This Jetta was purchased in March of 1985 and then brought over from Germany (at the time West Germany) in August of 1985.
I have owned this car since it was new. It was bought for use in Europe, then shipped back to the USA.
Some of its features are: over-sized cylinder bore with high compression, aggressive twin cams, 6-speed heavy-duty gearbox, 15″ Apollo alloys with 50 series tyres, tuned racing exhaust, & an all-around Koni adjustable suspension with a 3″ lowered ride height. Externally the car has a Euro-style grill, louvered rear window, & a rear spoiler designed for function. The air-conditioning has been removed for performance and fuel economy reasons.
For the last 10 years, the car has been in storage. During January 2010, it was brought out of storage with the intention of using it as a secondary daily-use car. It was discovered that some wiring had to be fixed, the oil pump replaced, a lot of the interior was going to have to be cleaned up or replaced, and a few other problems fixed. I guess extended storage & a mouse or more can do some damage over 10 years. Eventually, the paint job will need attention and I’m pretty sure I’m going to keep it the same colour. The car has a few scratches on it caused by a local repair shop that is now out of business. It also needs to have the windshield replaced due to a crack due to clumsiness while in storage. I also have to fix both doors interior panels due to humidity detaching the cloth from the pressboard. I’d like to replace the front bumper with a big bumper style that is found on later model 2’s. The current bumper along with the front valance has minor damage and using a big bumper would hide all of that in one shot.
I found a 1986 GLI that is being used as a parts car. So far, the interior has been replaced. I’ll be using a few other cosmetic parts and stripping the donor GLI for all the engine parts I can to keep my GT on the road. Some of the parts are identical, but many are different due to the GLI being an 8V engine & an automatic. Too bad it’s not a big bumper, but then a few other parts would probably not match either. It’s truly amazing that Volkswagen built this car in so many different countries. That probably explains why there are so many different wiring diagrams for this model car too.
The transmission’s input shaft seal has started leaking. It will be replaced at the first chance I have time to pull the transmission. I also have to order a new fusebox because of all kinds of electrical problems emanating from it. I ordered a new fuse box, turned out it is defective. The place I ordered it from is out of stock of them, but I found a way to fix the old one. Here’s how.
Timeline:
6 Jul 2000 – Placed in storage.
17 Jan 2010 – Hibernation over. The beast is alive.
12 Nov 2010 – It is now street-legal once again.
28 Jan 2011 – All the seals in the transmission have been replaced. Not a fun one person job.
11 Feb 2011 – Cleaned up the fusebox and it seems to be behaving now, although the lead wire to the turn signals seems to still have occasional issues.
5 Apr 2011 – Windshield has been replaced.
9 Jun 2012 – Main bearings have been replaced. Oil pressure is back to normal.
22 Aug 2012 – Problems with the fuel injection system. Not sure if it’s an electrical fault or an injector pump problem. Car is placed back into storage until I have time to diagnose & repair.
