No more project cars.

[cfc1016]

I’m done. From now on, I’m just buying cars that already have everything I want installed. 

I just finished swapping a manual transmission (and all associated components) into a 2003 automatic transmission vw jetta TDI. This job alone took 2 days of removal of donor parts and 3 days of installation (not to mention money). After all the other countless hours and thousand of dollars I’ve sunk into this thing to “make it right” I could’ve just bought a nicer newer car - in cash. 

It’s got a tricked out engine and a sweet short throw 5spd in it now though, so i got that goin for me... which is nice. It *is* really fun to drive...

Ugh. I’m a fool for love. 

[Islandboy]

Wow...that’s a lot of work to get from point A to point A.1 - Well done!

My bold move with car repairs was about 20 years ago when the AC evaporator went out in my Ford Thunderbird Super Coupe (what a monumental POS that car turned out to be). Replacement required COMPLETE removal of the dashboard assembly. My advice to anyone remotely thinking of removing a car’s dashboard in it’s entirety is to pay a professional the $2,000 to do it, or buy a new car. I pulled it off, mind you, but it took an entire weekend of dawn-to-dusk concentration, and much bloodshed. 

[PapaDisco]

Bwahahahah!  You're insane man!  I used to do that sort of thing on cars from the 60's, but those were simple compared to today's tight fitting, electronically managed nightmares!   Kudos to you, sir; this takes some serious skill!  

[cfc1016]

42 minutes ago, Islandboy said:

Wow...that’s a lot of work to get from point A to point A.1 - Well done!

My bold move with car repairs was about 20 years ago when the AC evaporator went out in my Ford Thunderbird Super Coupe (what a monumental POS that car turned out to be). Replacement required COMPLETE removal of the dashboard assembly. My advice to anyone remotely thinking of removing a car’s dashboard in it’s entirety is to pay a professional the $2,000 to do it, or buy a new car. I pulled it off, mind you, but it took an entire weekend of dawn-to-dusk concentration, and much bloodshed. 

I tore apart the entire dash of my [thankfully now canibalized for parts] TDI beetle, to repair the blend doors. It was necessary, if i wanted to have any control over the temperature, or vent path, of the air coming from my HVAC system. NIGHTMARE. I’m not buying vws anymore. 

36 minutes ago, PapaDisco said:

Bwahahahah!  You're insane man!  I used to do that sort of thing on cars from the 60's, but those were simple compared to today's tight fitting, electronically managed nightmares!   Kudos to you, sir; this takes some serious skill!  

Yeah dude this was insane. I still have to do some cleanup - alignment, shifter linkage adjustment etc - but I really don’t want to wrench anymore for a while

[Fuzz]

Yep, you're nuts. I can kinda understand it... but not for a 2003 VW Jetta wagon.

The most mechanically inclined thing I've done for a car is take out the AC motor from my father's 07 Merc C280, clean and repair, then re-install. That took me half an afternoon as it was a real pain to take out.

[LGC]

I hate the fact that wagons and manuals aren’t sold in the US, except for sports cars and economy cars. I didn’t want to go German, so I settled on an ‘08 Altima V6 with a 6 speed.

As far as project cars, my ‘53 Chevy 5 window is it for a couple decades.

[Luca]

2 hours ago, Islandboy said:

Wow...that’s a lot of work to get from point A to point A.1 - Well done!

My bold move with car repairs was about 20 years ago when the AC evaporator went out in my Ford Thunderbird Super Coupe (what a monumental POS that car turned out to be). Replacement required COMPLETE removal of the dashboard assembly. My advice to anyone remotely thinking of removing a car’s dashboard in it’s entirety is to pay a professional the $2,000 to do it, or buy a new car. I pulled it off, mind you, but it took an entire weekend of dawn-to-dusk concentration, and much bloodshed. 

I feel your pain. I took the dash out of my Rx7 just to fix an aircon vent. Took all day and night!

[pdxcigarguy]

@cfc1016

Impressive.

A buddy did this same kind of swap with a Dodge Cummins truck. 48rfe auto to a g56 manual.

Did you swap ECU or do some efi live tweaking to get everything to jive?

[cfc1016]

21 hours ago, Fuzz said:

Yep, you're nuts. I can kinda understand it... but not for a 2003 VW Jetta wagon.

The most mechanically inclined thing I've done for a car is take out the AC motor from my father's 07 Merc C280, clean and repair, then re-install. That took me half an afternoon as it was a real pain to take out.

The mk4 (99.5-2005) jetta was current when I got my drivers license, and was the new car I wanted but knew I couldn't have.

I got my first automatic in ages with this jetta wagon. Knee issues and I figured I'd give autos another chance, after being a mostly-lifelong devotee of manual trans (I'm a vehicle operator - not a driver. I've logged ~670,000 miles, many of which were on the clock. I did some racing. I'm a total ocd car nut). I've been regretting not getting a manual. I still dearly love my ALH engine mk4 wagon, with the good cupholders they only had from 03-05, the good engine (ALH) that was only in it from 99.5-03, and the wagon body, which was ONLY made in wolfsburg - not the Mexico plant which had different, subpar small-parts-suppliers (a big deal when you have a vw - parts fail all the time). For those reasons, the 2003 jetta wagon TDI is one of the most prized year/model/trims among TDI heads. It's a thing. Also the seats... they're perfect.

I'm upgrading to a newer, much more sensible car after this (it's in the planning stages now) but I think I'll still keep it as my fun car. I've got a few performance upgrades, and am doing a stage 3 chip tune soon. For a little 1.9L diesel, he pulls like nobody's business.

[cfc1016]

7 minutes ago, pdxcigarguy said:

@cfc1016

Impressive.

A buddy did this same kind of swap with a Dodge Cummins truck. 48rfe auto to a g56 manual.

Did you swap ECU or do some efi live tweaking to get everything to jive?

ALH ECU is identical (hardware) between the auto and manual. Auto computer is a freestanding box on the transmission itself. You have to swap a relay and do some re-wiring for the reverse light switch, clutch cancel switch, clutch cruise kill switch, but beyond that I just had to alter the soft coding on the ECU through VCDS (might sound techie/complicated but it's a really simple software modification using the proprietary vw computer management system, aka 'the most expensive usb cord in the world'), clear codes, and you're good.

It's the physical components of the job that are really hard. The software stuff is a piece of cake. That's my wheelhouse. I can completely recode my car like it's walkin the dog. I love playing with VCDS.

[El Presidente]

You appear to be able to use a spanner and other......tool like objects. 

I salute you 

[BuzzArd]

15 hours ago, cfc1016 said:

I’m done. From now on, I’m just buying cars that already have everything I want installed. 

You’ll do it again once you forget the “doing” of the job.   

I usually tell myself the same thing every time I finish a major project, but the motor and trans still arent back in the ‘37 and I saw an unrestored ‘55 Ford 2 door wagon for sale earlier this week.  I can’t help but think how nice that’d be with a three valve 5.4 with a couple of hair dryers on it.....  

[cfc1016]

2 hours ago, BuzzArd said:

You’ll do it again once you forget the “doing” of the job.   

I usually tell myself the same thing every time I finish a major project, but the motor and trans still arent back in the ‘37 and I saw an unrestored ‘55 Ford 2 door wagon for sale earlier this week.  I can’t help but think how nice that’d be with a three valve 5.4 with a couple of hair dryers on it.....  

Swapping exhaust, changing diesel injectors, replacing intercoolers, hell even suspension work - these things don’t bother me. When I absolutely NEED a second pair of hands, though, the frustration often becomes the interaction with the other wrench, lol

[BellevilleMXZ]

Nice job!! I'm a gear head myself(and Auto Tech), but at 50 now, I like the simple mods. My days of swapping engines, etc I think are done. I just picked up this 2015 V60 Polestar, and only planned mods are a bigger intercooler, a tune, and bigger rear sway bar. It does work pretty good as is!

[cfc1016]

50 minutes ago, BellevilleMXZ said:

Nice job!! I'm a gear head myself(and Auto Tech), but at 50 now, I like the simple mods. My days of swapping engines, etc I think are done. I just picked up this 2015 V60 Polestar, and only planned mods are a bigger intercooler, a tune, and bigger rear sway bar. It does work pretty good as is!

Blast you Canucks getting the better models available to you. 

My kingdom for a mk4 bora ALH 6 speed 4motion. They’re floating around up there. We never got an AWD TDI here in the states, aside from the beast touareg. Bugger all. 

[BellevilleMXZ]

Bring one down! Its not hard to import cars, and with the $ the way it is, might be cheaper than u think.

[cfc1016]

It’s still chock fulla “german engineering”. Not worth the trouble ?

I’m going back to driving Japanese after this. Looks like I’m inheriting my grandpa’s 11k mile 2016 subaru outback soon. Will be a nice change of pace to own a low[er] maintenance car again. 

My last car, and the best I ever owned, was a 1997 toyota rav4.1 4wd 5spd. Truly superlative utilitarian vehicle. I miss her. I wish they still made that car new. I’d buy 3 new and never need another car for the rest of my life.