I'm Back!, From a 2003 To a 2004 Years Later.

I sold my 2003 about 3 years ago to buy a MINI, and it was the worst mistake I've ever made. I miss my old Jetta every day I look at pictures of it and found this 2004 for a price I couldn't refuse.

Paid $2,500 for it with 250xxx miles, black leather, Malone stage 2 tune, and a Frostheater preinstalled. The cons are it is on Racelands, typical rust starting on the rockers and bottom of fenders, but it has been well maintained aside from that.

Only problem is it is in need of a turbo, intercooler, and charge piping to fix a constant underboost issue. The actuator doesn't hold vacuum, the intercooler has a hole in it, and the way the PD charge piping seals chaps my a$$.

But without further or due:

Those wheels look nice.

What size are they?

Very nice!

Really liked your '03, saw it up at Matt's shop.

mrrhtuner said:

Those wheels look nice.

What size are they?

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Thanks, they are a 17"

Countryboy07 said:

Very nice!

Really liked your '03, saw it up at Matt's shop.

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Thank you, I miss that car terribly. It is in Gobles, MI and I thought about reaching out to him and trying to buy it back but I found a hell of a deal on this BEW.

This one will be at his shop for the next week or two getting some love.

17/56 turbo
Whitbread downpipe
Whitbread charge piping
SMIC
Colt cam & new lifters
Southbend kevlar clutch
Brake booster
New tuning by Mike at TD Tuning
Possibly Passat injectors

i have a stock vnt 15 turbo for sale only 135,000 miles. In perfect condition and verified so by a TDI guru who removed it for my vnt 17 upgrade

Thanks for the offer, but I already have a new 17/56 sitting at the shop waiting til I can get the car to Matt Whitbreads shop after the new year. Matt'll be doing a custom downpipe, intercooler piping, and induction piping at the time of install.


I've also got a clutch showing up Monday, as well as a brake booster to install with a new dogbone mount due to mine being blown out.


The car just got:
New rear calipers
New park brake cables
Brake flush
Crank sensor due to prolonged starts
New tail lights due to water ingress into the driver side
Sunroof drains sealed and fixed
Left rear wheel speed sensor
Passenger heated seat switch
Rear defrost switch
SBC Stage 3 Endurance
New slave cylinder
Brake booster
New axles
Rear main seal

All of which took me from 4 illuminated dash lights to just one, that being the CEL for the vane actuator not meeting setpoint.

Sounds like it will be a pretty fun car when all put together.

Have you been able to reach Whitbread? Many people are trying to contact him but it seems like he fell off the face of the earth with people's jobs/cars outstanding.

mrrhtuner said:

Have you been able to reach Whitbread? Many people are trying to contact him but it seems like he fell off the face of the earth with people's jobs/cars outstanding.

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He is currently up north working on his new shop, which needs to be finished on a deadline as he needs to be out of his current shop.

Where he is up there doesn't have cell service, and he is up to his ears in work and getting the building together.

He's still here, just overwhelmed at the moment.

Looks great!! Good luck with it

im no hero x said:

Looks great!! Good luck with it

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Thanks,

I wish I had taken more pictures as I was installing the clutch, cam, other little odds and ends, but I'm not much of a editorial when I'm on a war path to get things done.

So I guess I'll have to make sure to get more pictures when Matt is doing the turbo setup to make up for the lack of other pictures.

As of right now the car is at the body shop getting some rust along the windshield fixed and a new windshield installed.

nkfry said:

Thanks, they are a 17"

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Do you know what brand these wheels are?

mrrhtuner said:

Do you know what brand these wheels are?

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All I know is they are a "Drag" wheel, came with the car and are supposed to be a BBS ish look alike.

I'm not sure how I feel about them, I may start looking for a clean set of Santa Monicas.

Progress as of late:

The Racelands that came off


The Bilstein Tourings on Eibach sport coils that replaced the Raceland setup


And the Powerflex bushings that replaced the factory front control arm bushings




I also used Powerflex strut mounts instead of factory setups, they look great and came with the option of lowering the front suspension 10mm. Overall with just the shocks, springs, and PF bushings, the car handles worlds better than on the Racelands and stock bushings. There's sure to still be a swaybar on the way at some point, but I also have an R53 MINI that is track ready, so I'm not sure how many handling mods I'm going to do.

nkfry said:

All I know is they are a "Drag" wheel, came with the car and are supposed to be a BBS ish look alike.
I'm not sure how I feel about them, I may start looking for a clean set of Santa Monicas.

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If you do sell them, send me a PM with a price