New ride (not for the feint hearted)

[Lynchy]

So about 6 months ago, I decided the power in my old 2.slow Bora just wasnt cutting it, and despite loving every minute of driving the little guy, I caved in and got a shiny r36 passat.

The power was excellent, the features were nice, the fuel economy was... not too bad? But... something never quite clicked, and having never sold Bora, I switched back, and sold the Passat about a month ago.
Which leads us to now. It's not exactly easy to get used to the 'at some point in time" 85kw after the 220 of the r36 and soon enough i was browsing the dark depth of pickles auctions with one thing in mine. The ultimate practical yet fun daily, the 1.8t Bora.

A week later,suddenly and terrifyingly, this is in the driveway...

It was hideous, it was beautiful. It was somebody's absolute nightmare, it was my dream. And, as of last weekend, it runs, and even moves.

Yes, the rear wheels were jammed in by the rear arches, yes, a reciprocating saw can fix that.



So, this leads me to where I'm at today. I'm getting started removing the "excess" body panels, and sourcing engine cranes etc. etc.
If anybody wants any extra bits I wont need, especially body parts covered in white paint (that should come off with a bit of tlc) shoot me a PM, most stuff is free if you want to grab it.

Finally, while I have a pretty good understanding of cars and especially my Bora, and and all advice from anyone here that has pulled this off will be so so so appreciated.

Thanks for checking out my post and ill try and keep this updated as this inevitably rolls on.

Cheers,

Lynchy

[beale187]

Sounds like a good plan Lynchy, what's your Bora atm? 2.0L? V5? V6 4motion?

[Lynchy]

It's a 2.0, my ideal pick would have been the new v5 in black, manual, with a sunroof, and I ended up compromising on the engine and sunroof, and it's been really good to me, just so slow

[beale187]

Besides the paint it looks clean. The "Jetta" (aka Bora) in the US and the Bora R in China both use 1.8T... So I can't see any reason why it wouldn't bolt right up. Let the madness begin!

[dubster99]

Seen this on the internet a while back! Hope you paid sweet FA for it as I remember the whole interior was ruined haha

[Lynchy]

Besides the paint it looks clean. The "Jetta" (aka Bora) in the US and the Bora R in China both use 1.8T... So I can't see any reason why it wouldn't bolt right up. Let the madness begin!

I know it's been done, the engine bays even look so nice and similar, but you're spot on with the madness part.

Seen this on the internet a while back! Hope you paid sweet FA for it as I remember the whole interior was ruined haha

Ruined doesn't even come close... and I got it for less than 500 delivered which I though wasn't half bad. Especially given the tyres, discs and pads were all brand spanking new!

If anyone thats been down this road before reads this, do you have any advice as to whether I can keep my bora gauges with an immo delete, or hacking up the cluster? I really prefer the bora ones over the gti stuff.

[dubster99]

Under 500 is great if the value is there! Whats the mileage like? Check out my thread man, I've done the conversion. Fairly simple but I was noob and rushed it. Ended up making a few mistake but Im wiser now!

You can keep cluster if you immo defeat. Best to code them in rather than Immo defeat if you can!

[beale187]

Under 500 is great if the value is there!

vehicle $150
Pickles buyer premium + admin fee + blah blah ... $350

so annoying... But still a good buy Lynch

[dubster99]

Yea wow pickles really make their cut!

[dylan8]

1.8t into a mk4 2 or 1.6 has been done plenty of times. Everything bolts jn

[Lynchy]

You can keep cluster if you immo defeat. Best to code them in rather than Immo defeat if you can!

I started your thread the other night, didn't quite get to the build part yet. What do you mean by code them in vs immo defeat?

It's got just under 200k on the odo too. So I'm a bit torn between just getting it in there and seeing how it goes, or doing a bit more of a build/rebuild while it's out and letting the project go a bit longer. The engine feels strong as far as I've been able to drive it, but I'm going to see what a compression test tells me when I can borrow a kit.

vehicle $150
Pickles buyer premium + admin fee + blah blah ... $350

so annoying... But still a good buy Lynch

I think having the whole thing landed, from pickles, for 500 is alright considering half of that was towing lol. I think nobody wanted to bid on it given they hadn't even tested it with a working battery in there, so the odo was blank. God it was a relief the first time it started.

[beale187]

hey Lynchy, how's the build coming along mate?

C'mon give a brother something to read!

[Lynchy]

hey Lynchy, how's the build coming along mate?

C'mon give a brother something to read!

Aww. Yikes man.
So I've got a k04 sitting on my bedroom floor, a stage one immo deleted ecu sitting next to it. The golf is missing all the front shocks hubs and driveshafts....

Aaaand a month ago some idiot t boned me and his insurance wanted to pay me out rather than repair. I won't use the real figures but as an example; their first offer was $2500 and in response I told them where to shove it. We eventually haggled around to a much nicer $5000 to settle things. (never ever accept the first offer if you're not at fault.)
So the front suspension was a bit messed up from the crash, but I got her back literally today, with gti brakes and shocks instead of the god awful no name sport shocks that were a couple of years old. It's wonderful having oem quality ride feel again but the gti springs are way too high.
Unfortunately I'm super struggling to get anything done due to some health issues now. The 1.8t is so so close to being able to be pulled it's not funny. I'll snap some pics for a better update.

The major problem for the meantime is the gti brake install has given some weird pedal feel issues, no matter how much the system is bled there's now masssssive pedal travel before the brakes grip. I'm thinking it's air in the abs pump maybe? Going to get that bled in the shop this week to see if I can get a chance to actually feel the brake upgrade at last!

At the moment this has gone from "stuff a 1.8t in over the long weekend because you can" to "let's build a 1.8t to make more power than the r36 because why not". It's a bit bitter-sweet but hopefully it'll work out. Thanks for bump! I'll do hella pictures update soon!



Is that enough reading yet?

[dylan8]

Sorry to hear about the accident. Hopefully you are OK?

Regarding the brakes. If you have some safe space see if you can drive it and trigger the abs by jumping on the brakes. This can force the air out the of the pump and into the lines. Further bleeding can get it out of the lines. Iv had had some luck with this. Other times needs the pump triggered by vagcom etc the normal way. Just an idea if you are stuck

[beale187]

Sorry to hear about the accident mate, bloody hell another build thread stalled by an accident (mine to)! Least you're still here to write about it hey.

So what's the plan for 1.8t? K04.. Ecu tune? Or something more extreme?

Btw, Dylan is bang on. Need to cycle the ABS pump via VCDS or doing as he suggested otherwise the pedal feels a bit spongy.