[GreasySideDown]

Some random pics I found on my phone. I need to get a picture of the fuel tank. I took it out back in Feb. and sliced a wedge out of the back of it so it slopes up and is nearly invisible from the back. Much tidier looking.

The rear setup. Sway bar was added later

MK1 Rear Bag setup fits perfect for Syncro

Filler neck build. Didn't find pics of the ano red cap tho.

Random weld shot

 

[GreasySideDown]

Teddy's look ok on this? I thought it would be fun to make some strut extensions and jack the car up. Unfortunately I made it only 40 miles before 3 of my axles pulled themselves apart. I didn't think that far ahead. Was an interesting experiment though.

 

[Stromaluski]

In for updates. :thumbup:

 

[GreasySideDown]

Daily driving. I popped on here to give a text-only update. I'm back from Greenville, SC and came home to a crate sitting in the garage. Got a new 6-speed trans from Dutch Auto. 02M FEK (Euro TDI). I'm debating with myself whether or not to open it up and check it out. I gotta get parts too, like the fancy mounts from Darkside and some random things like 108mm CV axles and a shifter bracket. Also need the 02M clutch slave line. This is my 1st 02M swap so I'm not up on it yet. I might just buy a salvage TT for parts. Stay on this thread for pics. The car is a blast, was doing donuts earlier today up the mountain.

 

[GreasySideDown]

11/1/2020 update. I scrubbed through this thread and tried to find the pics that went missing when I stopped paying for the server. I got 90% of it and added some stuff. Summer 2020 was exciting.

Test drive to see if it will pull (YES IT WILL!!)

550 mile round trip to get the next project. 1996 TDI swapped 59k miles. Thing was fooked up by the "builder" (Nice Cars Co. in Bellingham got $20k to "build this car in 2014 for the guy I bought it from!!!). Me and a friend went down to get this. Ran 60-70mph with AC blowing the whole way back.

ABA 96 dragged home from 150 miles away. Needed interior and exterior parts for projects and I only gave $300 for this thing. It even runs! 140k on ABA swap if you want it!

On 10/12/2020 the center shaft ate another bearing. Looks like I didn't weld the yoke on square so I went and grabbed another Audi TT shaft and sliced the yoke end off. This time the yokes are OEM welds and I joined them at the shaft. This was very difficult to do and I haven't had time to install it but rolling it on the table it looks like I got it pretty good. If this iteration doesn't work I have a Mk2 TT shaft with the same diameter pipe that I can send to a driveline builder. This will be installed week of 11/8/2020.

Days before the September Riverside Fire came roaring by I managed to get my machinist friend to hog out my IP bracket and I tossed an 11mm ALH pump on this bad mofo. What a difference it made too! So much torque and it comes on instantly. Boost is up to 26psi now with Bosio 764DLC nozzles. I have another ALH pump conversion ready to go if anyone out there wants it (11mm pump, electrical plug, machined bracket, machined pulley). And yes, that is a genuine Nathan Airchime horn. It's the smallest from a K3LA running off my air system. Honk honk baby.

 

[ToddA1]

Geez, you’re going to be busy...

I missed some of the updates. I love the lifted look! I guess you scrapped that iteration?

-Todd

 

[3L3M3NT]

Wow! You've been quite busy this past year. It seems like you've towed a car from every corner of the US and maybe Canada, eh? lol

That shop that charged 20k to modify that car should be ashamed of themselves. I really wonder if the owner was ever checking in on the car to see what was being done to the car. I speak from experience that you better stay on top of things when it comes to having a shop modify your car. Then giving them that no time table and an open ended budget or what would seem like a big budget for that car makes for a sad story.

What are your future plans with all the cars you brought back?

 

[GreasySideDown]

Fun to see people are still interested in this stuff. Yeah, it was a busy summer but I'm back on the east coast for work until 11/10. That red car has a hell of a story. Above all else a car is "just a car" but a STORY is what I'm after. As most of you in the B4 community know, Nice Cars Co. for many years was the trend-setter for B4V pricing. Do a search on tdiclub and you'll see how extensive they had influenced the pricing on these cars. Well, back in 2013, a guy in northern Cali contacted NCC and asked them to build the "ultimate B4V". He wanted a red GLX with black leather and TDI swap. He PAID for chip tuning, a paint job, and some other modifications that NCC charged dearly for. As 2013 went by they squabbled back and forth about random stuff then delivery happened in early 2014. What ensued was pure madness. Before delivery took place I have 4 copies of checks the dude sent to NCC amounting to a bit over $20k. What NCC delivered was not what they promised. They dropped a car off that didn't run, didn't look good, and certainly never drove. Dude SENT IT BACK to Bellingham and instructed the driver to drop it off in front of their place of business which he did. NCC then told the dude they were done with him and SENT IT BACK to California! The dude gave up in the end and NCC got $20k for this thing. I paid $2k for it and it's well worth it just for the story. I'm going to do a full rebuild and body/paint and if I can find more Syncro bits I'll swap it too.

Here's some fun stuff I found:

• Engine wiring harness was CUT and spliced with wires twisted together before crimping into ONE end of a butt connector! Hilarious!
• Relay fuse panel was left hanging by its wires! Didn't even bother to clip it back on to the carrier on the firewall.
• The car is 4 different shades of red and the clearcoat is totally failed. They charged him for this!
• They charged him $600 for "chip tuning". What I pulled out was the original unopened BK plastic case ECU. No chips to be seen.
• Throttle pot was defective and wouldn't respond to input. Car ran at 1200 idle when we started it in southern OR to get it on the tow dolly.
• Alignment was not done and it appears NCC simply threw the front suspension together without a thought for alignment.
• 5th injector is still present. They went to the extreme trouble of hooking it all up after the swap and even ran a ghetto ground for the 5th injector solenoid, it was a bare wire sandwiched in one of the AC line clamps. Class.
• Core support was bent upon delivery. Front end had uneven lines due to this. I have since acquired a pristine core support.
• Previous owner said the clutch never felt right and I agree. Feels like they used a high-mile clutch/pressure plate.
• For $20k you'd think they would at least clean the engine up before putting it in a rust-free 59k mile car. Nope. You look under the car and it's 59k beautiful. Open the hood and it looks like 200k +. Dicks.

I'm certain as I tear into the car this winter I'll find even more ****. I didn't get a chance to really get involved with is since right after bringing it home the Riverside Fire came through. Then I had to come back east for a few months for work. So far all I've managed to do is take the front end off, built a fresh CLEAN proper engine harness, and I installed a spare JB ECU with some Malone stage 2 chips. The ABA car ended up with me because it was easier to just drag a junker home than wait for one to show up at the Pick N Pull. I used it's seatbelts and plastics for the B3V and the core support went to the red car. It was good having a car to pick little things from. It is still in my front yard with a good running ABA/02A setup (OBD-II) if anyone wants it. FREEEEEEE if you come pull it out (near Portland, OR). You can even use my tractor bucket as a hoist.

As I left it in September:

My friend backed into my rear door pretty hard with his truck. Looks like the paint I had on the shelf is a bit old. Color isn't anywhere near the same. About time for body and paint for the green car

Stole the wheel from the B3. It ain't a Jetta I swear!

Not VW but still AWD and from the 90's!

Right before flying out in Mid-September I found this at a local off-road shop. Guy bought it for the engine to put in a Jeep. Body and interior were pristine so I offered him $400 for the car after he took engine. I'll pick it up Nov. 11 or 12th. Stoked to have a dent-free carcass to play around with.

 

[3L3M3NT]

Wow! That really is quite the story behind that red B4V you picked up. If he was willing to spend 20k to have them build his car, he should have hired an attorney for 5k to sue them and get back the 20k he gave them to work on his car, but to just give up in the end really bothers me. I know that I would have been willing to do just about whatever I could to run them out of business if something like that had happened to me.

On one hand it kind of sucks that your friend backed into your car, but on the other hand getting to respray the car and remove all of those little imperfections like rock chips, swirl marks, and scratches out has to feel amazing in the end.:thumbup:

Nice Typhoon! I betcha that things fun to drive. I had a 93 GMC Sonoma as my first vehicle and had a pretty good time with it while I had it. Being that it was 2wd, I installed lowering spindles and new shocks up front, along with mono leaf rear springs and shocks to go with them. Lucky for me the truck already came with a pretty nice set of polished aluminum wheels when I bought it, so it looked pretty damn good if I don't say so myself. Sadly I don't have any pictures of it on my computer.

Keep it up and can't wait to see what's next.opcorn::thumbup:

 

[ToddA1]

When I entered the TDI world, I was looking for a B4V. I knew nothing about these and nothing about Nice Cars. I stumbled across their site and thought they were the greatest, lol. I bought my car in 2011 and joined TDI club... I forgot how I learned about the true Nice Cars...

With B4s getting scarce, you’re cornering the market, on them!

-Todd

 

[Stromaluski]

I know a guy around here that has a few B4 TDIs...

 

[ToddA1]

Did you buy that red wagon from a guy named Owen?

-Todd

 

[GreasySideDown]

When I get home I'll check and see what his name was. He lives in the woods alone on a very large property in southern OR. Hey, I'm in Greenville, SC right now!

 

[ToddA1]

It’s got to be him... too many similarities. Not too many people get their rotors cryogenically treated. I remember his thread on TDIClub, back in 2015.

Odd thing was it seemed like minor stuff. Yeah, he overpaid and got cheated, but he could have had the car running for very little money. I guess he felt defeated and having the car around didn’t help.

-Todd

 

[GreasySideDown]

I agree. As far as having a daily driver runabout I could have it up and going in less than a week easy. It is quite fortunate this car landed in my lap (even though I hounded the guy for a year to sell it to me). Not many people left that would be willing to invest the time into making the car nice. I tell ya, the B4 wagon is the nicest driving car I've ever been in. I'm in a 2019 Toyota Corolla (rental) right now and it's a giant turd appliance on wheels. I've been in many rentals over the years from Nissan trucks to the lowly Mazda 2 and nothing gives that feeling like a B4 (MK3 and Corrado you are included in this sentiment). Cars got dumbed down since the 90's and its sad to see car culture dying off globally. Even the Mk1 TT wasn't that fun to drive. My Mk4 TDI cars are heavy feeling and lack "soul". When I drive the old 91 16V it brings a smile to my face every time. Even though my green car is so heavily modified it still has that 90's soul. It is refreshing to come home to these cars after months on the road in new car garbage.

The big items that destroyed the soul of the automobile were #1: Traction Control. #2: Electric-assist steering. #3. Annoying/distracting touch screens EVERYWHERE. #4: "Intelligent" cruise control/radar sensors

The crap car I'm driving right now did some weird **** on me the other day. I was coming up on a guy turning right and the car flashed something about brakes on the dash screen and beeped really loud. It distracted me for a fraction of a moment right when I was trying to maneuver around the car ahead of me like one would normally do. I was dumbfounded by the dangerous behavior of that function. Since when did cars try to control their drivers??? I yelled at the car to STFU and that I didn't take orders from a soul-less machine but it didn't listen..

 

[scubydoo]

Lolol I hadn't tried to go to nice cars website in a long time. Looks like someone at Nissan USA bought the domain and had it forward to their website now!

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