My beloved Jetta is toast... What to do with the heart and soul?

[Ty_Deschaine]

Well, my worst nightmare happened last night... My beloved 2003 Jetta Wagon TDI took a hit to the front passenger quarter panel. The damage is pretty extensive. I have not had an adjuster out yet to look at it. But, I'm 99.9% sure it will be totaled. Pictures of the damage...






As you can see it doesn't look good. If its totaled here are my two options...

Option 1 - Fix it. I know the insurance won't pay to do it. But I was able to drive it home last night and it seemed to track normally. Which leads me to believe the frame alignment wasn't jeopardized. If this is the case, I could potentially put a new front end on it and keep the dream alive.

Option 2 - Swap the motor and trans into another car. If the frame is in disrepair, I am seriously considering doing a motor conversion. Which brings me to my question...
What should I look for as a donor car? I have always dreamed of swapping an ALH into a 80's Caddy truck, and this may be my opportunity to make it happen! But my research shows that its not a very plug and play swap as expected. What is the most ALH friendly donor? What should I look for? My ultimate goal is to have a small commuter car that gets great milage and is very reliable.

I love my Jetta, and to have its spirit live on under new skin is a really enticing idea. Hopefully this will turn into a build thread! Your guy's input is greatly appreciated.

 

[samuraitd]

not that bad. Fix it and drive it!!

 

[onlyn8v]

That is a eazy fix. It about $200 in used, exterior parts and all in prob about $500

 

[Tdijarhead]

Fix it, thats not bad.

 

[annieneff]

Is that West Seattle? Sorry it got whacked. No good at all. I'm surprised your air bags didn't go off!

I agree that it looks pretty fixable regardless of what insurance does. You'll want to start getting your ducks in a row for values right now in case they try and give you a ridiculous low replacement value. Which has been known to happen. Often.
Silver is ubiquitous, so finding the bumper, fender (back side is quarter panel, front is fender), hood, and grille assemblies will be easy. Looks like you need a new front end member there too, and headlights, and intercooler. If you keep it have someone look at the suspension and sway bars and etc to make sure they're okay too.
My point with listing some of the stuff you'll need here is it's quite a bit. You'd be without it for quite awhile tracking down parts and then bolting them all on. But then you'd know what you have and it really would be just like before.

A caddy or rabbit swap is a 7.5-8.5 on the difficult scale. You would be without the car for a long time, and you would need more parts than just your donor car to do it successfully (motor mounts, intercooler, clutch bits, and more...). Finding a rust free one in decent/worthy shape in the NW isn't a huge hurdle, but that takes some time too. If you ever got in another wreck like this one in a rabbit, you wouldn't fare nearly as well, and the car would be a little scrunched up tin can raisin. Also you'd loose a lot of the every day comforts of the Jetta... Probably no ac, rabbits are loud, rabbits leak, etc. Not to be a downer about a possible conversion, I'm just now finishing mine! But again, reality.

Good luck in whatever you do!

Andrew

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

There are probably issues you'll encounter under the skin. I bet frame rails (horns) are bent, core support is broken, you probably need an A/C condenser and radiator, and intercooler. And headlights, of course. Not catastrophic, but not like just bolting on new fenders and a hood, either. My son got run off the road in his Golf and had similar damage, but we fixed it. You'll have to have the frame checked and, most likely, straightened.

I'd still fix it. Get what you can from insurance. If they total it buy it back and get a check. You can probably fix it for what they pay you.

 

[Ty_Deschaine]

Is that West Seattle? Sorry it got whacked. No good at all. I'm surprised your air bags didn't go off!

Andrew

Good eye! It was under the West Seattle Bridge, off Harbor Ave.

I will absolutely fix it if the frame isn't bent. The car tracked well when limping home so I think I will be ok. I have priced a lot of the pieces out via ECStuning and a local salvage yard based purely off cosmetics, and it's looking to be around $2000. I won't know the full extent of the damage until the adjuster looks at it and either gives me the thumbs up or thumbs down. If they total it, I'll buy it back and start tearing into it.

I am really leaning on the hope that its totaled... The resale value will be in dumps anyway with the accident on the VIN, and I know how much these insurance shops love to cut corners and save as much as they can on crap knock off parts. It would be a huge fight to make sure that they use all OEM parts and do a good job.

As for the Caddy swap. I have been looking around the North West and found a few potential candidates. I am looking for a running 1.6L, as I would like to drive it for awhile until I had the time and space to take on the project. Doing some research, for me personally the wiring is where I start to sweat bullets. The electronics involved in the swap seems to be a nightmare.

I do have an F350 7.3L and KLX250 as a second and third vehicle. So I have reliable forms of transportation during the down time. We will have to see how the Jetta fares in the assessment.

 

[Cabel]

I hope it isn't "toast" but if so, there are kits available to swap the TDI engine into the Suzuki Samurai and Tracker 4x4's, as well as the Jeep Wrangler, which may be the most "plug and play" alternatives available:

http://www.acmeadapters.com/index.php

http://www.cotybuilt.com/

Personally I like old British cars like the Triumph Spitfire, MGB and TR6. I've been playing with the idea of swapping an ALH into an MGB using the Suzuki 5-speed (it's a "divorced" style transmission in the 4x4, uses a shaft to the transfer case) using the acme transmission adapter.

 

[Lug_Nut]

The car tracked well when limping home so I think I will be ok.

Nope. Look how far to the left the bumper is relative to the tires. Both frame extensions are shifted well to the left and will either need to be pulled back or cut out and replaced.
The value to the insurance company is what a junk yard will pay, and for such a light hit (nothing mechanical) the yard will pay a lot, and since that is income to the insurance, not an expense they have to pay out to the auto body shop, they make more by totaling it.
Sorry.

 

[vwztips]

Yep, frame rails are shoved over. However, they can be straightened or replaced. Most likely totaled. As others have said, buy it back. Find a clunker Jetta TDI or 1.8t in silver and use the parts of it to fix yours. You probably will have some money left over (but a salvage title).

 

[Ty_Deschaine]

The adjuster came out today to look at it. I haven't spoke with him, but he left me a voicemail and it is totaled. When I got home he had gotten the hood open, so I took a look, and yes in deed... The frame is bent as well as broken near the passenger side motor mount.

So I suppose I will see what they ask for me to buy it back. If the price is right I'll most likely buy it back and part it out to earn a few extra bucks. TDI motors are hovering around $1000-1500 locally with similar milage. Not to mention the somewhat rare full black leather wagon interior. I did find a few Caddy's I'm interested in! Might just buy a running Caddy to enjoy for awhile until the I have the space to take on the project.

 

[annieneff]

Sounds like you're not looking to do this swap project right now, but this caddy looks really, really good! https://seattle.craigslist.org/sno/cto/5055186446.html
Good lord that thing looks pristine. Please go buy it so I can't. Save me from myself!

Knowing the extent of the damage to the frame I wouldn't fix it. Reading about how bad it is it's even harder to believe the air bags didn't deploy! If the car is going to sit for awhile you might consider putting stabilizer in the tank and coming up with a routine to turn it over every once in awhile. Sounds like it's still marginally driveable, so you could even drive it a ways, but eventually the battery will die, and in its current condition it would be difficult to drive it to the point of the engine being warm. Engines don't like to sit for a long time.

I think there's no way driving a stock caddy would be enjoyable. They're loud, and slow, and not efficient, and break down a lot, and usually smell bad for a host of reasons. Don't get me wrong, I think they are great vehicles. I'm absolutely smitten with mine. But they are only great as a tdi.

Anyway. Good luck in whatever you decide to do next. Have fun!

Andrew

 

[peterdaniel]

I never understood how the Insurance co. is allowed to essentially make money off your car. They know what those cars and engines go for so they low ball you to total it and then sell it for the higher price to the salvage yard.

It should be, here is the damage cost, here is the check to cover the damage. Then they can simply not cover the car anymore. Not your issue that the damage cost more than the car is worth.

I know, Im dreaming.. lol

 

[Chris Thomas]

Also check out www.car-part.com for used parts/even the right color. I have drove 200 miles to pick up front/rear clip for the right color.

 

[Ty_Deschaine]

Well after battling with the insurance company I finally got more than what I asked for. They eventually realized they weren't dealing with some Joe Shmo that had no idea what he was talking about. I sent some comps and did my own market evaluation that took location, mileage, and options into effect and they rolled over and offered what I asked plus $400. HA!

Next step is to look into fixing the ol gal. Im really on the fence. I was on my way today to look at a Caddy locally for $1400 that only needed an injection pump replacement (came with the remanned pump) when it sold out from under me. These trucks are tough to snag! Gotta be on it I guess.

 

[tdi4runner]

Sorry to hear about the wagon, glad to hear about the insurance payout though

I'm going to throw in my two cents and recommend an early 90's Toyota 4Runner or pickup. I just pulled the V6 out of a 92 4Runner and am putting together the ALH engine to go in. ACME makes a nice adapter kit to bolt right up to the 5speed. Plus those older 4Runners can be had for dirt cheap with head gasket or valve problems.

 

[Ty_Deschaine]

Well Annieneff, I bought the Caddy you suggested...

I called about it and the guy selling it said it was a 1.9L, so I got all warm and fuzzy and jumped in my car and flew up to look at it. I had my doubts, but maybe I would get lucky. My doubts played true as after measuring the cylinder bores it turns out to be a 1.6L, but I made him an offer and he took it.

It is indeed clean. 101K miles on the odometer... not sure if they are actual or not. Really clean interior! we hand cranked the engine to prove it still turns over. I'm pretty damn excited.

The initial plan is to get it running on the stock 1.6L. I will be shopping around for an AAZ 1.9L TD, as I have learned this is a really straight forward swap. Then do the swap in a year or until I can't stand the lack of power.

SOME PICS!







As for the Jetta Wagon, It will get parted out. If anyone in the Seattle area needs a running TDI motor and 5 speed trans with 187K, give me a holler!