What did you do to your car today?

New bumper installed and painted now.

Need to find the grill material still.

zuks90idi said:

New bumper installed and painted now.

Need to find the grill material still.

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That is a beautiful bumper!!! Wish they came in the jetta flavour.

tothemax said:

Tnx delvi, all I need now is a nice R32 interior and I'll be able to keep up with the Joneses ;-)

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Pff, never try to keep up with the Delvi's or the OCTdi's LOL. It's impossible The car is looking real good. That's cool your son is into autox'ing it with you. Some good family fun right there!

--Today I took my car out for some spirited driving. Man, it's real fun to drive. One interesting difference I've found with my car from the new cam and race nozzles is what I call flywheel inertia. Example: When I run it out to 5k and shift, it revs to 5.5K by the time I can engage the clutch in the next gear. I don't remember it doing this before the recent upgrades. I think it's just a simple phenomena of the flywheel is accelerating faster than before and the inertia just over-revs it .5k rpm when I'm WOT. This makes for a nice launch into the next gear. Gettin fun now

Reinstalled my Steel skidplate..

had had it off for a while after installing my lifted FSDs/VR6 springs.

then installed it for the cincy gtg.. was on for all of 48 hours before I started tearing into it to hunt down the noises that eventually led to me replacing my entire motor...

been driving it for a few weeks now with no issues, so I reinstalled it.

I may be needing to do my oil cooler seals tho it seems to be making a mess on the front of my oil pan.. Ill be keeping an eye on my oil level.

but YAY. car is running good with its new engine..

now to hunt down Jeff either at Impex or at Whitbreads for a tune adjustment to fit the new 11mm pump that came on the new engine.

Fun fun.

Put on a new set of summer wheels today. Nothing too flashy (in fact, OEM as can be).





I still really need paint for the car (it's looked like this for the past 2 years!), but I'm going to hold out until after the 4motion install. I figure if I have to repaint the underside and inside parts of the rear floor pan, I might as well just wait to do the whole thing (and I can have the whole car disassembled at the same time). I've been looking at salvage R32s for weeks. The purchase date probably isn't far off!

I ordered a new set of Koni coilovers last week, and I expect to see them sometime this week. I also have a box sitting here from ECS with new vented and slotted GLI front and rear rotors as well as Hawk HPS pads for front and rear. A cam from Colt Cams is also on it's way.

I am also hoping to have some larger injectors here by May 22nd for Jeff to mount for me at the Milwaukee GTG. Lots of work to be done and way too much money spent already. I can't wait to get all of this stuff on the car!

Farfromovin said:

Pff, never try to keep up with the Delvi's or the OCTdi's LOL. It's impossible The car is looking real good. That's cool your son is into autox'ing it with you. Some good family fun right there!

--Today I took my car out for some spirited driving. Man, it's real fun to drive. One interesting difference I've found with my car from the new cam and race nozzles is what I call flywheel inertia. Example: When I run it out to 5k and shift, it revs to 5.5K by the time I can engage the clutch in the next gear. I don't remember it doing this before the recent upgrades. I think it's just a simple phenomena of the flywheel is accelerating faster than before and the inertia just over-revs it .5k rpm when I'm WOT. This makes for a nice launch into the next gear. Gettin fun now

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Nah, I'm not doing much to the car anymore, I have no time

delvi__acevedo said:

Nah, I'm not doing much to the car anymore, I have no time

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you said that 2 years and a thousand mods ago!

I remember when that car was STOCK

btcost said:

you said that 2 years and a thousand mods ago!
I remember when that car was STOCK

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yeah that was long time ago

delvi__acevedo said:

yeah that was long time ago

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Ewwww! Just kidding !!!!

danielhf said:

I've been looking at salvage R32s for weeks. The purchase date probably isn't far off!

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Your car looks awesome (two-tone isn't too bad )!!!

Are you gonna buy the 4mo floor pan stuff new? I was having a look through my euro ETKA and noticed that it's not JUST the trunk pan that is different. They have diff 4mo part number or the sides of the trunk and the part under the rear seat too. I checked the prices with ECS and they really were NOT that bad... I think I might go that route. I'm guessing that the SIDES of the trunk have to be changed because the rear shocks mount differently? Not sure though.

The 4mo stuff from an r32 can be picked up CHEAP these days. FWIW (and I'm sure you know this), the prop shaft is the same in the R32 as the wagon. I was surprised by this because the wagon has a very slightly longer wheelbase according to spec sheets...

Cheers,
-Chris

blizzard60 said:

Your car looks awesome (two-tone isn't too bad )!!!
Are you gonna buy the 4mo floor pan stuff new? I was having a look through my euro ETKA and noticed that it's not JUST the trunk pan that is different. They have diff 4mo part number or the sides of the trunk and the part under the rear seat too. I checked the prices with ECS and they really were NOT that bad... I think I might go that route. I'm guessing that the SIDES of the trunk have to be changed because the rear shocks mount differently? Not sure though.
The 4mo stuff from an r32 can be picked up CHEAP these days. FWIW (and I'm sure you know this), the prop shaft is the same in the R32 as the wagon. I was surprised by this because the wagon has a very slightly longer wheelbase according to spec sheets...
Cheers,
-Chris

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Chris -

I originally was going to go with new body panels because the wagon is about 9" longer than the Golf. After a lot of contemplating, I am just going to use parts off of the donor R32. A guy I know swapped a complete R32 drive/powertrain into his Jetta wagon. He ended up just welding a plate and extending the frame rails where the R32 floor pan fell short. I will go the same route.

Yes, the rear suspension is completely different. It is independent rear vs. Solid rear beam so you need complete different mounting points as well as space for the rear subframe/trailing arm assembly/ rear differential. I'm also not bothering with the R32 ABS system and am just going with standalone Haldex. The stock AWD system is junk. It's just FWD with up to 50% AWD assist only after it detects slip (which is most definitely not instantaneous). No thanks.

Nothing very sexy compared to so many others contributing to the thread. But, hit the 100,000 mile mark on Friday. Saturday changed the oil, oil filter, fuel filter, air filter, and cabin air filter. Sunday washed, clay barred, polished and waxed my 03 wagon. Sunday night it rained.

Would have rotated the tires, too. But just purchased a new set Michelin Primacy MXV4s in early March. Really like the ride deliver.

whyfish, have you had the timing belt replaced yet? its now due. for age as well as miles.

Put a PD130 Intake and EGR valve.



Doesn't it look lovely?

RomSL said:

Doesn't it look lovely?

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It (the manifold) does. The rest of your engine compartment is begging for some degreaser and a nice detailing though

--edit-- and where is your dipstick? LOL

Growlr,
Thanks for your concern. I did the T-Belt at 80,000 miles because I have the dearly loved and admired 01M transmission and many folks here suggest it be changed @80K when an automatic transmission is part of the drive-train. Had Rich at Fixum Haus do the T-Belt.

Also did the transmission service @80K. I drain and refill the transmission fluid every 40K along with the filter and gasket kit. Only use OEM fluids, too.

Upgraded my steering wheel yet once again.

First I went from the factory leather MFSW to a GTI steering wheel with DSG paddles.

I just traded that wheel out for a New Scirocco steering wheel. I lost the DSG paddles, but gained more buttons, a much better looking wheel, and newer leather.

Fixmy59bug said:

...I just traded that wheel out for a New Scirocco steering wheel...

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Damn, where did you get that? It looks AWESOME!!!!!

Changed my oil

Changed my thermostat. I have been running low on temp - scan gauge never reading above 178 and every time I ran VAG it was saying that it wasn't ready to read or something like that due to low temp. And getting poor mileage and dropping average MPG over time. (14 hour drive to Michigan completely on cruise at 65 actual and only got 47.5)

I am now reading 195 on the scan gauge and hope to see my MPGs increase up to normal levels. Easy job; messy job with coolant all over the damn place.

Could you have drained the system before replacing the thermostat? or was that the messy part? Wouldn't it also have been a good time to do a fluid flush?

As near as I can tell, the only block drain is the thermostat or the water pump.

In other words, no block drain petcock, valve or plug.

I've never looked into a coolant change on these TDIs, I was just assuming. That is messy.

you can drain the radiator, but without some fancy gyrations, you can't drain the block. When you pull the thermostat, you drain the block...messy

here's the how-to: easy but messy.

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=264619

I just replaced my thermostat today also.

Scan gauge was reading 155 max temp most of the time a/c or no a/c, hot or cold outside temps.

It now reads 197 pretty constantly going as high as 202 in stop and go traffic with a/c on.

It has been that way (155) since I bought it 2.5 years ago and I had been going by the gauge on the dash which always read 190, and did not know any better.

I was getting 43 city 52 highway before, I am wondering what this will do to my mileage.

I clamped off the radiator hose from the thermostat and the lower one on the coolant tank, then just replaced the thermostat without draining. only lost less than 1/2 gallaon of coolant total.

Broke my trans.

penclnck said:

Broke my trans.

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Damn. There's a story behind that I'm sure... This is on the wagon?

Replaced the clutch with g60 vr6 thank you id parts.
Glad I went to the heavy flywheel no chatter in neutral.
Also when I was under the vehicle dropped in the lowering springs.
Love the new stance, rides pretty well too considering.
Also gave it a good scrub

Polished & Waxed the car for the first time since new paint job at the San Diego TDICLUB GTG I threw. Came out decent for a $700 paint job. I used Meguiars Swirlx & NXT Generation Tech Wax 2.0.

Today I watched the Jetta pass the 120K mile mark!

Buffed out the 8" long path of paw sized scratches my Golden Retriever decided to put on the side of my car. His paws were full of gravel/sand as well so he really did a good job. Got them out though.

Bought a set of black leather seats from a local junkyard for $225 ($75 each), and an 01+ style console with swivel cupholders for $50. I will be picking them up tomorrow.