Stromaluski's Porcelain Blue 1998 TDI

[Stromaluski]

Guess I'll make a thread for this car. Why not, haha. I had a B4 TDI a few years ago; and while it was a great car, the Passat just wasn't my cup of tea. I've always been more of a Jetta guy than a Passat guy. So I sold the B4, and then went through a couple of non-VW's. Eventually sold them all and was driving one of our Corrados every day. One by one, every other car we had broke, so I decided that it was time to buy another car. Looked around and finally came across this car here on TDIClub.

Originally an AZ car, the PO bought it out of Tuscon and drove it back to Washington DC a few years ago. Eventually decided to clean house and sell some unused cars. I flew up to DC and drove it back down here to SC. About 500 miles home.

Blew a tire about 50 miles outside of DC and drove home on the donut, cruise set at 60. Got 54mpg coming home.

Drove it around stock for a month or so, then decided that it was time to add a cup kit.

Drove it down to Florida last week for a VW show (Bulli Brigade and Bug Jam). 700 miles each way. Stopped by the shop at www.fixmyvw.com and got a Malone Stage 1 tune on my way down. 100% worth it. Next is going to be glowplugs and brakes...

 

[goodmonkey]

Nice find. I've been more of a Passat guy myself, but getting rid of my B4V currently and just picked up a A5 Jetta. I've owned a Jetta or two, so I can appreciate your decision.

 

[TDI smile]

I see your Bus is in the Garage.... and now lets see some pix of the Bus (inside and out). Ha, Ha

 

[Stromaluski]

I see your Bus is in the Garage.... and now lets see some pix of the Bus (inside and out). Ha, Ha

Haha, good eye. I've had that thing since high school. Currently apart in the garage with no motor in it. More worried about getting the rabbit truck and the two corrados back on the road than the bus at the moment; the bus is at least out of the weather.

http://s281.photobucket.com/user/Stromaluski/library/VW Pictures/67 Deluxe

 

[tdidieselbobny]

Lucky dog-I wish this was car was for sale-my first TDI was a 98 Porcelain Blue Jetta.......it's hard finding a clean 96-98(early 99) B4 or A3 TDI......

 

[Stromaluski]

Lucky dog-I wish this was car was for sale-my first TDI was a 98 Porcelain Blue Jetta.......it's hard finding a clean 96-98(early 99) B4 or A3 TDI......

I know that all too well. I saw it and jumped on it. It was a little more than I was hoping to spend for a mk3; but it was such a nice car, I didn't mind.

 

[tdidieselbobny]

How many miles on it? Nice and clean as it is,I'm guessing it was between $4k-$5k-anything less than that and you stole it IMHO.....

 

[Stromaluski]

How many miles on it? Nice and clean as it is,I'm guessing it was between $4k-$5k-anything less than that and you stole it IMHO.....

242k when purchased. Getting close to 248k now. It's definitely been well taken care of. It was just over $4k to buy it and get it home. Not exactly cheap for a mk3, but well worth it, IMO.

 

[tdidieselbobny]

That's about how many were on mine when it got totalled 4 years ago-a mint A3 is well worth a few extra $$$$$.....

 

[Stromaluski]

A friend and I pulled the cluster out and resoldered all the bad joints. Fixed my airbag light and flashing glow plug light. CEL was still on, though. Scanned it and turns out it was for a bad glow plug. Replaced them in December.

One had been replaced before. Fixed my CEL, though. Also swapped to rear disc brakes at about the same time. Whoever says that rear discs are not an upgrade hasn't driven the same car with and without them. HUGE difference.

Rolled over 250k miles.

Also picked up a set of sebrings from a friend so that I can go ahead and swap the front brakes to g60. Currently being painted and still need to buy tires, but it's getting there.

Painted the door handles because they were so faded, replaced the door handle gaskets, then washed, clay bar'd, and waxed it. Pulled the trim off the passenger side a few weeks ago since it was about to fall off anyway. Need to put it back on. Also really need to do something about the front end being so faded/chipped.

 

[benIV]

beautiful car! subscribed

 

[REDNECKDZL]

call me a bit jealous, a corrado, clean MK3 tdi, and a Caddy, nice collection

MK3 looks really clean

 

[Stromaluski]

beautiful car! subscribed

call me a bit jealous, a corrado, clean MK3 tdi, and a Caddy, nice collection

MK3 looks really clean

Thanks!

Changed out the wheels for a set of Sebrings so I can swap on my spare corrado front brakes. Not entirely sure I like the Sebrings, though. I think they make the car look more bulbous, maybe.

 

[Stromaluski]

Time for another update, I suppose.

Swapped out the original injectors for a set of DLC1019s, and then swapped the stage 1 tune for a stage 3 tune. HUGE improvement, but then my clutch started slipping.

After a couple months, I finally pulled the car all apart for the clutch.

Decided to throw a LSD at it while it was all apart. Originally bought an OBX differential, but once I had the transmission apart, I found the OBX was an 02A differential (despite being sold as 02J), so I had to scramble to get an 02J differential, since I already had the transmission apart on the work bench. Ended up ordering a Quaife and had it a couple days later.

Also resealed a bunch of things on the motor, which had a bunch of small oil leaks.

Back in.

Added a set of the euro spec turn signals while I was putting it all back together.

So far, I've put about 200 miles on it. Clutch pedal feels stock despite the SB stage 2 pressure plate. And can't even tell the Quaife is in the transmission. Waiting for the clutch to get broken in before I really beat on the car, though.

 

[compu_85]

I've always loved that color. Nice to see a MK3 getting some care

-J

 

[Stromaluski]

I've always loved that color. Nice to see a MK3 getting some care

-J

Thanks!

 

[mrrhtuner]

Very nice car.

Keep us posted

 

[rocketeer928]

Very nice looking Jetta.

 

[Stromaluski]

Guess it's about time for an update. Borrowed some Corrado Steelies from a friend to see how they looked on the mk3. I never really liked the Sebrings.

Also went through the hassle of replacing the Condensor and recharging the system after I mangled the one in the car during the clutch replacement.

Got the bottom half of a nice passenger seat from the junkyard and used it to replace the foam on the base of my driver seat since the outer bolster was blown out.

Also threw in a new (illuminated) shift knob. It's kinda corny, but I really like it.

Had to replace my stock head unit after it ate itself.

Had this one sitting in the garage, so I threw it in. It's not great, but it had the advantage of I already had it.

 

[1998TDIMonster]

Any more news on this one? That headunit looks great.

 

[dieseldorf]

Andrew, nice lookin' ride! We don't see MkIII cars any longer....rust has taken them...

 

[rocketeer928]

I like the illuminated shift knob. Where did you get it? I have an Gaslock Indy-Cator on my TDI, which is also corny.

 

[Stromaluski]

Any more news on this one? That headunit looks great.

Andrew, nice lookin' ride! We don't see MkIII cars any longer....rust has taken them...

I like the illuminated shift knob. Where did you get it? I have an Gaslock Indy-Cator on my TDI, which is also corny.

Sorry! Need to check this more often...

Head unit came from Jaycar, though I can't seem to find it on their website anymore. It's a knock off of a Kienzle head unit. The quality of it isn't great by any means. But it looks like it could be a factory radio out of something, which is what I was going for. And it wasn't terribly expensive, either.
http://www.jaycar.us/

Shift knob came from Innovative Car Tech in Germany. I would definitely buy another one.
http://www.innovativcar-tech.de/en/

I also finally got around to replacing a bunch of the stereo system in the car. Speakers had definitely seen better days. Almost all of them looked like this.

Ended up with Sound Ordnance component setups in front and rear with a Sound Ordnance powered subwoofer mounted to the back of the rear seat. Sounds good to me. I ended up mounting the crossovers in the rear by sandwiching the rear parcel tray between some sheet metal and the crossovers. Left the factory front tweeters mainly because I didn't want to have to mount crossovers up front. Driver side one has already been mounted in the picture below.

Also hard wired my dash cam while I had the interior all apart. FYI, you can pull switched, fused power from the fuse box by tapping into the rear wiper circuit. The rear wiper is not present on Jettas, but power still makes it to the relay slot on the fuse box.

Currently been trying to figure out why I keep getting my a/c draining onto the passenger front floor, but only at certain times. Seems like it's only if I'm doing 50/60 mph or above that it happens. And almost seems like pressure in the engine compartment pushes the draining water between the drain and the firewall seal... Never heard of the problem, but that's where it seems to be coming from.

 

[benIV]

ever figure out that ac/drain problem? How's the little jetta doing?

 

[Stromaluski]

I guess I'll update this again. I haven't done a whole lot with the car other than driving it. Primarily been working on my mk1 and my bus. In any case, though...

Picked up a second set of Corrado Steelies.

Had them powdercoated and put a new set of 195/55/15's on them. The powdercoater did a terrible job on them. The powder is too thin (in addition to being more white than silver); so now a few months later, there's surface rust coming through the powder.

Swapped a stock head unit back into the car and put the JayCar one back on a shelf. I really like the look of a stock head unit.

Started buying parts to put a bigger turbo on the car, but that won't happen until later this year or possibly into next year. Picked up a BHW exhaust manifold and PD130 intake manifold and picking up an 11mm injection pump from a local friend hopefully this weekend.

ever figure out that ac/drain problem? How's the little jetta doing?

I put a zip tie around the seal where the drain passes through the firewall and tightened it just enough to put some pressure on the drain. Hasn't done it since. I still have never heard of the drain not sealing, but it seems to be fixed. In any case, though, I don't really give the car a whole lot of love.

At this point, the paint is fading through to primer on both the roof and trunk and the paint on the front bumper/grill/hood is really looking terrible. I need to do something about it, but don't want to go through the time/expense of painting the car. Thinking I'll just plastidip the whole car...