Volkswagen Jetta MK1 1981 restoration project (56K warning!!!)

[BID112]

This topic is about my new car that i bought 20 may.
It's a Volkswagen Jetta (mk1) 1600 diesel from 1981

You may ask your self why the hell would you buy a VW Jetta from 1981, well it's cheap to ride considering the fuel and the Dutch law about oldtimers.


Well lets skip to some pictures!!


Some pics when i bought it ;













as you can see it's in pretty "bad" shape, considering the rust. The car is running, and all the electronics are working so it's mainly cosmetic
It has been running for about 150.000km (93.750miles)

So we (that's me (BID112) and a good friend of mine (B33R) and the help of some other friends and my dad ) are trying (well not trying) to make it road legal and more than that in a good way (i dont want to end in carbage )

Here's some pics of the first day we put some work in it;


















Many days to come



Well i hope you guys get the spirit let me know what you think about it, and if you have some tips/ideas they're always welcome

I'm trying to keep this topic up and runnin'

[B33R]

Here are some updates,

we were testing a new rimm (the set is still at the owner's)
It fits the car, the only thing we need is some spacers and we're gonna drop it about 2-3cm's

here are the rimms we're thinkin' about (if u know the brand/model of those rimms, plz contact me or bid112)

also, if u know rimms that would look great on the Jetta, let us know!!!

here are the pics of the rimms we're thinkin about:








Scream if u know stuff about the car u think is interesting, usefull or funny!

[m4v1s]

old VWs

im a little jealous

[Greatgraddage]

Are you keeping the old diesel engine or swapping it? It'll be cheap bit so very slow (I drive a 1.4 diesel, I know the feeling!). Are you just getting it road worthy with alloys or doing any other mods? I like the project though, will be good fun just restoring it whatever you do!

[BID112]

Originally Posted by Greatgraddage

Are you keeping the old diesel engine or swapping it? It'll be cheap bit so very slow (I drive a 1.4 diesel, I know the feeling!). Are you just getting it road worthy with alloys or doing any other mods? I like the project though, will be good fun just restoring it whatever you do!

I think i will use the engine for the first months (it's my first diesel engine ) maybe after that i will think about swapping it for something faster.
Mods well not at the moment, i still don't know what style i want to apply on the Jetta (ratlook, retro etc..) so the first thing i'm focusing on is making it road legal

[SoxXpupPeT]

Damn! i thought my pictures were big lol. like the car but Love those seats! did you murder something from a Dr Seuss book and cover your seats with it ? haha im joking GL on the rebuild. there aint nothing better then a good build!

[B33R]

Originally Posted by BID112

wahahaha, finally a pic of me(laying on the ground) on FG.com

Originally Posted by m4v1s

old VWs

im a little jealous

there is gonna be a sh*tload off work to be done...
but around here there are some carpart-dealers that still have golf mk1's and sometimes even jetta's(we like to think)
are there some old VW's at the other end off the pont?


love it to see some comemnts so quickly

well like we said, tips are welcome!

[BID112]

Update time

Well i need a "new" fender for the jetta (maybe you noticed it's missing ) so i was looking for one at the local scrapyards but no luck but i found a doorhandle with working lock, because mine was broken so that was pretty need.
So luckily it wasn't a wasted of time.

After all that me and my dad decided to clean the jetta from most of the rust in the trunk, and discovered a sh*t load off holes that where filled in with rust ah well it keeps you bussy. Then it become time to call it a day.

Here are some pics;

[B33R]

^ Where did you find the rust?

(Native mode: hadden we/jullie die van te voren al ontdekt of issie nieuw?)

good te see you've found some doorhandles...got a sollution for the driver-side door lock problem already?

[BID112]

Originally Posted by B33R

^ Where did you find the rust?

(Native mode: hadden we/jullie die van te voren al ontdekt of issie nieuw?)

good te see you've found some doorhandles...got a sollution for the driver-side door lock problem already?

Well we found most of the rust and holes in the corners by the taillights tricky to weld.
and no i dind't found a sollution for that door lock problem, tuesday i will try again.

(Native mode: ik neem aan dat je het over die roest gaten hebt? zoja, nou de meeste zijn nieuw mja dinsdag verder.)

[Dsemaj]

You know what would make it awesome? Getting a front clip off a Golf GTi. Wouldn't they be pretty much the same being as the Jetta and Golf are very closely related, or is there a whole lot more in it than what I think?

[B33R]

cool idea...but bid112 loves the square headlights of the jetta (i do too)

what i like about the idea is the red stripings along the edge of the grill...i'm gonna tell it to the owner(BID112) @ thuesday when we're gonna work on the project again!

[Wizegui]

Ahhh these old VW diesels are solid cars. Simple honest to god mechanics that won't go wrong if you maintain it properly. The best thing about these old diesels is that they don't have any fancy common rail injection or whatever, so you can run it on chip and fat or vegetable oil. Yah, does need a bit of work, but it'll be great once you've finished with it. Those seat covers need to go. God knows how many bugs live it in... Would it be a good idea to turbo charge it? Maybe it'll remove some of the sluggishness of an old diesel.

[BID112]

Off topic!
My server went offline but i got it up and running, plus i make the pics something smaller

[yoshi_]

I like the style of rims... keep us updated.

[bone]

@ BID112

do you know www.cleaned.be?
if you need parts or info, you definately should check there
belgian, but i think there are a lot of dutch members as well

[BID112]

Originally Posted by bone

@ BID112

do you know www.cleaned.be?
if you need parts or info, you definately should check there
belgian, but i think there are a lot of dutch members as well

I know cleaned.be i'm already a member but i still need to open a topic

[Beni]

To remove rust try using a wire brush for the angle grinder, it's much better for uneven surfaces then the disk. They're not expensive and will last quite long.






Looks like a bit of work if you do it properly, I wish you god luck!

[B33R]

^thx for the tip

any chanse u know where to buy them in germany...(living close to the border so)

[Beni]

All the hardware stores I know have them for the angle grinder (Bauhaus, Hornbach, Praktiker etc.), they're about 5€ to 7€, but well worth the money.

If there is a discount hardware store you might save another €.