MKI Audi TT to MKIV Jetta front suspension swap

I didn’t think we ever had them. I always loved the 2nd gen A3.

I have a buddy who works in Texas. I wonder how hard it would be to visit a junkyard in Mexico? My Spanish sucks (and I never learned Mexican...a lot of different Aztec words mixed into that dialect.) A3 Audis and possibly other variants we didn't get in the US market are an incentive to learn though.

I've been thinking of driving to Canada for the same reason. Not sure what the deal is with taking car parts across the border though.

A friend of mine went to Canada and bought six 02J trans from there and brought then across the boarder. I can ask him if you would like? I did a lot of parts sourcing for my golf from dark side and also I think his name is Frans ships parts over seas to the US.

Yourbuddysatin said:

A friend of mine went to Canada and bought six 02J trans from there and brought then across the boarder. I can ask him if you would like? I did a lot of parts sourcing for my golf from dark side and also I think his name is Frans ships parts over seas to the US.

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Thanks, that would be great. Not sure what Canada has to offer, but I've heard there is an unusual "City Golf" offered up there and I also heard they got factory steel skid plates. I really want a skid plate. I live half way between Pittsburgh and the Ohio border. We have car eating potholes. I've replaced a tranny and an oil pan already.

Thanks.

ZiggyoftheNorth said:

Thanks, that would be great. Not sure what Canada has to offer, but I've heard there is an unusual "City Golf" offered up there and I also heard they got factory steel skid plates. I really want a skid plate. I live half way between Pittsburgh and the Ohio border. We have car eating potholes. I've replaced a tranny and an oil pan already.
Thanks.

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Instead of driving all the way to Canada for a skid plate you could either keep an eye on the classifieds for a used one or bite the bullet and buy a new one. It would probably be cheaper to buy a skid plate than have to replace another oil pan or transmission.

Here are the 2 most popular ones:
Dieselgeek basic panzer plate.
https://www.dieselgeek.com/collections/vw-skid-plates/products/mk4-panzer-plate-heavy-duty-aluminum-skid-plate-kit
Then you can get the deluxe package that has their full metal jacket side skirts for extra protection.
https://www.dieselgeek.com/collections/vw-skid-plates/products/deluxe-mk4-panzer-plate-and-metal-side-skirt-combo
If you buy a used one, you might end up having to purchase the post and hardware...
https://www.dieselgeek.com/collections/vw-skid-plate-parts/products/mk4-panzer-skid-plate-mounting-post
https://www.dieselgeek.com/collections/vw-skid-plate-parts/products/full-mk4-panzer-hardware-kit-includes-new-beetle

Then there's the Atlas skid plate by Evolution.
http://www.evolutionimport.com/atlas-skid-plate-kit-for-beetle-golf-jetta-iv-p/a3002.htm

You can always get a steel skid plate from ECSTuning.
https://www.ecstuning.com/b-assembled-by-ecs-parts/steel-skid-plate-kit-ecs-recommends/1j0698930/
They even make a heavy duty one!
https://www.ecstuning.com/b-genuine-volkswagen-audi-parts/heavy-duty-steel-skid-plate-kit/1j0698931/

This way a pothole won't leave you stranded.

The heavy duty steel is OEM VW and I believe the one available in Canada. To me it sounds like the best option. I'll take the extra weight for the durability. I'm not sure what all else may be available up there and I'm curious. (I also own several Ford trucks and I hear they were offered as Mercury trucks up there).

It's about 5 hours one way to do this whether I go through Buffalo or Detroit. I would obviously spend the night and make a weekend road trip out of it...maybe camp somewhere that has mooses. (Been to the Adirondacks and been to the UP...saw tracks but never a moose.) I agree though that a 10 hour round trip for one or two parts would be crazy.

Ziggyofthenorth,
Spoke to my friend and he said he didn’t pay anything to bring parts across the boarder. Where about are you from? I live 30miles south of Pittsburgh.

Yourbuddysatin said:

Ziggyofthenorth,
Spoke to my friend and he said he didn’t pay anything to bring parts across the boarder. Where about are you from? I live 30miles south of Pittsburgh.

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Aliquippa. Beaver County. Two or three exits west of the airport on 376. I work in the Strip District.

You're not the guy I bought door cards from off of CL south of Perriopolis are you???

Ahhh I gotya. No I am not. I live in old belle Vernon.

The TT also has a closer ratio steering rack, but there are claims that only the 225 got the quick rack, or only the quattro got the quick rack. Worth searching for the info and maybe grabbing for the price. TT front end swap is on the list for my wagon.

pgringo said:

The TT also has a closer ratio steering rack, but there are claims that only the 225 got the quick rack, or only the quattro got the quick rack. Worth searching for the info and maybe grabbing for the price. TT front end swap is on the list for my wagon.

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Once I heard that, I went back and got it. I'm not sure of the ratio though. I'll try finding a part number and checking out what I got though. The car had no steering wheel and I already took the suspension on a previous visit so I had no real way to test it. No keys either so the hardest part was removing the bolt inside. It was up against the firewall and after a bit of disassembly, I unlocked the column with a three pound hammer.

I removed the subframe/crossmember in the process. I heard these may be worth swapping but this one is beat up. The car was hit front center. The engine pushed back and snapped the dog bone, leaving a dent in it. The front drivers side LCA bolt was also hard to remove due to proximity of the pushed back engine and tranny and the area got tweaked a bit in the process.

The TT dash and consol are nice, but look more like a New Beetle interior. I think I'd have to take the dash to the firewall to make it work in a Jetta. Even then I'm not sure about matching up the wiring. The TT has some unique options.

The front suspension was built to the hilt, but the rear suspension looks like a stock Jetta except the calipers are painted red.

If you can think of anything else worth grabbing, I'm going back to drill out the spot welds on the pieces that the strut brace bottled to. This would be the reinforcement on the top of the strut towers and also two points on the firewall.