Well I bought a piece of junk jetta. Every time I look at it it seems like more and more work...
Well the battery, radio and speakers were out when I bought it since it was in a sketchy part of town and the doors don't lock (the driver's door lock cylinder is sitting in the trunk, not sure why). Guy bottomed out on oil pan and engine is toast. New clutch and transmission ( no paper work but I honestly didn't care much it was only $500) interior could use a little tlc, paint is okay for now, needs engine which I'll get a parts car for soon. Hood latch cable is missing the handle (I'll just pull it from the parts car) pretty decent black leather interior, lowered on coilovers, already fixed a couple things, battery that came with it was from January, but it was bad so interstate replaced it free, front has stacked wheel spacers and one set was the kind that just slides on the studs and they were cracked
Well now I'm thinking I may have gotten in slightly over my head on this project. I noticed a clicking sound when I would hook the battery up (with the car on or off, door open or closed, ac on or off) figured out it's the ac clutch engaging. Not sure why. If anyone has any guidance as to where to look on that it would be appreciated. Also, once I put the battery in I noticed no lights come on when I open the door. The over head light works when I flip the switch to on though. Window works intermittently so I'm assuming wires switch or motor which I can fix or take from parts car. Honestly I guess the big one is the ac clutch. Since I don't want that on 24/7 but I don't want to just unplug it considering I might be able to get ac to work. Well any comments, tips or anything would be appreciated.

 

Got the engine out today, got the trans separated from the engine. Clutch looks new, I haven't pulled it off yet, but probably will tomorrow. Going to grab a car trailer tomorrow to pick up the new Jetta Monday. Whenever I do something to a vehicle I end up doing it many times consecutively. Pulled this engine today, pulling a friend's engine (out of his parts car e36 I believe) tomorrow, pulling the parts car engine as soon as I get it, and then I'll put the engine in this car and help my friend pull the engine out of his e30 and swap in the e36 engine. So lots of engine stuff all at once.

 

Fixed the headlight wiring today, cleaned the interior out some, sorta fixed the trunk (It's good enough I can open it with the key at least instead of having to crawl through), checked all the fuses (one was blown but probably 10 were the wrong amp so I put all the right size fuses in), Posted the wheels up for sale, and tried some bmw wheels on it. Tomorrow I plan to pick up its heart donor and will hopefully have it driving soon.

 

Got another Jetta, 2004 silver 2.0 automatic. My dad won't let me tear it apart for the engine he says it looks too nice so he wants me to buy an automatic 2.0 and take the trans for the silver one and the engine for the red one and make 2 good cars. There's a wrecked golf I might be able to get.

 

Well I ended up just pulling the silver one apart to give its heart to the red one. I got the "new" engine mated to the transmission, changed the oil in both and I'll hopefully get the engine back in tomorrow with some lucky and drive my first (not first time driving a manual, first time owning a manual) manual car. I think it'll be fun since I can actually go for it and rip on it some. I don't usually get to since I'm usually driving other people's manual cars. If it's my own I can do whatever I want.

 

Well engine number 2 self destructed for reasons unknown.

 

Well junkyard had a 40% off sale yesterday so I grabbed another engine and now she runs!

 

Is the golf a gti?

 

I didn't end up getting the golf, but I honestly don't know. All I know is it was an automatic with a 2.0 that a tree fell on.

 

how it sits today. No wheel spacers, different rims and tires, lifted it up about 1.5". Debating a hybrid oil pan since I've found a couple nicks in the one on it despite me being careful, sometimes there are things that you don't see or that don't look bad, but you hit them and bottom out. Prefer the lifted life.

 

Blew drivers side cv joint on the way to take my test today. I guess I'll get it towed home and grab one from the junkyard later today.

 

Well fixed it Friday night, taught someone to drive it Saturday, Sunday went for a cruise and decided it was too loud, today I ordered a new mass air flow sensor and welded the exhaust from my parts car up into it.

 

Well since the last update, the transmission blew out, I replaced all the bushings in the front suspension, replaced the subframe, ball joints and control arms, replaced the transmission, replaced the driver's wheel bearing, found the front coil overs were leaking and bent, ordered new coil overs, traded the salad shooters for some silver wheels and now she's on jackstands waiting for coil overs and rear brakes, but here's some pictures of stuffs

 

The new wheels are MUCH better. Are you done breaking things yet?

 

It killed itself, I didn't break it but I'm still waiting on replacement coil overs for it. Should be here Wednesday, then I'll just have to play with it some to get it sitting the way I want it with the new wheels. While it's up I did rear brakes (since I'm cheap I just robbed the brakes off the other Jetta which were in MUCH better shape), and put some new spark plugs in it since the wires looked good, but who knows when the plugs were done last and they're cheap anyway. Hopefully I won't have too many problems after that because I go back to school next Wednesday and won't have time to work on it.