1986 VW Jetta GT - update time

[bazboy]

Hello everyone,

Thought id introduce you all to my new toy and first gti.

Its a 1986 vw jetta gt 1.8 8v and I'm loving it to bits, so much fun to drive.

Its been lowered by 40mm on eibach springs and shocks along with stiffened front and back eibach anti roll bars and it is very stiff, but handles amazingly.

Its also got a full stainless steel scorpion exhaust system which sounds nice but I wanna change the tail pipes.

I know the wheels are a bit chavy but they have awesome tires on and were on the car when I was a kid and its how I remember the car so there staying for a bit.

The car has been in the family from new and is in its 3 generation of ownership ;D

Plans are to enjoy it and get it looking good, then maybe go for a bit more power, but I don't know much about the 8v lumps so will be asking lots of questions.

Heres a quick piccie, ill get more up on the weekend once given it a good service, as its been of the road for the past 6 years.

Oh it also only needed new rear disks and calipers for the mot, and a hole in the exhaust and the mot man said its very clean underneath so I'm gonna get some waxoil on it when I get a chance.

Enjoy and tell me what you think

Cheers Dan

[bigkris]

Apr 13, 2010 23:16:28 GMT bazboy said:

tell me what you think

Cheers Dan

Think you should give me your drivers side doors ;D

nice car mate (I'm bias )

[VWPowered]

looks tidy that

[bazboy]

Cheers guys, I'm just loving how it drives.

The drivers side door has a dent so doubt you'd want it

Spent the weekend sorting a bad oil leak which thankfully turned out to be a dodgey sensor i think, anyway its replaced now and no more leak, so happy about that.

Also i managed to get the boot to open and fixed the battery down better so it doesnt move anymore.

Anyway got a few more pics this weekend but there not very good, just taken on my phone.















Plans now are to service it, fix the exhaust manifold as it has a bit of a leak, replace the back box with something a bit less in your face and generally tidy up the body work, then enjoy until i can afford todo more.

Cheers Dan

[Drizz]

Sod the Golf saloon! Check the 90 out

[bazboy]

Probably about time i updated this, not much has been happening with the car, just general maintenance.

Anyway enough talk and ill pop some pics up of it in its current state.











Thanks for looking, hopefully the knew pics show the car in a better light.

Dan

[Speedle]

Lovely Jetta dude. I notice you've blanked out your numberplate which is a smart move but it's clear as day in your sig... you may want to update it

[feliciacombi]

well iv allways prefered cars with boots rather than a hatch.........so thats just phworrrrr

[theboymike]

Looks tidy in the last few pics; think the rims look far betterer in white too

[bazboy]

Jan 24, 2011 16:56:10 GMT Speedle said:

Lovely Jetta dude. I notice you've blanked out your numberplate which is a smart move but it's clear as day in your sig... you may want to update it

lol didnt notice that, sorted it now. cheers for the heads up.

And thanks everyone for the nice comments.

Dan

[Fennec]

I noticed the white lettering on the tyres. Mine are Accelera too, any chance of a closer/ clearer pic to show me what you have done? I think I might paint mine.

[feliciacombi]

Is the insurance less on this as its not a golf?

[crazymonkey]

;DLove the old Jettas, remember seeing one for sale when looking at another car in a dealership and thats where I first saw one. Loved it from the moment I saw it, don't know if I'll get hated for this (probably but its my opinion only), but I love the Jettas more than the mk2 golfs, these always seem to have that extra appeal by having the saloon boot. I remember there was a local one to me which was bright metallic light blue (nice) but had a huge race style wing and badly tinted lights. looked awesome back when I was a kid but looking at it now, please don't do that to it

[Geordie]

I'm with you there brother...Jetta's over Golf's for me too!

My sisters boyfriend years ago had a brand new on circa 1989 (F) - red, big bumpers, awesome.

[Speedle]

Jan 24, 2011 17:18:56 GMT bazboy said:

Jan 24, 2011 16:56:10 GMT Speedle said:

Lovely Jetta dude. I notice you've blanked out your numberplate which is a smart move but it's clear as day in your sig... you may want to update it

lol didnt notice that, sorted it now. cheers for the heads up.

And thanks everyone for the nice comments.

Dan

No worries chap

[Stu_B]

Nice! I used to have an '86 Jetta GT 'C13 DYE'. You really don't see many about. It was a brilliant car but I swapped it for my 2dr Mk3 Cortina so no regrets

Just sold my big bumper 90 spec JettaTX to a chap on here who's doing a VR6 conversion.

[the_munkeh]

I think I drove past you yesterday down Southsea? Was in a passat estate with very lellow headlights

[veedubjunky]

Looks great! Think it would benifit from goin a bit lower at the front

[bazboy]

So where to begin.....

Its been a while since i last updated this mainly because i am useless at documenting stuff as i go, but i plan to change that now and to use this as a form of scrap book for where i go with the car and what i do.

So this is a little update to bring everyone upto date.

The O.Z polaris wheels went black (because i am lazy and didnt like having to clean the wheels everytime i turned around)



Then i finally got around to fitting the coilovers to the car along with some lenso wheels.



Which along with the eibach anti roll bars, seriously stiffened the car up, which if I'm honest I'm not too keen on, it is seriously great on smooth roads and handled amazingly going up the hill at retro rides but throw a few pot holes at it or an un even/bouncey road and it becomes a little unsettled, which is fine as long as your ready for it.

Next up the mighty 8v with all its torque was ripped from the engine bay.



I was kinda sad to see it go tbh, i like keeping engines original but it was just becoming to hard to keep going and i really wanted a bit more omph.





It was replaced by a low milleage 16v lump, which while it was all out of the car i whipped the head of and had it fully rebuilt by a local enginering firm.





Head attached





Funnily enough i don't have any pics of it in the car well i do, but i cant find the camera they are on

I fitted a 4 brach manifold to the 16v lump and 50mm inlet and bolted it all to the 8v box, as i had heard they have better ratios (dunno if this is true)

I let the engine run in before giving it some beans, but after the run in period was up i cried havoc and let loose the dogs of war ;D

The 16v is definately quicker then the 8v, but i will say that the 8v was better suited to city driving - i think because its lower revving.

A few pics of her at the gathering going up the hill







I also removed the dreadful exhaust which was on it, it never fitted right and looked awfull.

So the rear section was removed and replaced with a nice descreet, not in your face, cherry bomb!

Its sounds the part now, and when on full chat really sounds good.... at least i think so

That i believe brings us up to date.

The list of jobs to acheive before retro rides this year is as follows:

Replace pass window mechanism
Fix gear linkage
Replace tail lights
Replace tail light bulb fitting
Remove a silencer
Return car to a more sensible ride height (hopefully to make it feel a bit better on the bumps)
Fit Bucket seats and sort out interior
Sort out rust around the boot seal
Sort out rust along the pass door bottom
Remove engine and fit 2.0 bottom end
Fit lightened and balanced fly wheel
Paint engine bay/general tart up
New wheels possibly


Well i think that is that, i wanna do the 2.0 bottom end and flywheel as i should of done them before, but was excited to be doing my first engine swap, so was eager to get it done.... you live you learn.

I will be sure to keep everyone updated from here on out.

Dan

[bazboy]

So today i had the fun task of sorting out the gear linkage bushes.

So this



Had to fit into this somehow.....



I would have taken more piccies but the shear amount of grease i had to fight through was unbelievable!

Its done now though and the shift feels alot better, was a bit of fun getting it all lined up properly as well, on one attempt i managed to have neutral where 5th should be

I also managed to fit the pass window mech so that is 2 items off the list.... but also 1 more added as i now need to replace the bottom ball joint on the gear stick itself