While in the States back in August I did something dumb  but before we get to that we need to rewind a little, arrived in LA and went to fetch our rental car and as I always do I asked if they had any VW's.
Yes was the answer but only a Tiguan at an extra USD 50 per day, no thanks!
No Jetta then ( that's the class of car I'd booked) No sir, there are none available.
Just choose any car you want in Zone 3 the man said.
We walk out there and nothing immediately caught my eye other than bland and boring kias, Chevy's etc but walking a bit further I saw what looked like the back of a Jetta, yup bingo. We'll have this one.
Anyway, loaded up our bags and got out of dodge. Base spec 2020 1.4T with a terrible 8 speed clunk o matic that had already done 45k miles.
Drove all over Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arkansas making our way out to Chicago where we would leave from. Clocking up just over 5000 miles in 28 days.
Going through a town towards the end of our stay I visited a dealer with my brother in law to took at a damaged F350 Dually truck for him and whilst there spotted a 2019 GLI 35th Anniversary that had only just arrived.

No price yet but had a good look around it, just cosmetic bolt on stuff so a dead easy repair with no structural damage at all.
Went on our way and of course started thinking more and more about the GLI.
Decided to wait and see until it popped up on their site and see what they would want for it.
Weeks went by and nothing, after a few more weeks I emailed them to enquire and was told they were waiting on a new key as it had been lost during transport.
7 weeks after first seeing it, it finally popped up for sale.
Here's the dumb part, did a deal with them and bought it.
Just in the process now of having it shipped to my brother in law, I'll do the repair at his place next year and keep it at there to use when we visit etc.
Will be doing some mods, a tune etc.
Being that it is a 35th anniversary it comes STD with the DQ381 7speed dsg/ LSD, DCC and assistance package so it's nicely optioned.

That'll make a good runabout John!

Thanks Jon, yep that sure will.
The fact that it was a 35ed, the colour, Pure Gray and relative low miles (53K) that made me try to buy it. Also has a factory black roof.
Bit to do on it but the repair is a doddle, between now and then I'll organize all of the parts and have them delivered
so that once I get back there the repair won't take long.
While you're in there is now starting already, mods I'm contemplating are:
H&R Springs
Uprated Intercooler (suspect the OE one is kaput)
High flow downpipe
IE tune (with those mods this puts out 310hp / 389lb-ft
Wheels (maybe)

Those GLI's are cool. Love the colour. Would be a pretty cool car to send here and convert to RHD. Twin turbo? 

in Canada recently, I was amazed how the Jetta has bloated, nearly Passat size  now it seems

Slowly chipping away at collecting parts for the GLI, have had some stuff delivered to my brother in laws already and have all of the remaining part numbers figured out.
Have some parts here that I'll take over with me early next year and hopefully 99% of what I need will be there waiting by then.

Your projects (more like adventures) seems like a YT channel i'd definitely subscribe to!  Can't wait to see what magic you work on this one.

Quote from: liv on December 26, 2023, 02:12:42 PMYour projects (more like adventures) seems like a YT channel i'd definitely subscribe to!  Can't wait to see what magic you work on this one.

Very true actually

This project is creeping closer, 99% of the parts are there waiting for me and expect updates to start flowing in a bit over a week.
Exciting stuff.
Did a little research this week as well and it would appear the GLI should qualify for a LHD permit in NZ so as a distant back up I could always bring it over, not that this would be my plan but you never know.
The A7 Jetta was never produced in RDH form and in 2019 production was limited to only 3500 units of the GLI so well under the 20,000 cap for a permit.
There are 4 criteria set out by NZTA for one of the 500 permits allocated per year and it must meet 3 of them to qualify.
Not produced RHD
Not made more than 20,000 units annually
Be high performance
Be a coupe or convertible

"Be a coupe or convertible"

now there's a thought!

Always liked that shape Jetta. Would be cool if it did wind up here

Arrived at my brother in laws place and made a start on the car, been sitting in this same spot since I bought it last year. Having a good look over it I think I've done pretty well ordering parts off pictures he sent me.
Car is pretty dirty inside so a lot of cleaning will need to take place but over all it seems body and paint are good.
The damage is pretty much what I thought and is all bolt on stuff only

This pile of parts greeted me on arrival, poor guy has had all this crap sitting in his living room the last 6-7 months but it all I've ordered seems to be here.
First order of business was to remove the seat belts and send those off to be rebuilt, there are specialist companies here that rebuild them back to oem specs and will be 100% back to working condition. Interestingly the US belts have 3 pretensioner charges compared to just one on our cars in NZ.
It's certainly a lot easier to not have to deal with the likes of NZTA and the BS repair certifiers make you deal with.
Next up the interior plastics and seats, dropped the headliner down and found I couldn't get it out without removing the center console, considering how dirty the console and carpets are that's totally worth it because these will be heaps easier to clean out of the car.
New VW curtain bags installed, next up was the driver airbag which in going off had broken and blown off the volume button from the steering wheel but luckily I'd brought one with me.
After pulling the switch unit apart and installed the new button that went back together and driver bag went in completing the airbags.
I'm told the last week prior to us getting here it had been raining so everything is super wet and muddy plus the humidity to go with it, working on it today it was super hot so we gathered up a bunch of broken pavers and built a ramp to make a bit of a hillbilly garage out of his back porch.
Much better in the shade and on concrete.
Got the whole front end pulled apart and all of the damage is just bolt on parts but unfortunately the intercooler is toast as well which I had not ordered.
Also one of the coolant elbows has the vent tube broken off it which I didn't know about.

Are the images working on the site?
I'm posting them as an attachment inserted because I can't seem to make them work as an Imgur link and can't them on anything other than my laptop I'm using. Doing something wrong but don't know what.

Yes, pictures visible

Went and bought a cheap water blaster from Harbor Freight yesterday to start getting this thing cleaned up, with the front off it's pretty easy to clean the engine bay which I did this morning. While doing that the FedEx guy showed up around lunch with my new intercooler so that was the missing piece to assemble the cooler pack as all the other parts were ready to go.
Unfortunately, a small bracket was broken off in shipping but luckily nothing that will stop me putting it together. I could return it for a new one but I don't have the luxury of time to wait so this will have to do.
The battery also didn't want to take a charge so Walmart had new ones at a reasonable price, stuff here isn't as cheap as it used to be but with inflation running at 9 - 10 % that's understandable yet you can still fill up a Mazda 3 with fuel for around NZ$65 which is probably half of NZ.


Got the front end on and everything connected apart from the top radiator hose as that's still waiting for a coolant elbow coming from FCP Euro. The vent hose was broken off stopping me putting coolant in and bleeding the system. That's the last piece I need before being able to road test it.
Heard today that my repaired seat belts are on their way back as well, pretty awesome service.


Next up are the headlights, one was unbroken and the other I got used. Complete with bulbs and modules.
Got those installed and fiddled around with gaps and fitment most of the afternoon.
The bonnet latch is pretty bent as well but it will work for now till I find another one.
I'll need to find a local PDR guy to sort a few of the dents from the accident but I'll get it driving first and see what it's like.

Nice work.

Pics took a little while to start loading but were pretty quick once they started.

Nice progress, what's the time frame you're working to, how long are you there?

Quote from: coons on May 16, 2024, 03:24:46 PMNice progress, what's the time frame you're working to, how long are you there?

I finished it today actually, tomorrow I'm heading down to the DMV to see what the registration process is.

When I originally started sourcing parts for this thing the bumper was by far the most difficult to find as they are GLI specific, most of these cars I found wrecked were hit in the front and the bumper was usually beyond repair. It took many months of looking on ebay every week till I eventually found one. It was an insurance replacement job bare bumper cover and the body shop was selling the one that came off the car.
It had some scrapes and scratches but the upside was that it was already Pure Grey so hopefully the colour would match saving me a paint job and the hassle of getting that done. A few scrapes I can live with for now.
With the front on and waiting for a coolant elbow still I decided to trial fit the bumper to see how it and the grille lined up.

It all fitted pretty good and colour match is on point, ordered a cheap polisher on Amazon and by cheap I mean CHEAP. A whole $17 usd. Bottle of compound which should be enough to polish the whole car for $16, now to wait for that.
That water blaster has been a bit of a godsend, this car has been off road at one point probably in this accident and the whole sub frame was filled with mud and grass. Even mud and sticks in the engine bay, couldn't believe how many times I had to blast it.
Just when you thought you'd got it all more would appear.