Smyth UTE - the MKIV Jetta/Golf Pickup Conversion kit is HERE!

runonbeer

Maintenance EnthusiastVendor
Joined
Apr 15, 2002
Location
Austin, TX/Chapel Hill, NC
TDI
'00 Golf 02M, '10 Golf 02E, '02 UTE 02M
I haven't cut up my Jetta yet. Wife needs it to go on a research trip with one of her students at a gas plume well in East Texas next weekend.

 

runonbeer

Maintenance EnthusiastVendor
Joined
Apr 15, 2002
Location
Austin, TX/Chapel Hill, NC
TDI
'00 Golf 02M, '10 Golf 02E, '02 UTE 02M
Probably. I'm just going to buy one. Don't really have the time to think about it right now and I can't start cutting until week after next anyway.
 

Growler

Got Soot Vendor
Joined
Nov 24, 2003
Location
Millersport, Ohio
TDI
Schmutz, 2015 Golf Sportwagen DSG & Schnurren, 2001 Golf GL 2 door 5M
Rob,

Did you put any spacers on the front of your jetta with those 225 60 16s?

I had to put a set of 5mm spacers on my Golf when I put them on to clear the front struts.
It could be the difference in offset between the factory NewBeetle Wheels I used and the ones you used.




Either way, yours is the only other one I have seen wearing a set of Eurovan size Tires on it.

have you figured out how to fix the odometer for the 1.060552:1 distance factor vs the factory 205 55 16s?

for now all I do is multiply my trip meter x the number above to get the actual miles traveled for my fuelly calculations.. the 6% difference in the odometer miles doesnt matter to me any since the car has over 200k on it anyways.
 
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runonbeer

Maintenance EnthusiastVendor
Joined
Apr 15, 2002
Location
Austin, TX/Chapel Hill, NC
TDI
'00 Golf 02M, '10 Golf 02E, '02 UTE 02M
I just ordered a set of 10mm spacers front and rear to give it a "look." Considered going even bigger but I thought it would be too silly. I agree that 5mm is probably all I needed.

but yes I have seen evidence of some contact with the lower spring perch. The Bilsten TCs I'm running have a little nub on the perch, serves no purpose that I can see. I ground it off but it is still very close. Oddly enough, it had plenty of clearance when I first mounted the tires and did not rub until 30-40 miles later. Very strange given the nature of the relationship between the hub and spring perch (no way it can "change")

I have made no attempt to alter the indicated speed. One of these days jcrews will be down here with his wiz-bang computer and he'll fix it in about 10 seconds. I thought at first that Frans had sent me some ultra tall ratio 02M because it's like sub 2000 at 80mph but it's just the tires :) It's a DRW incidentally.
 
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PranK

New member
Joined
Feb 25, 2012
Location
Sydney, Australia
TDI
2006 Passat B6 2.0 (140)
This is just the coolest thing.

I saw this on Lost In Transmission and feel in love with it.

My Bora (Jetta) is the 4Motion V6, from what I can see though the original floor is still in place which means it would not interfere with the rear driveline.

Either way, getting it into Australia, then going through all the rigmarole of getting it registered would be virtually impossible. (We wouldn't be allowed to keep it registered as a Bora, it would need to be a kit car, then multiple tests and applications and blah blah blah .... Hurts my head just thinking about it.)

BTW, I love the references to 'ute'. Ute's for us are what you call pickups. In fact when I was watching LIT, I pointed it out to my wife and said 'Check it out! A Bora ute!'

So so cool. Well done. I love it.
 

runonbeer

Maintenance EnthusiastVendor
Joined
Apr 15, 2002
Location
Austin, TX/Chapel Hill, NC
TDI
'00 Golf 02M, '10 Golf 02E, '02 UTE 02M
Yes it is very cool. I'd like to thank Mark for having the balls & the brains to ACTUALLY MAKE a truck kit for the MKIV VW.

Ours is coming along. Shortage of free time. So far it has been fun but it is quite a lot of work.

https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B03G6XBubBvFCz

The little short where I'm driving out is to take it up property to the body shop guys to consult about sizing the panel for the sunroof delete.

While I had it powered up I recoded it to a 2-door and checked to see if my resistors for the curtain bags worked. They did! No faults :)
 
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deejaaa

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 15, 2007
Location
Baytown, Texas
TDI
FOR SALE, 2002 Jetta GLS, 5 speed
great photos. is there anything going to be done with the spare tire space?
when i did my joey mod i used body color. couldn't deal with black contrasting on white.
what bulbs did you fit into the turn sockets?
 
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runonbeer

Maintenance EnthusiastVendor
Joined
Apr 15, 2002
Location
Austin, TX/Chapel Hill, NC
TDI
'00 Golf 02M, '10 Golf 02E, '02 UTE 02M
Excellent.

I haven't done squat to the truck since the beginning of December. Had a cold weather issue with the fiberglass and now I'm scared of it. Gotta wait for the earth to tilt a little bit this way and we'll get back on it. Goal is to have it completed for the VW show in Fredricksburg in April. Hoping to make a weekend of it and take the family camping out at Enchanted Rock.
 

dremd

Veteran Member
Joined
May 31, 2007
Location
South Louisiana
TDI
06 sprinter. 03 jetta wagon premium with 6 speed ALH swap, 14 JSW
Fiberglass in the cold is not ideal for sure.
I spent the coldest winter on record getting a fiberglass job completed for March 1. I wasn't happy about it at all. The tricks I learned are 1) mix activator in higher % as temps fall 2) add some Styrene to the mix to keep viscosity reasonable 3) have a warm spot (40F+) to let everything set up for a good 12 hours in before splitting molds when working in temps below 20F.
 

dwfdiesel

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 17, 2011
Location
Muskoka Ontario Summer Lecanto FL winter
TDI
2006 Golf & 2012 Golf wagon, 1998 GMC 6.5 with 310,000km
Excellent.

I haven't done squat to the truck since the beginning of December. Had a cold weather issue with the fiberglass and now I'm scared of it. Gotta wait for the earth to tilt a little bit this way and we'll get back on it. Goal is to have it completed for the VW show in Fredricksburg in April. Hoping to make a weekend of it and take the family camping out at Enchanted Rock.
Love the new look but it's a 2 seater now so taking the family camping for the weekend leaves a whole new meaning. :D
 

deejaaa

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 15, 2007
Location
Baytown, Texas
TDI
FOR SALE, 2002 Jetta GLS, 5 speed
all the haters of of these can take a hike. i think it's a great platform to build from an old and aging style. car/ute build looks great.
 

jetmoto3

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 6, 2015
Location
ut
TDI
1z mtdi dakota, alh jetta ute
all the haters of of these can take a hike. i think it's a great platform to build from an old and aging style. car/ute build looks great.
thats my thoughts exactly. its awesome, there's a lot more room behind the seats than i though I can fit 2 helmets and boots even with my seats where i like them, and i can haul 2 or 3 bikes as well. also with the tdi it still gets great mileage.
 

romad

Top Post Dawg
Joined
May 27, 2011
Location
Prescott, AZ
TDI
2005 Jetta GLS Wagon "Cranberry"
How is the inside room compared to an original Rabbit Pickup? My '83 had to have the seatback touching the back window so I could be comfortable.
 

jetmoto3

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 6, 2015
Location
ut
TDI
1z mtdi dakota, alh jetta ute
How is the inside room compared to an original Rabbit Pickup? My '83 had to have the seat back touching the back window so I could be comfortable.
it has way more room, i did own a 1980 rabbit pickup so i can compare(and in mine i couldn't fit with the seat touching the rear window lol, but in the jetta ute i can recline and have all the room i need and there still is about 4 inches from the rear of the seat to the back wall and more to the rear window), but room wise its like a half ext cab ranger. If that makes sense it has more room than a single cab ranger and less room than an ext cab ranger.
 
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KCTDI

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 1, 2002
Location
Kingdom City, Missouri
TDI
2014 Touareg
Gotta have one of these!
All you kit builders, please post pics of your progress.
I haven't found any pics of finished interior of the rear cab panel/B-pillars etc.
 

nokivasara

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 25, 2008
Location
Sweden @ Lat 61N
TDI
Tiguan 4-motion, Golf mk7
How is the inside room compared to an original Rabbit Pickup? My '83 had to have the seatback touching the back window so I could be comfortable.
Do you guys have flat rear windows in the rabbit pickups?
Over here they have a bulge that gives a bit more headroom.
 

2many diesels

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 20, 2011
Location
Nor Cal
TDI
rabbit pickup 1z swap Audi A4 Quattro ALH. 02 Beetle TDI. 99 Golf TDI. 03 Wagon TDI. 914 Porsche ALH t
The rear windows are flat. There was a window available for a while that did have about a 4 inch bulge in it.
 

jetmoto3

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 6, 2015
Location
ut
TDI
1z mtdi dakota, alh jetta ute
Gotta have one of these!
All you kit builders, please post pics of your progress.
I haven't found any pics of finished interior of the rear cab panel/B-pillars etc.
here's you some pics my interior is not finished yet though






 
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