Jetta D/TD

Sorry, not in English yet :-(

After some thought and a little borrowing—a poor student didn't have piles of cash to hand over—this beauty came from AVK to me via a friend.

It was a fair-sized frontal impact. Practically the entire front end needed replacing. That didn't matter much because big bumpers and a wider-spaced grille were planned anyway. The panels weren't expensive either: about 400 Finnish marks for the bonnet, under 300 for both wings, all new aftermarket parts. The radiator was 300 marks, if I remember correctly.

The front end stripped and already straightened on the body jig. We didn't take many project photos back then, so this one seems to move very quickly in pictures... The engine came out because the car was changing colour; the original golden brown was pretty awful...

A trial assembly with the aftermarket panels. I think almost all the panels came from FSE Group. Clear front indicators were bought too. We are nearly ready for paint here.

Originally the Jetta was going to be a completely different colour. The paint shop was out of one of the required tints, though, so we had to choose again. A pleasing Seat colour was quickly found: Kiwi Yellow. Or green... successive Spies & Hecker colour charts call the same shade both yellow and green. I think the code is S5E—or perhaps S6E.

A tinted base was applied to improve coverage... although it ended up nowhere near the final shade.

The Jetta back in our garage, painted and being assembled. Still wearing a temporary extra-headlight grille, which I thought looked terrible. Luckily it sold easily :-) The photo doesn't do the colour justice. I've never had to search for this car, even in a huge car park; you can spot it from miles away...

...and friends were always complaining that I'd driven past them somewhere without waving. You don't always notice ordinary-coloured cars! These are Pekka's winter wheels at the time—Fondmetals, were they...?

When painting cars we often painted our phone covers to match :-) This is Pekka's long-serving 6110.

Next came rust protection and repairs to any rust damage. First the car is lifted and all the muck pressure-washed off, then lowered again and...

...off for sandblasting to remove rust underneath. VW's original underseal is tough stuff; even blasting struggles to remove it. Not pleasant material, either: once moisture gets underneath, rust can spread nicely.

Blasting revealed holes, of course, so more welding was needed. The repaired areas are visible here, with another hole on the other side.

Pekka applying underseal...

...and cavity wax here.

That's what happens when you apply underseal without protective gear. Have to (?) wash your head with solvent :-)

We weren't sparing with the materials; the floor was quite a sight...

Proof that Mari helped too. There was plenty of cleaning because the masking before the tinted base coat wasn't very good. Taping up that handle would have made life easier.

Then the inspection. Nothing to report.

And there it is, a plate on the bumper! Time to drive!

This is how it looked when finished in December 1999. Of course we didn't just drive it after that; little jobs kept happening now and then.

First I needed my own wheels, as Pekka was starting to miss his. These came out of the boxes: 7x15 inches. Topped off with 195/50 Blizzaks.

And this is how it looked with its own wheels.

Summer came and naturally bigger wheels were needed. We ordered DBV Nizzas, 8x17 inches, ET35. Not premium wheels and rather heavy, but they did the job well. They proved strong too: when Pekka later badly crashed his car wearing these, the wheels stayed straight even though the rear axle, for instance, was completely bent.

The Jetta on those wheels. Suspension was Koni Sports with unknown lowering springs for a 1.3 Golf, bought through the classifieds. They lowered the Jetta by at least 60 mm. We ground some material from the inward-facing rear arch lips so the tyres could clear over bumps, though they still rubbed with a heavy load. I used the grinder at the front too, where they tended to catch while turning.

In June 2000 I went to Bug Run in Sweden and brought back a Kamei grille spoiler, shown here on its way to paint.

The spoiler installed. A pathetic tape arrangement attempted a Rallye look. It wasn't long before I was embarrassed enough to peel it off.

Finally a view of the engine bay. I probably haven't mentioned that the car was originally naturally aspirated. The turbo hasn't been fitted here yet; more on that on the next page.

That summer the rear lights were tinted with a mix of paint and clear coat. The master painter managed a couple of runs, and I didn't dare take those lights to an inspection. No other complaints about them, though. I think the side repeaters are already dark ones here too, bought that way rather than painted.

The old springs were getting tired and very soft. There were also rumours that inspections were checking these more closely and requiring a modification inspection. I ordered new AP Sportfahrwerk lowering springs, rated at 40 mm. The old springs were even shorter, as the photo shows. I'd heard negative reports about the brand, but they worked quite well on the Jetta.

The springs installed... still looks quite low. The dampers are the Koni Sports bought during the first winter.

The car sat level too. Jettas often sag at the rear with springs designed for the lighter Golf, but Koni Sports let you adjust the lower spring seat height to level the car.

As mentioned, in late winter 2001 we fitted a turbo from what I think was a 1990 Golf. It added a hell of a lot of power; I never regretted fitting it. The standard injection pump wasn't ideal, so a TD pump was also needed. A suitable one came from a Transporter. Less smoke, and probably slightly lower fuel consumption too.

In autumn 2001 the head gasket failed, pushing oil into the coolant. It was about time to replace it, with 290,000 km covered. Here the engine is open for the gasket change.

Some of the parts replaced. While the engine was apart we changed the timing belt and two of the three oil seals. We chose the strongest head gasket available.

The head and turbo. About 0.8 bar of boost. I'd had an intercooler for ages too but never got around to installing it.

The brake master cylinder began leaking internally, with the pedal slowly sinking when pressed. Time to replace it. The old parts are removed here. I fitted a larger Vento servo and a Vento master cylinder. The pedal pushrod needed a little welding, but the brakes are good now! At the inspection they were as evenly balanced as could be.

The last modifications, December 2001: clear rear lights! Not many sets in Finland. I ordered them from the USA for myself and a few others. Doesn't it look good? You won't meet another set straight away. Actually, the quality was pretty rubbish... and finding bulbs in the right colours was difficult.

Those clear rear lights look interesting in the dark... only the sidelights are on here.

The Transporter injection pump. Turning in the screw in the middle of the photo increases fuelling. First the fuel return hose had to be removed to make room. After adjusting fuelling, the idle speed needs adjusting; its screw is just visible behind the fuelling screw. After the inspection I increased fuelling by about one and a half turns, which is quite a lot.

I eventually sold the Jetta in August 2002 looking like this. It went to a friend in the same village, so I kept seeing it regularly afterwards. It seems to have held up well.