Hello all,
I have just joined the forum so I thought I would get stuck in, no need for long introductions I'll let the photos do the talking.
The first day I bought her, I brought her all the way back from Norwich to Essex with under 70k on the clock, a whole heap of paperwork; dating back to the day she was bought and a big smile on my face.
Everything about the car was as it rolled out the factory and still remains that way to this day (with a few minor changes). Original radio cassette, interior and steel wheels.
I loved how the car was completely unmolested, 1 owner from new which were an elderly northern couple who didn't really drive too much, a perfect start for some subtle mods.
My first mod was to remove the black vinyl which covered behind the number plate and the front and rear door pillars.
(no photos of door pillars but you get the idea
)
and after:
My second and third mod has been counted in the above photograph, pressed clean metal plates and Genuine Autohaus- Wolfsburg number plate surround (front and back).
My third mod was a good slamming, I ordered some JOM coilovers from Venom Motorsport, they arrived two days after payment, very happy with the service thanks guys
.
A Weekend later the lowering commenced.
Before Lowering:
Up on to axle stands she went:
Back seats out to reach the rear top mounts:
Off came the old coilovers:
On went the shiny new ones:
This was the final Result before they settled:
After a little height adjustment i rolled her like that for the next couple of months, untill i got bored of the skinny wheels and fat tyres.
I am a huge fan of originality and subtleness so i decided to go with banded mk2 golf steels (the same ones that were originally on her anyway).
A very helpful guy from the midlands took on the job of banding them up for me at a very resonable price i might add.
I decided to go with 14" steels banded to 8" at the rear and 7" at the front.
I guess growing up with aircooled vw's due to my uncles life long enthusiasm i wanted tuck at the front and a bit of poke at the rear. Kind of mixing up the arch flush watercooled feature at the rear with a nice aircooled tuck at the front. I know how the aircooled boys love a bit of tuck.
This is what i achieved a weekend after buying and sealing the wheels.
Wheels masked and primed:
Wheels painted:
I was pretty happy with the turn out of the paint it wasn't perfect but hey ho.
Personally i'm not a fan of flawless paint work and perfect body work. I like a car that shows it's age, a bit of rust, wear and tear, Ranging from a little natural age rusting on the doors and bonnet to a fully blown rusty rat splitty camper or beetle, but that's just me
I like to call them 'character marks'
As you can see from the above photos i had to cover the tyres before painting. This is because the weekend before i travelled to Basildon in which a very helpful garage named Oakdene Autos very kindly stretched 175 tyres on the rears and 165 tyres on the front.
Not mad stretch but this is my daily drive, i need a little practicality.
the rears:
and the fronts:
Just a couple of quick photos after putting the wheels on:
This is how she stands atm (credit photo to audistu of renegadedubs.com):
To be continued ...
Subject: '88 Tornado Red 1.6 Jetta TX 
Thu Jul 22 2010, 11:48
... thanks brew
