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Hi Stance Works Community.
I just recently joined the forum and have been reading countless threads lately. Mainly the Build threads and mostly when I should be at work, but don't tell the boss.
Decided to start my own 'Build' thread, even if nobody reads it, I just love talking about my car, and what better place to do so than on a car forum. Just a bit of a heads up, this thread will be very Pic Heavy. Anyway, I suppose I may start with a bit of history.
Bought this car, a Silver 2008 Volkswagen Jetta MK5 1.9TDi, in April 2015. Before this I had a 2005 Vauxhall Vectra, but we won't talk about that haha. So when I went to view this car, the guy selling the car did the typical, "It's 100% mechanically sound and everything is as it should be". Of course, I did the basic checks, but not having much mechanical experience, none in fact, I should have brought a mechanic along with me. Hindsight is a great thing. But, after a few minutes haggling, we agreed on a price and I was on my way.
Fast forward two weeks. At this point I still hadn't drove the car, except for bringing it home, as the car was bought in the UK, and UK cars have to be re-registered here in Ireland to have an Irish Number plate. This involves a lovely Registration tax, but anyway, went to start the car one day and it wouldn't turn over. Immediately though, crap, the battery's dead. On the phone to the mechanic and eventually got it to his garage and left it with him to sort.
A few days later, phone call back from the mechanic. Bad news. Head gasket! Balls! Nothing else I can do but leave it with him to fix it.
Another few days pass and he calls again, even worse news. The cylinder head was cracked, due to the head gasket having been changed before, but the head wasn't skimmed properly, or at all. So as I'm sure you can tell, and maybe empathize, this is a terrible start to owning a car. But I scrape together enough money and get a new Cylinder head and all the works done and fitted.
A few weeks go by then of me telling myself, I'm not going to do anyting to the car except change the alloys from the 19" Bola ZZR's that came on the car, to some 18" alloys. While I did this, I didn't stop there unfortunately for my bank account. I eventually settled on a set of River R4 Alloys.
One of the first things that took my fancy, were the US Specification chrome grills, so on to eBay and purchased one of them from somewhere in the states and anxiously waited the delivery. As soon as it was delivered, I was straight out to fit it. Looks lovely in my opinion.
I had also fixed a few other small problems with the car that would drive me crazy, even though they were tiny. So a new wing mirror controller and rear arm rest vents were bought and fitted. Interior looked miles better afterwards.
I few more weeks passed, maybe even 2 months, then I decided front fog lights would look good. So again, scoured eBay and bought all the pieces and retro fitted the kit myself using the relay method. This saved changing the clocks to the high line ones i believe. The only difference being, no light comes on to say the front fog lights are on, but that doesn't bother me.
I then decided to fit LED side lights. Looked lovely.... for a week until they started flashing, so I bought another pair, and another, and another. eventually I took the hint and put the original side lights back in.
Now I suppose it's worth pointing out that one of the main reasons I bought this car, believe it or not, was the interior. The day I viewed the car I absolutely just fell in love with it, and here's a few pictures of it that don't do it any justice. The entire interior was redone in genuine black leather with white Bentley Diamond style stitching.
The next big expense was a new clutch kit around January / February of 2016. This had been going since the day I bought the car and I thought I should change it now when I had the money. So quite a few hundred euro later and a new Dual Mass Flywheel and clutch kit were fitted, and the old one was removed. And a good job it was. The previous owner had changed the clutch at some stage in the past, but didn't fit a new one, no. They fitted a used one, from a 1.6TDi MK6 Golf. Completely wrong engine code, engine size, gearbox.. Miracle it even worked in the first place.
Another one of the jobs I hadn't really planned on doing was removing the tow bar, but I was asked by a neighbor, who also has a Jetta and was looking for one, would I considering selling it, so off it came.
At the start of March, I decided I wanted a better headunit. One that didn't only have CD playback and radio, so on to AliExpress and bought a RNS510 Clone. Now I have CD, DVD, SD, USB, AUX, Nav, BT, Reversing Camera, Internet and probably some other features.
Nothing much else happened since that except I started cleaning and preparing for a local VAG car show in Belfast, Northern Ireland, DubShed, and was hoping to get the radio fitted before that. But of course, nothing ever goes to plan for me, and during the 2 days I had booked off from work before the show, I was admitted to hospital with Diabetic Ketoacidosis. I didn't even know I was diabetic, but I sure as hell do now! I still managed to get to the show, but unfortunately the Jetta didn't. Still was a brilliant showthough, as always.
The next thing I did, and it's at this point I should state how lucky I am to have such a supporting girlfriend, was put a deposit down with a company for Air Suspension. After lots of talking with everyone at DesignRMC in Lisburn, Northern Ireland, I've ordered the AirLIft Slam kit, and the 3P Management setup, and this is going to be fitted along with a custom boot build on the week starting May 2nd 2016. I can't wait.
And you'd think I'd be saving in between putting the deposit down and getting the kit fitted, but what I actually did was buy another set a wheels and order an Edition 30 Front Splitter and I am going to be getting that sprayed in a few weeks along with my back bumper which has a few small, but annoying to me, scrapes.
That's all for now, but I hope you enjoyed reading about my Jetta and hopefully you will enjoy all the future updates on this, as I hope there will be plenty. The plans for the future so far are the following:
- AirLift Slam Kit & 3P Management (Next week along with a boot build)
- Edition 30 front splitter & rear bumper sprayed and fitted (Next few weeks)
- R32 Golf Xenon head lights (Birthday present from my girlfriend, in 2 weeks)
And I'll finish this off with a picture of how it looks at the moment. Thanks
I just recently joined the forum and have been reading countless threads lately. Mainly the Build threads and mostly when I should be at work, but don't tell the boss.
Decided to start my own 'Build' thread, even if nobody reads it, I just love talking about my car, and what better place to do so than on a car forum. Just a bit of a heads up, this thread will be very Pic Heavy. Anyway, I suppose I may start with a bit of history.
Bought this car, a Silver 2008 Volkswagen Jetta MK5 1.9TDi, in April 2015. Before this I had a 2005 Vauxhall Vectra, but we won't talk about that haha. So when I went to view this car, the guy selling the car did the typical, "It's 100% mechanically sound and everything is as it should be". Of course, I did the basic checks, but not having much mechanical experience, none in fact, I should have brought a mechanic along with me. Hindsight is a great thing. But, after a few minutes haggling, we agreed on a price and I was on my way.
Fast forward two weeks. At this point I still hadn't drove the car, except for bringing it home, as the car was bought in the UK, and UK cars have to be re-registered here in Ireland to have an Irish Number plate. This involves a lovely Registration tax, but anyway, went to start the car one day and it wouldn't turn over. Immediately though, crap, the battery's dead. On the phone to the mechanic and eventually got it to his garage and left it with him to sort.
A few days later, phone call back from the mechanic. Bad news. Head gasket! Balls! Nothing else I can do but leave it with him to fix it.
Another few days pass and he calls again, even worse news. The cylinder head was cracked, due to the head gasket having been changed before, but the head wasn't skimmed properly, or at all. So as I'm sure you can tell, and maybe empathize, this is a terrible start to owning a car. But I scrape together enough money and get a new Cylinder head and all the works done and fitted.
A few weeks go by then of me telling myself, I'm not going to do anyting to the car except change the alloys from the 19" Bola ZZR's that came on the car, to some 18" alloys. While I did this, I didn't stop there unfortunately for my bank account. I eventually settled on a set of River R4 Alloys.
One of the first things that took my fancy, were the US Specification chrome grills, so on to eBay and purchased one of them from somewhere in the states and anxiously waited the delivery. As soon as it was delivered, I was straight out to fit it. Looks lovely in my opinion.
I had also fixed a few other small problems with the car that would drive me crazy, even though they were tiny. So a new wing mirror controller and rear arm rest vents were bought and fitted. Interior looked miles better afterwards.
I few more weeks passed, maybe even 2 months, then I decided front fog lights would look good. So again, scoured eBay and bought all the pieces and retro fitted the kit myself using the relay method. This saved changing the clocks to the high line ones i believe. The only difference being, no light comes on to say the front fog lights are on, but that doesn't bother me.
I then decided to fit LED side lights. Looked lovely.... for a week until they started flashing, so I bought another pair, and another, and another. eventually I took the hint and put the original side lights back in.
Now I suppose it's worth pointing out that one of the main reasons I bought this car, believe it or not, was the interior. The day I viewed the car I absolutely just fell in love with it, and here's a few pictures of it that don't do it any justice. The entire interior was redone in genuine black leather with white Bentley Diamond style stitching.
The next big expense was a new clutch kit around January / February of 2016. This had been going since the day I bought the car and I thought I should change it now when I had the money. So quite a few hundred euro later and a new Dual Mass Flywheel and clutch kit were fitted, and the old one was removed. And a good job it was. The previous owner had changed the clutch at some stage in the past, but didn't fit a new one, no. They fitted a used one, from a 1.6TDi MK6 Golf. Completely wrong engine code, engine size, gearbox.. Miracle it even worked in the first place.
Another one of the jobs I hadn't really planned on doing was removing the tow bar, but I was asked by a neighbor, who also has a Jetta and was looking for one, would I considering selling it, so off it came.
At the start of March, I decided I wanted a better headunit. One that didn't only have CD playback and radio, so on to AliExpress and bought a RNS510 Clone. Now I have CD, DVD, SD, USB, AUX, Nav, BT, Reversing Camera, Internet and probably some other features.
Nothing much else happened since that except I started cleaning and preparing for a local VAG car show in Belfast, Northern Ireland, DubShed, and was hoping to get the radio fitted before that. But of course, nothing ever goes to plan for me, and during the 2 days I had booked off from work before the show, I was admitted to hospital with Diabetic Ketoacidosis. I didn't even know I was diabetic, but I sure as hell do now! I still managed to get to the show, but unfortunately the Jetta didn't. Still was a brilliant showthough, as always.
The next thing I did, and it's at this point I should state how lucky I am to have such a supporting girlfriend, was put a deposit down with a company for Air Suspension. After lots of talking with everyone at DesignRMC in Lisburn, Northern Ireland, I've ordered the AirLIft Slam kit, and the 3P Management setup, and this is going to be fitted along with a custom boot build on the week starting May 2nd 2016. I can't wait.
And you'd think I'd be saving in between putting the deposit down and getting the kit fitted, but what I actually did was buy another set a wheels and order an Edition 30 Front Splitter and I am going to be getting that sprayed in a few weeks along with my back bumper which has a few small, but annoying to me, scrapes.
That's all for now, but I hope you enjoyed reading about my Jetta and hopefully you will enjoy all the future updates on this, as I hope there will be plenty. The plans for the future so far are the following:
- AirLift Slam Kit & 3P Management (Next week along with a boot build)
- Edition 30 front splitter & rear bumper sprayed and fitted (Next few weeks)
- R32 Golf Xenon head lights (Birthday present from my girlfriend, in 2 weeks)
And I'll finish this off with a picture of how it looks at the moment. Thanks
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