Smileybug's Mk1

[Smileybug]

Me and the fiance picked up a nice Mk1 Jetta last summer, along with 2 Mk2 Jettas. All diesels, all free, as they were just sitting in this guy's yard. He could no longer work on them and wanted them gone so they were ours for the taking! The 2 Mk2's weren't worth saving as a whole (rusted pretty bad) so we parted them out. But the Mk1 was in good shape. The body is solid with limited surface rust. To top it all off, its a pretty rare car. 1984 Jetta Turbo Diesel, GL model. Its fully loaded with options. Not many sold here.

So the car sat for 2-3 years in this guy's yard. We took it and it has been living in our garage since August. With us both in school, progress has been slow...set-backs and ghetto fixes from a PO have not helped either. Now that I'm out of school, we're getting down to business and hope to have it running soon! Almost ran yesterday...

Anyway, here is our beauty:


We have a build thread going on the local forum we're a part of. So feast your eyes if you are interested! http://forums.ncdubs.org/showthread.php?t=11115

We're anxious to get it started. Finally got everything buttoned back up 4 months after starting a timing belt and water pump job on it! Seems to have some sort of fuel starvation issue going on right now so it won't stay running more than 5 seconds. Hoping its an easy to get to filter or something. Gonna plug away at it some more today and hopefully it will be running this week!

[bugsy98nb]

I LOVE mk1 jettas. Great deal you guys got I had four at one time . two 81s one a diesel , and two 84s one a Gli ( same color as your Diesel ) sigh I wish i would have kept them . I'll keep an eye on your rebuild thread GOod job at bring this one back from the dead .

[Smileybug]

Thanks!

We got it running tonight!!! It won't idle so that will be the next thing to sort out but we think the idle adjustment screw is off a little. Oh and we need to replace the shift bushings...no reverse, 1st or 2nd!

[Smileybug]

Got the Jetta running really nice now. Its idling, not overheating, and we fixed the shift bushings so we have all gears now! Got him moved out of the garage and turned around so the exhaust is facing OUT of the garage now! Hoping to get the brakes working well next weekend and then hopefully we can get him inspected and registered soon!
Here is the first picture of it out of the garage now that its running!


Oh, and we have decided its a him and his name is Klaus. German car gets a German name

[warren]

nice job bringing Klaus back to life!

[Smileybug]

Well, little Klaus has had a lot of excitement lately.

Ended up taking him to a local shop a few months ago to get some more involved work done, since we were finishing up the semester and my fiance was graduating. Since then, we've had new struts and strut mounts put in, wheel bearings, master cylider, ball joints, fuel lines replaced with viton for future biodiesel use, and brake flush done. We also pulled the tank and took it to a radiator shop for cleaning. Turns out our fuel starvation issues were due to the nasty gunk in the fuel tank clogging up the in-tank filter (so much gunk in the tank we didn't even know it had a filter!). The shop also ended up sealing up a nice dime sized hole that the junk had filled in so much that it didn't leak. Woo for cars sitting for years!

Its been slow progress since the guys at the shop are only there part-time due to the rough economy. But we have our fingers crossed that we might be bringing him home tonight! He runs and stops well and the suspension is in good shape! Once we have him home, we'll be driving him around locally and taking care of any other things that might pop up (probably a rear drum rebuild at least). Then saving up for a paint job and new suspension, cuz lets face it, he's asking to be lowered

[Smileybug]

Well Klaus is now home! We had a successful maiden voyage on highways! We even filled up at a gas station with diesel for the first time. Made a pitstop by Bill's dad's to show off the car, which he was excited about. So now he sits in front of our townhouse. Still got some work to do, but he made it home!

[hestersu]

Cool! Time for some fresh pics!

[Smileybug]

Yeah he's been sitting at the shop so long, not many pics. But I took a pic this morning as I came out of the house to go to work. Crappy cell pic, but it still makes me smile

[bugsy98nb]

Nice !! someday I will get another mk1

[Smileybug]

We'll hopefully be taking him out soon and getting some new pictures of him. Got most everything in order now! We got the bumpers, fender flairs, and grille repainted black. What a difference that made!

Lets see...we've put on a new drivers side axle, fixed a few small leaks that showed up in the fuel tank, new exhaust, got the coolant flushed, new brake booster, a new radio (with green lighting to match the dash!) and rear speakers, and I'm sure lots of other things I'm forgetting. He's running great now! All thats really left is to finish wiring up the tach and setting it (diesels didn't come with tachs!) and fix the trip meter so its stops binding up and keeping the odometer from working (then we can figure out some mpgs!).

My fiance drove him around town all weekend while I was at my undergrad's Homecoming. Put a few hundred miles on it. Then I drove him to campus on Monday and today. He drove the car to work yesterday! Its running great and is so fun to drive.

I have to say, the Mk1 is the only other car thats put a smile on my face like my NB has I love the sound of the old skool diesel...and hearing that turbo.

[The Cheat]

from one mk1 owner to another, please lower klaus. he will love you mo' better.

i mean, once he's mechanically sound and all.

just sayin'.

looking good though, coming along nicely, and always nice to see a diesel brought back.

[Smileybug]

Don't worry. He WILL be lowered! I'm not usually one to care, but dang, the Mk1s need it! I think that will be the next big upgrade for him.

I have to say, I do kinda wish he had power steering. I'm not very strong so its hard to park! But its still fun

[The Cheat]

the trick with no power steering is to keep the momentum going. takes a lot of practice, but drive him around for a few days and you'll be a pro.

for lowering kits, go coils. it's the only way to get a really respectable stance on those cars, the sedans are known for massive fender gap.

when you get there, hit me up, i'll tell you alllll you need to know.

[FarrisK]

Man I miss my 93 Mk1. I'd love to find another one in as good of shape as that one was.

[Deserion]

Oh my god! I just now realized who you are! If I was told then, it didn't click at all, until I just saw the pics of that Mk1.

I helped KC pull apart his old 1.6 motor back in January. You remember, I fell down the back steps at your house. Still need to clean my coat...

I'm dense.

[Smileybug]

So for a few updates on the car! I can post some pics when I get home from work.

This past weekend, we did the wonderful heater core job thats been needing to be done. Ugh! Bill had a new heater box that he bought with new components so he got that all put together, which made our lives so much easier. We also got the OK from his boss to work on the car in the shop at his work, which is fully air conditioned, which was awesome in the 95+ degree weather and brutal humidity. Started working on the car Saturday around 10:30am, and worked until 7:30 that night. Went back to the job at 9:30 the next morning and had it all back together at 3pm! So not too bad. We also did a lot of other work on the car at the same time. He put in a new fuse block, since our old one was all corroded. We also ripped out all of the foam sound deadening stuff that was on the firewall. We have had so many water leaks, and even after cleaning up the car still smelled musty. Well the foam felt fairly damp and we think it was the cause of the musty smell. In its place, I put dynamat. Helps with sound deadening (and lord knows a diesel needs it!) and also will help if we still have leaks, since the water won't stay there.

So far so good! I haven't ridden in the car since, with the lack of working AC and the oppressive heat lately, it won't happen for a bit. But Bill said the car is much quieter. And the heater box works and so does our blower fan! The new fuse block also fixed some of our electrical gremlins. Our build thread in the first post is updated more than this, and it has lots of pictures


Oh, and I'm an idiot. I don't think I ever looked at this thread after you posted Deserion! I had no idea that was you! Small world We don't live at that place anymore, thankfully. If you ever make it up this way again, you shouldn't be falling down our steps at our new place!

[bugsy98nb]

If i recall , from vortex ? some leaks happened thru the a/c vent under the hood, I have a leak in my bunny but I think its the windshield seal since i dont have a/c . Hoping to have mine on the road soon since i got all the parts now

[Smileybug]

Leaking windshield seals a common in the Mk1's from what I've seen. Corroded fuse blocks are a common result of that. He tried cleaning our original one last year, but it didn't do enough. New fuse block fixed several problems though. We had a really busted air box in the rain tray. Some PO just put duct tape all over it to "fix" it. We had a new windshield put in a few months after getting the car, as the seal was shot, but we still had some water leaks. We're hoping the new air box fixes those!

[Smileybug]

So as an update from the last post...its been raining a lot here lately, torrential downpours have been frequent. And so far, no leaks! So seems as though the airbox may just have been the culprit. Though I'm sure if we put the carpets back in, it will leak.

Made A LOT of progress this weekend. The engine rebuild begins!!! We pulled the car into our local shop on Friday night to cool down. Came in on Saturday to start the engine removal. We got the engine and transmission removed together as one unit, which made life easier. The transmission came off, and was covered in wonderful black diesel grime. Took it outside and powerwashed it, then I scrubbed it with Purple Power at full strength. Lo and behold, there was a silver transmission under there! Got a lot of the brackets taken off of the engine and we spent time on Sunday with brushes and Purple Poweronce again cleaning them up to get them degreased and ready for sandblasting and painting, which will hopefully happen soon. This week we'll be sending the Injection Pump off to Giles in Canada to get it rebuilt. We'll also be hopefully getting to the shop on Wednesday to begin removing the last few big things: oil pan, turbo, and head. We'll be sending the motor off to a machine shop to get a once over and see what we're up against before making other decisions. We'll be asking a friend of ours who owns the shop where we're working on this about the turbo. When we got the car, it felt like the turbo had some shaft play but we also hadn't run the car much at that point. Now that its been getting used, no shaft play. It boosts and holds 9psi no problem so we might be alright.

We hope to get all of the accessories out too and get the engine bay cleaned up nice. Its got a nice grime layer in there. Hoping that just cleaning it up will be all it needs but we'll get a coat of paint in there if we need to.

I'm at work right now, so I don't have the pictures. But you can check them out, plus some more details on the rebuild thus far here: 1984 Turbo Diesel Jetta Project - NCDubs | VW Audi Porsche Performance News & Tuning Forums