[BoostAddict]

I know, not a BMW but I figured I would share anyway since more than likely I'll be driving this to any future BMW meets.


3/19/12
So it begins. Kind of a birthday present to myself since my birthday is in a few days I'm doing something I've been wanting to do for some time now. I've been wanting to acquire a car for a while that I could be build up, beat, and basically not car too much about. This is going to be a slow process as I am a college student and the budget is tight. I also prefer to things the way I want it the first time, so I would rather take longer to put it together.

The car is a Black 1997 Jetta TDI. I acquired the car from a really good friend of mine for $300. He was the original owner, and put 311,000 miles on it. He took it apart for a rebuild like 4 years ago, had some life issues pop up, and just kind never finished putting it together since at that point it wasn't his DD anymore. The paint is still good with the exception of the roof. Currently the car has no motor, no transmission, and no front bumper and headlights. It already has upgraded springs and shocks, I think tokico, and comes with bilsteins and H&R springs in the trunk. Also comes with a G60 transmission, although I don't know if I going to use it. I know I could easily by a running one for the same of less than what this is all going to cost me, but then I'm just going to have a stock car. Essentially, I should be able to have everything upgraded for a round the same amount of money.

The plan as of now is doing an ABA 16v Turbo. Essentially a 8 valve block, with a 16v head. Starting goal is 400whp, and going up from there. EMS will be a megasquirt 1. I haven't decided which transmission I want to use yet. I'd love to reuse the TDi tranny, but it needs a new 1st gear synchro. So it depends how much it is to replace the synchro. I just loved those gears on my friend's turbo cabby. (Now using a G60 Transmission)

So as of now, not much has started yet. Today, I spend an hour decreasing the engine bay. The TDI short block is in it still. so I will be removing it this week. I also have to remove all my buddy's stuff from the car. I don't have a lot of time this week, but I hope to have the car cleaned up and at my house this weekend.

And some pics of the fine vehicle, and my buddy's turbo MKI Rabbit in the background.

[BoostAddict]

3/28/12
As of Sunday night, the Jetta is officially living in my garage thanks to MysticZ. Luckily, I live pretty close to my friends house that we towed it from. The car basically has no brakes, and the engine was dragging on road and caused a lot of sparks. We made it safely, and didn't lose too many parts on the way.



Tonight I was able to get a few things done. I removed the old TDi engine, removed the engine harness, removed the A/c lines and condenser, removed the coolant hoses from the fire wall for the heater core, removed the power steering pump and half of the lines, removed the factory ecu, removed the old boost gauge, and removed the old boost control setup. Not bad for 2 hours of work. Tomorrow might be the day I go find an engine. Just depends how much hw I get done in the morning.

Lifting old Motor out


Couldn't resist this photo op


getting rid of power steering


An empty Engine Bay


Went and pulled of a PL 16v. Big cams coming soon.

[BoostAddict]

5/6/12
Things are moving a little quicker now that I'm done with school. Unfortunately, Summer A starts in a week. Good news is, it is time to go get a motor.

Here's what's been done so far,

New seats are in


Put in new control arms and ball joints. All polyurethane bushings


Had to cut down the poly bushings and metal sleeves to make them fit


Polyurethane sway bar bushings


And of course some new shoes, Varrstoen V2 15x8 +15. This is up on jack stands still

How it really sits

[Redrkt503]

good luck on the project!

[BoostAddict]

Originally Posted by zanelefko

good luck on the project!

Thanks!


Well yesterday I went to the junkyard with a buddy to get a motor. We found one that looked really clean, too clean. After pulling it out, and removing the head, we deemed the motor no good. It appears to have a cracked block. We could tell the head had been pulled, and checked (somebody wrote "OK" on the head in sharpie". The only logical reason it could be so clean and in the junkyard was that it wasn't repairable. The coolant passages were filled with a milky gunk. So, we decided not to take a chance.

On the bright side, I did score some OEM smoked tail lights and new plastic center piece for the trunk. The car looks a lot less junky now.

[BoostAddict]

Well, I finally got a block. Bought from a guy on craigslist for$50 . It has ~220k miles on it. It doesn't look like much now, but after the rebuild it will be as good as new. ARP rod bolts, and Clevite P-Series (Mahle) rod bearings came in this week. Waiting on my Deeves piston rings, "made from a special swedish alloy" lol, which should be here on Wednesday. I'll be dropping off the rods at the Machine shop on Monday. Looks Like I'll be reassembling the motor Thursday, and will hopefully be in the car this weekend.

[BoostAddict]

Update!

I assembled the bottom end last night. This motor is very tight, and should be good to rev to 9,000RPM, and hold 600+hp!

Hardware:
-Clevite Rod bearings
-ARP Rod Bolts (from a Mustang 302 ground down to fit the VW Rod)
-Deeves Swedish Alloy Rings

All with stock rods and pistons

I also painted the block, transmission, and engine bay.

Last night the head was also disassembled, but not rebuilt. Upon removing the valves it became apparent I was sent 3 groove keepers instead of single groove keepers. So I'll have to wait for parts some more.

[BoostAddict]

Yesterday was productive. I ordered my manifold, the 034 motorsports Cast 16v manifold. Also ordered my turbo from Michael@ETS. I ended up getting a precision 6266.

Last night RabbitPusher and I got a little bit of work done.

He put the flywheel, clutch, and pressure plate on, in a very gay fashion lol


And I bolted the tranny to the block. Almost ready to go in.

[BoostAddict]

Finally getting to do some cool stuff now. I've never done any type of fab work, so I'm proud of this. They no longer make baffled oil pans for ABA's, and since I plan to track this car it is necessary. Lucky for RabbitPusher and I, Peter@Road-N-Race has one. He let Rabbit pusher borrow it to make a template, and we bought some sheet metal and got to work.

Used a plasma cutter


Baffles and Windage Track (Still going to be cleaned up)


Mock up




Going to head over to RabbitPushers house now and let him Weld it up.

Also Received My turbo today, a Fedex literally is pulling into my driveway as I type with my manifold.

Precision 6266 T3 .63 A/R SP Cover


034 Manifold




I'm getting really pumped now, hopefully we'll be putting the motor in tonight.

[muzzammil15]

Very nice!!!!!

[fireline43]

I'm still in love with jetta, even though they get a bad rap.

[BoostAddict]

Originally Posted by muzzammil15

Very nice!!!!!

Thanks

Originally Posted by fireline43

I'm still in love with jetta, even though they get a bad rap.

Yeah, all the hella flush hipsters have ruined these cars. I would have honestly preferred an e36, but with my budget this was as good as I could get. And the car is certainly growing on me.

[BoostAddict]

Ok, The motor is in. The other Justin came over tonight, yes two Justin's, and we got some stuff done. We didn't have an engine hoist so we each picked up one end of the motor and tranny and set it in. The 16v Oil pump is on and so is the intermediate shaft. I just need a 16v crank pulley now. The oil pan is going to have to come down again. Justin turned the motor with a wrench and the crank was scrapping against the flaps on my windage tray, so I'm going to have to bend the flaps down a little more. The Black forest Industries motor mounts are super stiff. Basically solid. So getting all the motor mounts bolted was a bit tricky. I'm pretty happy now though.

[Kid Red]

Amazing stuff, good luck with the build!

[BoostAddict]

Justin's brother came down and taught how to build the head. I learned a lot. It was a pretty big pain since we didn't have a good spring compressor. We replaced the valve stem seals, lapped the valves, and put 034 Motorsport valve springs in. These have a 92lb seat pressure. Then we bolted up the manifold fold, turbo, and wastegate to the head and torqued it down. I threw the cams in also. So the motor itself is down for now. I purchased 20.3psi of springs for the wastegate, what a bitch that was to change using my only hands. The firewall required a good beating to allow the turbo to fit. Plenty of clearance now.

A buddy of mine donated an 02J shifter box. The one I has was giving me problems so, and this box is much more crisp so I made the switch. Only issue is the cables are a couple inches too short to allow the cable bracket to attach to the transmission. I did some cutting and moved the box 1inch forward, but still not enough. So we are just going to make a bracket.

[GetSomeE92]

Pretty cool. How much more to go before you're done?

[BoostAddict]

Originally Posted by GetSomeE92

Pretty cool. How much more to go before you're done?

Next step is building an intake manifold, exhaust, fuel system, then wiring it all up. I'm getting close now.

[GetSomeE92]

Originally Posted by ***********

Next step is building an intake manifold, exhaust, fuel system, then wiring it all up. I'm getting close now.

You going to weld it all up yourself? You must have one hell of a garage! I live in a condo, so it's safe to say that I'm jealous.

I take it you're going to put together some sort of sheet metal intake? Do you have a design in mind for the angles, flow and runner length?

[BoostAddict]

Originally Posted by GetSomeE92

You going to weld it all up yourself? You must have one hell of a garage! I live in a condo, so it's safe to say that I'm jealous.

I take it you're going to put together some sort of sheet metal intake? Do you have a design in mind for the angles, flow and runner length?

My HOA reminds me every month they don't enjoy it as much as I do lol

My buddy is going to weld everything up for me. He's a lot better of a welder than I am. The intake manifold is going to be pretty basic. Probably 3-4" oval runners. I wanted to do an equal length manifold, but don't think I have the room up front.

[madmanhiker]

subscribed. love the build process, can't wait to see the finished product! good luck!

[BoostAddict]

Originally Posted by madmanhiker

subscribed. love the build process, can't wait to see the finished product! good luck!

Thanks! I'm getting excited because the to-do list gets smaller everyday!

[Bme30]

Originally Posted by ***********

Thanks! I'm getting excited because the to-do list gets smaller everyday!

Justin that thing is gonna be beast!!! I cant believe you are doing this all in your garage lol EPIC!