98 NB build thread

StrayBassist

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 1, 2024
Location
Sacramento, California
TDI
98 New Beetle ALH
I wanted a nice and easy way to catalog all of the things I've done to my (somewhat) recently acquired 1998 New Beetle TDI...



Here's a picture from the local classified listing before I bought her. I was amazed to find, well, my dream TDI - An early ALH car with a manual transmission in green! the NB is my favorite Mk4 body style too, so it all seemed perfect. I bought the car with 272k on the clock for $2,250 and drove it home, doing all the maintenance it needed the next day. (oil change, fuel filter, air filter, etc)

A bit of background on me and why I bought this car:
I grew up with a family friend who had a 2000 Golf TDI with a 5-speed manual, upgraded turbo, nozzles, tune, and exhaust and fell in love with the car, driving it hard around the dirt track we had on our property as a youngster. It inspired my father to gift me a 2001 New Beetle TDI when I got my license as the first car I owned myself. Unfortunately, he was very strict about not letting me work on the car myself, and eventually when the injection pump went out, he decided to sell the beetle. Flash forward some time, my previous car was falling apart and I was growing sick of working on it, desperately missing the fun I had with that '00 Golf, and my '01 NB, I sold my last car and bought this one - several things lined up in my life at once to sort of usher in a new era as a whole. I've really focused on being more true to myself and expressing myself how I want to...

... Thusly, I have decided to name the car GENESIS!

Or, uh, "Gennie" for short. Get it? Cute, right? Alright anyways,

I have a few goals in mind for Gennie. I want to modify her in several key areas to make her a fun little touge/mountain road racing machine without sacrificing too much dailyability, and make some cosmetic modifications so that she stands out as more of an "enthusiast" car than your typical New Beetle. This thread is mostly a public diary for me to keep track of (and share) my build over time, as well as get opinions from the community on it.

Aside from little repairs (you've probably seen some of my threads on the matter, ugh) and maintenance on the car, the most recent thing I've done is polish the previously VERY yellowed headlights.



Ta-daaaa! My dork ass forgot to take a proper before and after photo but the headlights were so dim that my low beams were pretty much unusable. Now they look straight-up brand new! I got this polishing kit at Autozone for about $20, and it did quite an excellent job. I was tempted to leave the masking tape on the car because it kind of looks like I gave Gennie eyeliner, but alas I was told it was a "dumb idea" and that it would "peel and fall off" and to "stop quoting me in your weird forum post." Whatever, nerd.

During a recent trip to Autozone I saw a display for these adhesive lil letters and had an idea...



At $2 a piece, it's cheaper than getting ahold of a proper TDI badge and it's a little bit custom! ... and hopefully not trashy... I was considering getting the TDI badge from a 2012+ New Beetle but they seem really rare and really expensive. If anyone has any tips on how to line these up well on the car, do let me know. I'd obsess over it forever if I got it wrong...

That's all I have for now, but I have plenty more planned so stay tuned!

EDIT 1/14/25: Updated images 'cause they broke for some reason.. Someone let me know if they break again!
 
Last edited:

peters911s

Member
Joined
Feb 17, 2022
Location
Seattle Area
TDI
2003 ALH Beetle
I was always glad that my 03 NB GL came without a TDI badge to keep the thieves away but then again the manual transmission should be enough of a deterant now days...will be following.
 

StrayBassist

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 1, 2024
Location
Sacramento, California
TDI
98 New Beetle ALH
Not much of a fun update, but an update nonetheless. Replaced my busted window regulator, and it worked for about a day before the window went straight down into the door... sigh... But I also finally got around to draining out the sludge that was once gear oil in the transmission and replacing it with synchromesh, as was suggested by most people. It feels like a brand-new transmission, I'm kinda mad I hadn't done this earlier..
 

dadsdiesel

Veteran Member
Joined
May 29, 2004
Location
NW Penna
TDI
'99 NB TDI
I was always glad that my 03 NB GL came without a TDI badge to keep the thieves away but then again the manual transmission should be enough of a deterant now days...will be following.
Agreed on both points.

But I also finally got around to draining out the sludge that was once gear oil in the transmission and replacing it with synchromesh, as was suggested by most people. It feels like a brand-new transmission, I'm kinda mad I hadn't done this earlier..
I really need to do that. Only 137k miles but being 26 years old it's way overdue.
 

StrayBassist

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 1, 2024
Location
Sacramento, California
TDI
98 New Beetle ALH
I really need to do that. Only 137k miles but being 26 years old it's way overdue.
It really does make a world of difference. My car has about 277k on it, so I was exceptionally overdue.. What came out of my transmission looked somewhere between caramel and chocolate milk and smelled like... curdled milk in cheap coffee... [shudder]

I used a cheap Harbor Freight fluid transfer hand-pump and it only took me maybe 10 minutes. Jacked up the car, drained the old stuff out, then just used the pump to pump the synchromesh into the fill plug until it was full. You can get even lazier with it, though; I've used that exact same pump on my girlfriends' cars, sticking the "in" hose into the fill plug of the transmission and the "out" hose into my oil catch container, and just pumped all the old gear oil out through the fill hole! This is the one I use, and for $8 it's absolutely worth it. You'll also need a 17mm hex bit for the drain/fill plugs, though..
 
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