Matts 1990 ABF'ed Passat GT

[Lufbramatt 0]

I know its not a rado, but its nearly the same underneath, thought some of you guys might like to see a little bit more of the car in my sig :D

 

Its very much a work in progress, and have a list as long as my arm of plans and jobs to do, but its slowly coming together and should be ready for next years shows- I know most people run these wagons as interim cars before buying a "better" ;)VW but i thought I'd be different and get this one back to better-than-new condition- finding all the missing trim, sorting all the dodgy electrics, replacing the worn out 8v lump and uprating the suspension components- then finally get the bodywork up to show standard.

 

I got the thing very much by accident when my gf's dad bought it for the numberplate on it, spec went something like this:

168k miles

most of the electrics (sunroof, windows, heater, mirrors) not working

big ugly hole in the drivers seat

worn out suspension

 

but i thought it was cool and different and had much potential, the body was straight and it had a years tax+test on it so i snapped it off him for £300 8)

 

 

First task was get it clean, PO was a smoker so it was a bit grim inside. then the heate matrix blew, so had to strip the dash out. while i was doing this i came accross a perfect interior out of a 70,000mile 1991 GT estate for princely sum of £50 on ebay, includig the rare-ish door speaker pods so that went in, much nicer:

 

nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo :( :censored:

 

nice and cosy now:

 

then got given a set of very rare german market only factory fully tinted tail lights :) and decided to colour code the GT spec arch+door trims. At GTI inters '07:

 

that winter i decided to sort the suspension, Koni TA's all round with PI springs and polybushes, really tightened up the handling and enjoyed driving it round like that for a while. I also thought it would be a good idea to put B4 bumpers on it, but was never relly sure i liked it once id done it :(

 

 

However, by summer '08 it was up on 193k and the tired 8v lump was showing its age by giving everyone following me a nice oil smoke screen, so after thinkin about scrapping it and getting a rado, i decided to bite the bullet and go the whole hog and put a new lump in it- the 2.0 16v ABF out of this, which I found for £300 :nuts:

 

 

didnt look like that for long ;) :

 

that gave up its engine, gearbox, most of its wiring and full 5-stud running gear- including 288mm front brakes. I rebuilt the engine with all new bits and refurbed the subby and made it all sparkly and new. Final engine spec is:

 

Fully ported and polished head with new SS and guides, 3 angle valve seats

All new VW mains and conrod shells

new piston rings+ honed block

new water pump, cambelt and belts

new VW gaskets and oil seals.

modified airbox (removed warm air valve etc)

decat pipe

genuine VW long life exhaust

 

Did all the work myself (apart from the head), was the first engine ive ever done any work on but seemed to all go ok, and once id wired the immobiliser it started first time! sweet as a nut! Its running on Digi 3.2 management which seems fine for the time being, have a crazy idea involving a eaton M62 but that can wait until 2010 :lol:

 

A few pics from the conversion:

 

oooo shiny :)

 

hmmmm, think theres a bit missing:

 

yay it fitted :)

 

While it was all apart i added a set of hella dual headlights, so this is where im at so far:

 

 

Engine has about 4k on it since the rebuild and no probs so far :)

 

Plans for the future are finish installing my amp and components, finish refurning my porsche 928 wheels, put the B3 bumper back on (but colour coded and smoothed :D) then sort all the little parking dents and respray the whole car in 2k paint.

 

thanks for reading :lol:

[coullstar 0]

Cool, I quite like these things. Owned one for about a month but it was funny to drive as it felt massive. I fitted some silly wheels before selling mine.

[Lufbramatt 0]

hehe i dont notice the size as its my first car (didnt drive for 3 years whike i was at uni) so its normal size for me :) all the modern repmobiles i used to drive at work are actually a fair bit bigger than these are- a mk6 passat is HUGE compared to a mk3.

 

and they have windows all the way to the edges, so easiest car to park, ever! hehe

[Leonard 0]

Its different, I like different! Practical to always good!

 

You have put a lot of work into it and it shows. Will look good with the 928's on it

[Jim 2]

Superb! Love it! :)

[Toad 0]

Engine looks stunning! Like to see slightly different cars :)

[dirtytorque 0]

great project,nice to see what people are doing.

[Andy665 0]

Hated the look at that model Passat when it was new but looks superb nowadays, looking very sweet on the steelies

[mic_VR 3]

Definitely good to see something different. Like most of it, losing the roof bars is a nice touch, but not the lights.

 

Very cool in black!

[Sonicriot13 0]

My step dad had one of those in red many years ago. Didn't have an ABF engine though (kinda goes without saying). Was the first dub in the family and I remember it fondly. :D

 

Good build mate! :thumbleft:

[Lufbramatt 0]

Definitely good to see something different. Like most of it, losing the roof bars is a nice touch, but not the lights.

 

Very cool in black!

 

cheers, although the roof bars are going back on soon, but have polished them up after i discovered they are cast aluminium and polish up really nicely! need them for putting mountain bikes and canoes on the roof 8)

 

the lights are mainly a performance upgrade as stock B3 lights are pants even with osram silverstars and an uprated loom (just 2 H4 bulbs and thats it!, no extra spots for the main beam) although i happen to like the way they look too :) think it will look better once i get rid of the B4 front bumper though!

[mic_VR 3]

cheers, although the roof bars are going back on soon, but have polished them up after i discovered they are cast aluminium and polish up really nicely! need them for putting mountain bikes and canoes on the roof 8)

 

That will look awesome, it'll be a shame to put anything on there! :lol: