranteed a feature in Practical Classics  

I had the same problem area on the rear with mine but not as advanced fortunately, I cut a section out of another spare Jetta I had for parts and had my mate weld it in! Brillant job too

PhilipMcTDI said

I had the same problem area on the rear with mine but not as advanced fortunately, I cut a section out of another spare Jetta I had for parts and had my mate weld it in! Brillant job too

Ideally I'd like to find a rear section from a donor car as it would save a lot of faffing about fabricating bits. Quite hard to come by though

Well since I bought another donor car for parts, I might have the section your looking? Pm me your number if you like, I could what's app you the picture of the areas you need possibly tomorrow if it's not raining and cut them out if I'm done at the car

PhilipMcTDI said

Well since I bought another donor car for parts, I might have the section your looking? Pm me your number if you like, I could what's app you the picture of the areas you need possibly tomorrow if it's not raining and cut them out if I'm done at the car

Thanks!  I've sent you a PM…

IMG_5872 by Adrian Child, on Flickr

Following much tea and deliberation I became very aware that this project is never going to get finished on my tiny drive…  Thankfully, hard work at the (completely non-car-related) day job meant that a move to larger premises was on the cards. So after a year of sitting in the wind, rain and sea air, moving day came:

Loaded up…
IMG_5875 by Adrian Child, on Flickr

And now safely tucked up in the dry!
IMG_5922 by Adrian Child, on Flickr

This really has helped things no end.  A full strip down can now commence and although progress will be slow at least I can plug away at it here and there when I get spare time.

In order to free up some funds and keep the ball rolling with this I've decided I'm going to sell the ABF setup which I was going to put in here and stick with the original small block 1.3.  ABF power would have been nice but realistically I need to focus on getting a solid running car first.

I know there is little in the way of tuning options for the original GF engine but with a good service and some help with induction and exhaust it will be a nice looking and sounding lump.

Look forward to updates.

some amount of work going to go into this.
There is a guy on Facebook just now with a full rear end of a jetta for sale.

He also has a lot of panels, but you have to ask for a lot of images of what you need. As you have found out not everything is as nice as it looks on face value.

But good luck with the project and buy a rollover spit. was the best money I ever spent on my jetta.

Craig

dubway said

some amount of work going to go into this.
There is a guy on Facebook just now with a full rear end of a jetta for sale.

He also has a lot of panels, but you have to ask for a lot of images of what you need. As you have found out not everything is as nice as it looks on face value.

But good luck with the project and buy a rollover spit. was the best money I ever spent on my jetta.

Craig

Do you mean the guy based in Bristol?  If so then yeah, I've seen him on Facebook.  He does seem to have quite a few parts which may be handy; however, like you say, some of them look a little rough.  He's quite far from me but once the car is fully stripped it might be worth a trip over there to see what he has got.  And yes, definitely want a rollover spit.  Toyed with the idea of making one but i'm going to hold out for a bit and see if I can lay my hands on a reasonably priced second hand one first (if such a thing exists!).  

Any updates on this?

Been a while since an update so here goes:

Not much progress has been made thanks to a busy work/life schedule (and lack of funds).  Just really plucking away at the boring bits here and there when I get the time.

Engine is now out, as is the interior, windscreen, most of the wiring, rear beam, all suspension etc. Each element had its issues with removing but got there in the end!  And somehow, I'm still finding filler!

Been stripping bits of underseal and filler here and there when I get an hour or two…  Started marking out and drilling the spot welds for the front inner wings as it's looking like the simplest route is going to be to replace these entirely.  However, I have managed to source panel chops for both front corners so repairing the inner wings as two patch repairs is still an option…  

Next up is fabricating some sort of jig for realigning the inner wings before they get removed/cut out.

Started keeping track of the stripdown/build on youtube;  mainly as a platform to rant and moan about bits when they go badly, but also as a way of keeping my sanity with this rust heap and keeping a bit of a record of how things go back together too!

https://youtu.be/Z2TD5ZG6Spo

https://youtu.be/hQrr16trNdA

Been a while since an update so here goes:

Not much progress has been made thanks to a busy work/life schedule (and lack of funds).  Just really plucking away at the boring bits here and there when I get the time.

Engine is now out, as is the interior, windscreen, most of the wiring, rear beam, all suspension etc. Each element had its issues with removing but got there in the end!  And somehow, I'm still finding filler!

Been stripping bits of underseal and filler here and there when I get an hour or two…  Started marking out and drilling the spot welds for the front inner wings as it's looking like the simplest route is going to be to replace these entirely.  However, I have managed to source panel chops for both front corners so repairing the inner wings as two patch repairs is still an option…  

Next up is fabricating some sort of jig for realigning the inner wings before they get removed/cut out.

Started keeping track of the stripdown/build on youtube;  mainly as a platform to rant and moan about bits when they go badly, but also as a way of keeping my sanity with this rust heap and keeping a bit of a record of how things go back together too!

https://youtu.be/Z2TD5ZG6Spo

https://youtu.be/hQrr16trNdA

Keep at it Ade, progress is progress 😉
I've been at mine for far too long but I'm insane when it comes to detail as I'm sure you know lol

So, I actually managed to spend a couple of hours the other week having a go at the inner wing…

Things got drastic and scary…

Untitled by Adrian Child, on Flickr
Untitled by Adrian Child, on Flickr
Untitled by Adrian Child, on Flickr

Untitled by Adrian Child, on Flickr

Untitled by Adrian Child, on Flickr

But after many measurings and remeasurings:

Untitled by Adrian Child, on Flickr

Untitled by Adrian Child, on Flickr

Actual progress!

Great work Ade, I'm so pleased your back at it

Started the very long a tedious task of scraping out all the sound deadening etc from the boot floor the other day…

Untitled by Adrian Child, on Flickr

Of course, I found some rust…
Untitled by Adrian Child, on Flickr

Untitled by Adrian Child, on Flickr

Nothing surprises me with this car now though so not that fussed by what I found.

All scrubbed up… Still got to do the spare wheel well which will be very awkward in a Jetta!

Untitled by Adrian Child, on Flickr