My new to me 2000 Golf

Oo-v-oO

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 30, 2000
Location
Live Free or Die, USA
TDI
98 Jetta Expired... Now 2000 Golf & 2002 Golf
About 3 weeks ago, I took a road trip with my truck and tow dolly, from NH to WI to pick up a Golf TDI which was gifted to me by the original owner. I left NH on a Friday at 9 AM and returned on Sunday at about 4:30 PM for a total of 2,120 miles. My '04 Colorado (~255,000 miles, 3.5l 5-cyl, auto, 4wd, 4.11 gears with 31" mud tires) averaged 17.865 mpg for the trip, which all things considered isn't too bad. The Golf has a shade under 409,000 miles (not Km) on it and was taken off the road because the original VNT15 failed.
Needs some work as any car with 400K on it would, but the biggest items that need to be fixed first are the turbo, replacement of the LF fender for typical foam pad rust and the hatch for rust around the handle, patching of a rust hole on the front of the right rocker panel, a windshield replacement, and possibly a set of tires. Once that's done it should pass inspection so I can get it on the road and I can work on the other items later.
Here it is at a rest stop in IL:



Yup, it's still behind me (somewhere on the way home)



I've been pecking away at the problems at my convenience. Fender is off, old turbo is removed.



Yup, it's bad:


Found a used turbo with ~140,000 on it locally for $125 and picked that up last night. Need to get the "late" A4 bracket for it and a new oil supply line. Not sure if my banjo bolt-style return line is going to work with the "late" bracket yet, if not I need to get a new return line as well.
It's a work in progress, but I can't wait to have a TDI on the road again - it has been a while since I had to take my A3 Jetta off the road due to rust.
 

IndigoBlueWagon

TDIClub Enthusiast, Principal IDParts, Vendor , w/
Joined
Aug 16, 2004
Location
South of Boston
TDI
'97 Passat, '99.5 Golf, '02 Jetta Wagon, '15 GSW
Great to see another one getting saved! I'd not worry about the bracket, lots of people just skip it. And the return line should fit fine, with or without the bracket.

409K out of the turbo isn't too shabby. My son has an '02 with 320K on the original turbo and it's still fine.

BTW, if you're looking for body parts in a wrecking yard keep in mind that VW had three shades of silver in the MKIVs. I believe yours is Silver Arrow. Satin Silver was used in the '99.5s, and after 2000 they used Reflex Silver. They're all slightly different, enough that it's noticeable on adjacent panels.
 

Oo-v-oO

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 30, 2000
Location
Live Free or Die, USA
TDI
98 Jetta Expired... Now 2000 Golf & 2002 Golf
Oh, wow, I did not realize that about the color. Good to know. GM lists RPO (regular production options. like color code) on the inside of the glovebox door - would I find something similar to indicate the paint color code on the Golf so I can make sure I get a match?
Edit - I have the original window sticker - it only says "Satin Silver metallic paint".

I'm not sure when, but a good percentage of those turbo miles were Upsolute chipped, as well.

I will probably try to retain the bracket, seems like an awful lot of weight hanging off the exhaust manifold and I'd rather not tempt fate.
 

IndigoBlueWagon

TDIClub Enthusiast, Principal IDParts, Vendor , w/
Joined
Aug 16, 2004
Location
South of Boston
TDI
'97 Passat, '99.5 Golf, '02 Jetta Wagon, '15 GSW
So I have the years for Satin Silver and Silver Arrow reversed. The paint code is usually on a sticker in the spare tire well. A dealer can also tell you the color and paint code from your VIN.
 

Oo-v-oO

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 30, 2000
Location
Live Free or Die, USA
TDI
98 Jetta Expired... Now 2000 Golf & 2002 Golf
I'll check that out. Will have to do some moving around, the back of the car is filled with parts I've taken off so far. :)

So this would be a one-year color? I have a mismatched car in my future, more than likely if so. :(
 
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Oo-v-oO

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 30, 2000
Location
Live Free or Die, USA
TDI
98 Jetta Expired... Now 2000 Golf & 2002 Golf
Sticker in wheel well was partially unreadable, but a copy of it was stuck in the maintenance section of the owner's manual:



Confirmed,LB7Z paint code which is Satin Silver.

Found a junkyard in Mass that is listing the hatch and LF fender off a 99.5 so hopefully it is the correct shade, I have read that some were. Maybe I should bring the old fender with me to be sure.
 

Oo-v-oO

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 30, 2000
Location
Live Free or Die, USA
TDI
98 Jetta Expired... Now 2000 Golf & 2002 Golf
Well, it has taken quite a while but I finally obtained the correct Satin Silver hatch and LF fender to replace the rusted ones. Hatch is on, I still need to put all the interior trim back on:

After I took the picture I cleaned the yellow junkyard number off and scrubbed most of the rust stain off the bumper.
Just picked up the fender on Saturday and haven't had time to bolt it on yet. It is in really nice shape.

Had to drive to RI to get both of these, at different junkyards. Couldn't find any that were closer in the right color. Saturday was a 417 mile round trip. Oh, well.
 

bbarbulo

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 11, 2003
Location
Windsor, ON, Canada
excellent finds on the rust-free parts! my dad's car is an Aug '99 German build 2000 model and it is Satin Silver as well.

easy to tell them apart, the satin silver looks goldish.
 

Oo-v-oO

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 30, 2000
Location
Live Free or Die, USA
TDI
98 Jetta Expired... Now 2000 Golf & 2002 Golf
Not long after my last post, I had a stroke which combined with the onset of Winter put an end to my hopes for getting the Golf on the road before snow flew.

Recently found out my truck has terminal frame rust and won't pass inspection which means the Golf needs to be on the road, post haste. My birthday is in May so that's when plates and inspection run out. I've been working on reassembling it and today this happened:

http://youtu.be/brwP2DzGlyc

Ordering up all new brakes, outside mirror glass, and a new cat because this one has rust holes. I'll register it June 1st and will have 10 days to get it inspected. Also need to do a set of tires and a windshield. Beats walking!
 

Oo-v-oO

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 30, 2000
Location
Live Free or Die, USA
TDI
98 Jetta Expired... Now 2000 Golf & 2002 Golf
Thanks, I got very lucky and have just a little loss of peripheral vision. Seems like remembering things like names is a little more difficult now but even my doctor said that might be just the fact that I'm getting older. :)
Mine was a hemorrhagic stroke, brought on my my stubbornness about taking BP meds. Some people learn the easy way, and others...
 

Oo-v-oO

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 30, 2000
Location
Live Free or Die, USA
TDI
98 Jetta Expired... Now 2000 Golf & 2002 Golf
Aftermath of blown turbo on exhaust side:



Wow. The volume and opacity of all that oil in the exhaust system burning off was impressive. After a couple hundred miles it seems like it is all burnt off now, all I get is a black puff at low revs and high throttle as it should be. Took me quite a while to scrub off all that oil and soot. There were droplets of liquid oil dripping off the bottom of the bumper cover.

Car is running great! Time to throw more parts at it.

 

Oo-v-oO

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 30, 2000
Location
Live Free or Die, USA
TDI
98 Jetta Expired... Now 2000 Golf & 2002 Golf
Rust repair on a budget.

After picking away at all the questionable areas with a screwdriver, here's what we're dealing with. The wheel is off and the inner fender liner is pulled back.



I got some cardboard, scissors, a Sharpie, my speed square, tin snips, cordless drill, aluminum and SS pop rivets, a hammer and assorted tools, and the pop rivet tool.

After tracing the shape of a piece of cardboard cut to size over to the galvanized hot air duct I was using for patch material, cutting it out, and bending it to fit using the bucket of my backhoe as an anvil, here's the first and second patches, test fit in place. I used a few of the aluminum rivets to "tack" it in place because they're easy to drill out when I needed to remove it:



After some adjustment, here they are nailed in place and with the edge peened over:



Was going to use the screw at the bottom of the fender to tie them together, but it didn't want to come out and sometimes it is really best to let sleeping dogs lie so I just pushed it up out of the way for clearance.



A good coating of spray-on undercoating in a can will hide a multitude of sins (and some little gaps).



All done, inner fender back in place. Close enough in color, I won't even try to paint it.



Oh, yeah, got the front pads and rotors done. Was thinking about doing the back, but the skies looked pretty iffy.

Windshield tomorrow, still need to do back brakes, fix glow plug CEL and should do the exhaust although I may bring it to the guy down the street and based on how thorough he was with my wife's Prius he'll probably sticker it with the little holes it has. Lots of rain in the forecast. :-(
 

aja8888

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Dec 25, 2007
Location
Texas..RETIRED 12/31/17
TDI
Out of TDI's
Glad to hear the stroke did not cause too much damage. That's a close call.

I'm from back east (Conn) and really don't miss the weather that causes all the salting and rust. I'm 73 and last year restored a 2003 Jetta that lived most its life in Wisconsin and had 286,000 miles on it. Se my resurrection thread below for details (not much rust though!).

Nice work on the car so far! You may find your struts, LCA bushings, etc will nee attention too. That made a big difference with my Jetta as at 300K, the suspension was original. Last month, I drove her from Texas to Conn and back (family visit) and put 3,700 miles on it.
 

Rembrant

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 31, 2014
Location
Canada's Ocean Playground
TDI
2013 Golf TDI DSG
Rust repair on a budget.

I got some cardboard, scissors, a Sharpie, my speed square, tin snips, cordless drill, aluminum and SS pop rivets, a hammer and assorted tools, and the pop rivet tool.

After tracing the shape of a piece of cardboard cut to size over to the galvanized hot air duct I was using for patch material, cutting it out, and bending it to fit using the bucket of my backhoe as an anvil, here's the first and second patches, test fit in place. I used a few of the aluminum rivets to "tack" it in place because they're easy to drill out when I needed to remove it:
Nice job on the rocker repair. Quick and cheap.
 

Oo-v-oO

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 30, 2000
Location
Live Free or Die, USA
TDI
98 Jetta Expired... Now 2000 Golf & 2002 Golf
Thanks. Definitely not showroom quality, but functional and appropriate for a 17 year old car with 400K+ on the odometer.
 

Oo-v-oO

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 30, 2000
Location
Live Free or Die, USA
TDI
98 Jetta Expired... Now 2000 Golf & 2002 Golf
Oh, and I did replace the rear brakes, fix the plate light, got the new tires put on, etc. Also pulled the headpipe to cut out the rusted pipe and weld a new one in:

Don't make too much fun of my welding. That's 2-1/2" pipe welded onto the converter shell, and I have an adapter clamped on to bring it down to the midpipe diameter at the other end.

Funny thing happened - somehow all of the ceramic guts in the converter magically disappeared while I had that pipe off. I think the backpressure fairies must have taken it on me. Huh. Imagine that.:cool:

Mufflerectomy is next, I have been focusing on achieving this:

All legal for another 11 months!
 
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Oo-v-oO

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 30, 2000
Location
Live Free or Die, USA
TDI
98 Jetta Expired... Now 2000 Golf & 2002 Golf
I'm an amateur radio operator, as is my wife. We helped provide emergency communications for the foot race up the Mt. Washington Auto Road today and stopped on the Kanc for a photo op on the way home. On the Auto Road, we were stationed just above the 5,000' ASL mark.
Turbocharged engines love elevation.
 

Oo-v-oO

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 30, 2000
Location
Live Free or Die, USA
TDI
98 Jetta Expired... Now 2000 Golf & 2002 Golf
Mufflers are so overrated.



Super easy, and came out just about perfect with off the shelf parts and pieces.



Nice deep tone and surprisingly quiet. It sounds like I have a little jet engine behind me at idle, though. :D
 

zakarixnovotny

Active member
Joined
May 17, 2015
Location
Tacoma, WA
TDI
2001 Golf - 2009 Jetta
Car is lookin great! Nice fix on the rocker rust, and I'm jealous of your jet exhaust can't wait to get my own!
 

Oo-v-oO

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 30, 2000
Location
Live Free or Die, USA
TDI
98 Jetta Expired... Now 2000 Golf & 2002 Golf
I hate the salty slush and crap this time of year. A lot of this was a wet snow that was falling, too. I see I'm going to have to repair the other rocker panel this year to pass inspection thanks to the road salt.

 
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