Posted on March 11, 2024March 11, 2024 by Sal Robertson

2024 Graysons Ladder Raffle Car- 1984 Jetta – Beige Bomber

This 2024 Graysons Ladder raffle car has a long history in the VW community.. Lets go back to 2009..

2009 Matt Ford (owner of MF Auto in Knoxville) decides to he wants to build the a super clean 4 door jetta to pair with his clean AF jetta coupe. He finds this low mile, locally owned car and has it stripped for paint and begins to assemble parts for it. When it finally comes back from paint, Matt like a lot of us had realized his priorities had shifted to other things in the shop, so the car “rested” for a while. Our friend Jeff Bynum had seen the car and knew it was “resting” and hit up Matt about buying it and finishing it. They worked out a deal in 2011 and the car came to the Bynum Builds Garage in Oneonta, AL. Jeff had the bay sprayed the Porsche Toffee H8Z. Matt had already had Kip at Loves Trim Shop build a set of Recaros and door panels for the car before it had even come back from the paint shop. Jeff was going to use a 12v motor and trans already color matched to the engine bay, the car was close to being ready to assemble. Jeff passed away in Dec of 2016, leaving the car to rest and the Colonel to try to sort out what to do with the collection of cars and stuff that was Bynum Builds.. Fast Forward to 2022 and the car has come back to MF Auto as part of a deal worked out with the Colonel and Matt. Matt was still working heavy hours and not ready to take on a build project, but the car wouldn’t rest much longer. As fate would have it, I was struggling to find a good canidate for the 2024 Graysons car. I had bought a cabriolet that was sold as very nice paint, good interior, ready for a swap and detail. It is a nice car, but it felt like it was not nice enough, and not nearly “patina’d” enough to be the right car for this raffle. I had just missed an early barn find scirocco that Matt had put up for sale and when I asked him about anything else, he mentioned this jetta. We came to an agreement on price and the car came to see me at the first of the year.

Jan 2024 the jetta arrives!

I had already begun to assemble the motor, trans, anything I could to get ahead of the time crunch I knew I would be on. Taking a car from a rolling shell to a ready to drive car in 2 months was not going to be easy with my already busy schedule. The car had “rested” for almost 15 years, it had moved to 2 different shops, all while disassembled, lots of things were lost into the void that is a VW enthusiast garage. Lots of calls to my favorite people like Brian at TwinCityVW parts, for those missing bits like window frames, sunroof parts, wiring harnesses, etc.

The driveline is a CBTA 07k sourced from a 2011 Jetta from Alex in Douglasville, GA. He bailed me out with a motor when the BGP motor I had prepped for the install developed a rod knock shortly after the first start up. (story for another time). New clutch kit was sourced from Aaron at Cascade German, he hooked us up with a lightweight flywheel kit and LUK kit. All new accessory drive pulleys and idlers, new alternator, starter, coils, plugs ect, all sourced by Perry at Quick Everetts Garage here in Chattanooga, TN.

The mk1 07k kit requires an 02j trans so we used a 1.8t 5speed, swapping the axle cups to 100mm, changed the fluid, and replaced the release bearing guide, a new clutch fork and release bearing and we were ready to marry them for install into the jetta.

Once the jetta arrived the race was on to catch the chassis up to being ready for the new drive line. New 10.1 brakes and bearings, new master and slave from a 16v mk2, ST Coilovers from Jeremy and Glen over at Suspension Source, mounted to the car with a set of the S&P raised strut mounts. The original fuel tank was in rough shape so I replaced it with an aftermarket unit, and a new sending unit from Germany. A new mk1 044 style fuel pump and a mk5 fuel filter finished off the fuel system up to the engine bay.

The last thing I like to do before I set the motor is finish up the bay wiring, but we were still looking for a harness for the front section of the car, as the original had been lost to time somewhere in the nearly 15 years since it had been taken apart to the time it arrived here. Brian at TCVW took care of us finding a clean rabbit convertible harness that I could modify to work with the jetta. Removing all of the stuff we didn’t need didn’t take long and made it easy to see what I had to work with for the chassis wiring, mostly lighting, a few cluster inputs, alternator exciter, starter, brake and reverse light switch inputs.

Installing the driveline is always a great day, its a big step in the process and its fun to see progress on a project. With the motor set in place using the S&P MK1 07k Swap kit, I could get started on dressing the motor with an intake manifold made in house using some killer billet pieces made by P-motorsport. A great valve cover made by JAAATT Engineering, the S&P 07k spin on oil filter housing made for us by Iabed Industries and the stainless S&P 07k mk1 header. Last I installed the shift box from a mk4 under the car, leaving room for the stainless exhaust and borla muffler from TT finished with a turned stainless tip.

With the engine in place, wiring the 07k to the chassis was no problem our wiring service provides an easy to install labeled harness for you (or me) to get you new motor swap running in your car. The ECU is tuned by United Motorsports with a SRI tune, and our swap file only available from UM through S&P or TDC shop.

I sent a set of BBS RA rims off to see my friend Jason at Top Notch Powder Coating in GA, they got the same Toffee coating that the intake and valve cover received, but with polished faces and lips. Jason’s shop also did all of the other coatings on the pipes, radiator/shroud assembly, mounting hardware, cross brace etc.. If its been powder coated, he did it!

I called Kip and begged him to come help me finish up the interior on this car, I hate setting carpet and have always struggled with getting it down right so a lesson from one of the masters was really what I was looking forward to.

Kip came up and we (I watched and asked dumb questions) installed the carpet and a hat tray. Like I mentioned earlier Kip had already built the seats and door panels for this car, so installing those was no problem. I mounted the Recaros to our S&P seat bases and slid them into place.

I dyed a set of door pockets, the center console and lower dash so they would look fresh and match the new interior. I ordered a full set of hardware from Davies in the UK, outer door pulls, window cranks and inner door handles and surrounds, his work is top notch and a great asset to the community. New weather stripping from Classic-VW in the UK also provided us quality parts for these older cars.

Lastly was a bit of flourish from Tim Spearman on the intake manifold and some awesome vinyl from Ben at Mark One Graphics. I have to thank Jarod at JSRS.art for the awesome design on the t-shirt and sticker! The car was now running and ready to go see Perry again at Quick Everett to get an alignment, with that done we were ready for a road test to a gas station! After a fill up it was time to head over to the Volkswagen Nature Park next to the VW plant in Chattanooga, TN to get a few photos of the Beige Bomber in front of some old ammo bunkers . I hope that whoever owns this car loves it as much as I have, thank you all for participating and supporting the Graysons Ladder Raffle to benefit EndAXD.org

Posted on July 8, 2021 by Sal Robertson

02J Case Modification for Mk1 Install

I am going to cover the install of the MK1 02j transmission mounts onto the transmission before you bolt it into the car. The 02a installation is very similar except the shift tower, you also don’t have to drill out any case holes.

Here we start with a fresh mk4 TDI transmission, Code 02j, case is an EGR,

Remove the aluminum trans mount bracket if you haven’t already and the steel support bar that connects it to the case.

Next we remove the speed sensor, you will see that there is a 24mm nut under the plug of the sensor, you can remove just the top section of the speed sensor, this is what you want to do if you plan to use your mk1/2 cluster and one of our speedometer cables.

Now Remove the case bolts you see above, and replace them with the 3 bolts provided in your hardware kit, thread them until they are just starting to poke out the other side of the case,

Now slide the mount bracket and the half moon shim on until they are flush to the case of the transmission, once they are onto the bolts, you can thread the bolts all the way into the case,

Now start the tunnel nuts onto the threads of the bolts and run them down tight against the shim and bracket, then install the lock nut after, tighten it down against the tunnel nut.

02J CASE MODIFICATION

If you have an 02a case you will find that these holes are not threaded, so no modification is necessary. The 02j case however is threaded, we need to drill them out with a 25/64 bit, you can use a 3/8 and ream it or file it, but 25/64 will be the cleanest/easiest.. You are drilling threaded aluminum, so a bit of speed and very light pressure will help the bit from hanging on you.

DO NOT try to run this bolt into an 02j case without drilling it out first, you will crack your case and probably wreck it..

Ok so we’ve drilled the hole and haven’t broken our wrist.. great! Now the bolt slides in no problem,

02A CASES, you will now install the shim in-between the upper mount and the trans case to take up the 1.5mm difference in width between the 2 cases.

02j tower (can be used on either 02a or 02j case) , if you are running a hydraulic clutch you can keep your reverse switch, skip to tightening down the upper trans mount bolts.

If you are running a cable clutch remove the reverse switch and install the provided delete plug, also grab the cable clutch mounting tab out of the hardware bag.

Slide the bolts from the 5th gear cover side through the mount, into the case and out the other side, if you have the cable tab slip it onto the bolts and then add the provided nuts.. tighten down, admire your work, get ready to put it onto your motor and into your mk1!

Mount Brackets used in this kit HERE

Posted on July 8, 2021 by Sal Robertson

Prepping Your ALH/BEW For a MK1 Install

I get a lot of the same questions about how to prep your motor for a mk1 install:

What do I need to remove ?
- You need to remove anything you plan on deleting from the motor management system, this could be accessories like AC or powersteering, hardware like EGR/ASV systems (check with your local regulations before removing emissions items) or possibly sensors such as MAF, Coolant Glowplugs, 02 sensor, turbo position sensors etc (please discuss this with your tuner/harness builder before you toss them in the bin)

Below I will go through some steps on how to attach our mk1 tdi motor mount onto your block, please note I am not covering this as a step by step, but more to answer the most common questions.

Use common sense, ask questions before assuming, don’t eat yellow snow..

ALH Motor Timing Cover Modifications

Starting with the motor mount, this is how your bushing should be oriented before you mount it to the motor.

Next we see an ALH with the injection pump and tensioner removed (the pump bolts need to be removed and the outer pump sprocket are going to need to come off. Also remove the cam gear and idlers (if you don’t know how to do a timing service on a TDI look it up BEFORE you take this apart)

The reason for taking all of this off is to remove the rear timing cover so we can trim it to allow room for the new motor mount :

Need to trim this lower corner off, you can see how deep to cut it by holding the new mount up to the 3 threaded holes on the block where the original aluminum mount bracket was bolted. Make small cuts, its waaaay easier to take alittle more off, vs adding material back.

In the picture above you can see how the new cutout allows for a flat mounting surface across the 3 mounting holes

With that you can mount your motor mount to the block and you are ready to re assemble the timing components * DO NOT INSTALL THE LOWER 1″ roller and stud, yes it will clear the engine block mount, but it will hit your mk1 frame rail, DO NOT INSTALL IT, install the belt like normal and tension the belt like normal, it will be fine, there is plenty of room in the tensioner for the additional slack.

BEW Timing Cover Modifications

Starting with the same mount and bushing as the ALH above, you can see where the mount needs to go, you need to remove all of the timing components to get the rear timing cover off,

Take note of the location of the holes and the area you need to cut to get the mount bracket flush on the block

Make your cut and test fit, the mount must sit flush on the block..

Tighten the mount down once the timing cover fits around the mount bracket. Reinstall timing components leaving out the lower 1″ roller just like the ALH.

ALH and BEW OUTER COVER

You can see in the first picture the timing cover is very close to the mount bushing, which means it will hit the frame mount on your mk1, it needs to be trimmed flush with the belt (the second picture shows a slight over trimming honestly but it will still be ok, you will also need to trim the upper cover slightly on both the BEW and ALH..

Engine mount being used can be found here

TDI Mk1 Swap kit can be found here

Again if you have questions on how something goes, shoot an email, watch a youtube video, something other than assuming..

Posted on November 13, 2019November 14, 2019 by Sal Robertson

Wiring Harness Questions and Mailing Instructions

Planning on sending us your harness or ECU? Take a quick glance over this page, making sure that you have everything sent to us at the same time, to help expedite your order.

Please fill out our Mail In Request Form. Mail the package with the form inside, to the address listed on the form..

What type of harness do I have?

Most pre 1999.5 engines

Engine Control Unit (ECU). (Most mk3)
Harness from Engine to ECU.
Accelerator Pedal connector with at least 10 cm of wire. (TDI ONLY)
(Left: Mk3; Right Mk4)
If you want to convert to a mk4 style pedal for your mk3 TDI just let us know, its easier to get replacement pedals, and we have a bolt in bracket from your MK4 to MK1 accelerator pedal.

Engine Control Unit Engine harness Accelerator pedal plug (MK3 style)

If you are missing some of these items, no problem! We usually can supply them to you at a reasonable cost.

Most post 1999.5 engines

Engine Control Unit (ECU)
Large connector ECU Harness, has 4 or 5 colored plugs to rain tray plenum, (or under the beetle dash cap)
Small connector ECU Harness has the majority of the connections to the engine.
Glow Plug Relay (TDI Swaps only) with it’s base and at least 6″ of wire. (pictured is an 02-up, pre-02 is under the dash)
Accelerator Pedal connector with at least 6″ of wire. (pictured on the left is the mk3 connector, Right is the mk4 connector)

If you are missing some of these items, no problem! We usually can supply them to you at a reasonable cost.

Other parts you will need You will need these parts to complete your installation. However, we don’t need them to work on your wire harness, so please don’t send these parts to us, unless you just enjoy paying for shipping costs..

Accelerator pedal (mk4 on the right, mk3 on the left)
Turbo control valve (N75) (gas 1.8t on left, TDI on right)
EGR control valve (N18) *
Intake Manifold Flap Valve *
Manifold Absolute Pressure (MAP) sensor
Intercooler
Mass Air Flow (MAF) sensor *

* To make your installation process simpler for you, we can delete these items from your harness. However check local laws before doing so as you may not be able to pass certain emission tests.

How to remove your harness –

How to correctly send us your wire harness

The fastest and cheapest way to send a wire harness is with the Post Office. If you live outside of the USA, you will more than likely have to fill out a customs declaration form, this process is quite simple! An important note: you are not selling us these parts, rather you are sending them for repair and to be returned! So when filling out the form simply write: Automotive wire harness sent for repair, no commercial value. In the value field, put one dollar. In the insurance field, insure it for whatever amount you feel comfortable with.

To help us plan our time around the arrival of your harness please forward the tracking information to our email.

If you insist on sending with a courier such as UPS / FedEx you will be 100% responsible for all fees incurred.

What happens when the harness gets here?

Before starting the harness we will email you to ensure both parties are on the same page. If there are any missing parts or concerns that we may have with the harness, this will be discussed before any work commences. The harness will be sent back and labeled as a “repaired automotive wire harness.” Again, if you have any questions or concerns, please let us know!

Posted on September 12, 2019 by Sal Robertson

Bruce’s Black 84 GTI

Bruce wasn’t a euro guy, that was until he happened across an 84 GTI that needed some love. Unfortunately some shady people took advantage of Bruce’s good nature and after starting on a 1.8t swap, his car sat and alot of the parts were “missing” .

He brought it to me and after assessing the missing parts, and the general state of the car he decided that he would rather start over with a different driveline and settled on a 12v VR6 that I serviced up with new chains, guides, ignition wires, plugs, new gaskets, fresh clutch and then bolted the S&P Vr6 hardware kit to the VR lump and set it into the mk1 shell.

The car also got a fresh set of 9.4″ gti brakes, a full set of Solowerks Mk1 coilovers and strut mounts. We cleaned up some chassis wiring issues and sent it home with Bruce, he says he enjoys the look on mustang drivers faces when they cant shake the little mk1 econobox..

A few pics of the install below..

S&P Parts Used On The MK1 VR6 Build

MK1 VR6 Bolt in Conversion Kit

Mk1 VR6 Radiator

SoloWerks Mk1 Coilovers

Mk1 Mk2 MK3 VR6 Hidden MAF Intake Pipe and Filter

VR6 Flywheel and Clutch Kits Stock to Stage 4

Mk1 12v Vr6 Downpipe

Mk1 Mk2 02A 02J CABLE CLUTCH CONVERSION Kit

MK1 SHIFT LINKAGE KIT

Posted on November 19, 2018November 19, 2018 by Sal Robertson

Black Friday Sales!

BLACK FRIDAY SALES SCHEDULE

Sitewide we are having a 10 percent off sale, when you go to checkout, use the code turkeycoma – any current sales will still be active and your discount will be off your CART total, not off one specific product or category. (shipping is obviously not part of your cart total, nor are applicable taxes for TN residents)

Solowerks is offering a MAIL IN rebate on top of our discount, starting the 21st of November through the month of December (our discount sale only goes until the 1st of DEC, if you want the discount and the rebate you need to order before our sale ends) Once you purchase and receive your coilovers, print your receipt and mail it in with a form included in your shipping box to Solowerks and they will cut you a check for 50.00 (25 on caddy kits)

Malone Tuning is offering 10 percent off all tunes during our promotion!

Tower shifters and cables are included in this sale!! Powdercoating will take a few extra days with the holidays so keep that in mind!

Check out the products!

Posted on April 17, 2018June 3, 2022 by Sal Robertson

Install Videos !!

We have needed to do this since the first day we said, “Why don’t we ship out parts for everyone to put a tdi into their mk1” …

Well almost 10 years later, and we have a good start on a video library for using and installing our parts..

4cly Motor/Trans Parts Overview :

Hydro Clutch Kit

Mk1 DBW Pedal Install

Mk1 02a/ 02j Linkage Install

Mk1 Vr6 Hardware Overview:

Mk1 VR6 Harware Install 1&2:

Wiring Harness Removal Videos –

Mk4

Mk3

Recaro Seat Frame Install

Installing one of our “Standalone” style harnesses into a mk1 (this is a 24v but all of the connections to the car will be the same as any of our swap harnesses)

A shorter more concise version is here

MK1 02j Shift Box Install

Posted on November 12, 2017April 27, 2018 by Sal Robertson

1980 Caddy TDI Swap

We are building a tdi swap for a customer, he sent us his 1980 caddy, an ALH out of a 00 beetle, and instruction to make it a functional truck, and a great daily driver.

Alh TDI swap
New brakes with rear disc
Working Ac
New heater system
020 trans w/LSD

Onto the evidence :

Getting the truck and motor ready for a steam cleaning, 250 degree pressure washer will cut right through the old grease.

Prepping the motor for mk1 install:

Remove power steering, trim bracket off
Clock Turbo oulet
Remove Egr
Remove small idler

Trimming the cover for the motor mount:

Cut along the ridge of the timing cover, then straight down through the relief for the lower roller bearing
reinstall and check the fit with the S&P Mk1 – Mk4 bracket

Clock the turbo by removing the bracket and VNT vacuum pod from the exhaust side,
Then loosen the 6 bolts on the charge side and rotate the housing so that it is pointed up instead of down.

We installed our 020 clutch kit, the transmission, hung the rebuilt alternator and the new starter. Waiting on the intake cleaning, and we are almost ready to set a motor in the car.

Motor is IN!

Last thing to do is get the pedal mounted for the DBW ALH ecu..

For this to fit the way you want, you will need to trim the floor vent on the factory airbox.. its hard to see in a picture but once you hold the pedal up there you will see exactly what we mean.

Truck is outside for final fluid checks and setting the timing on the pump, hopefully we will have some driving videos from the owner soon!

Posted on July 4, 2017July 25, 2017 by Sal Robertson

VR-lequin

S&P’s take on a VR6 Harlequin.

Almost everyone has seen one, whether or not they knew it was a purpose built car and not an accident, who knows…

In 1996 Volkswagen built a small batch of cars for a promotional purpose. They were built on a 4 door Golf GL chassis, the only real interior difference was the seat upholstery, it was the same fabric used in the “joker” trim on European models of the same era. The outside is where the “magic” happened, VW took panels from 4 base color cars (Red, Blue, Green and Yellow) and swapped the removable panels between the other base color cars, leaving you with a very loud exterior.

Fast forward to 2015, and I have an opportunity to buy a very sad, yellow base harlequin locally. It had been resprayed at some point to be all yellow, but the colored panels were peeking through the worn paint. The driveline was tired, the interior was beyond tired, it was time for either a restoration, or euthanasia…

I sent the car off in pieces to my local painter, he began smoothing out life’s abuses and owners neglect, fixing shopping cart dings, and poorly placed jack stands. We needed a new hatch, or at least a tub that wouldn’t fall out every time you closed the hatch or went over a bump.

I found someone parting a 4 door golf, that had a lot of Euro market parts, hatch, bumpers, core supports, rebars, etc. We took it all.

Next on the list was the interior, after looking and not finding anyone wanting to sell their limited edition seats, I spoke with Kip at Loves Trim Shop and worked out a plan for some new threads. Mk2 Recaros on mk3 bases, leather wrapped, suede inlays and stitching to match the colors outside, without making the interior too loud to enjoy driving it.

That left me to get started on the driveline, the stock ABA was no different in the harlequin cars than it was in a standard Golf GL.

I had a 2.8 24v from a GTI that was wrecked, I had the machine shop go through the block, hone and a ring job, new bearings, new chains, guides, gaskets etc.

I couldn’t help myself, since I had it all in pieces I painted each section of the motor in the matching colors of the car, engine block, head, upper timing cover, lower timing cover, valve cover, intake, accessories, brackets…
I was seeing spots from all of the painting and planning.

Now that the car had been painted back to its original colors, engine painted and assembled and interior back from Love’s, it was time to make it a whole car again.
This is always the fun part, assembly is very gratifying.

Since the interior itself wasn’t very “loud”, Brandon Rosensteel at EuroGlow made an overlay for me.

Once the car was fully assembled, we could enjoy the best part of a vr6 swap – DRIVING!

During this build, a lady had contacted me about wanting to purchase the car when it was done. That is another story all together and arguably better than the one I just told you.
She and “Polly” now are in the Knoxville area, so if you see them, say hello!

Posted on March 18, 2017May 29, 2017 by Sal Robertson

Matts 1981 VRirocco

Matt wanted to be able to jump in his Scirocco and drive it everyday, without worrying about the failing CIS system leaving him on the side of the road. To overhaul the 1.8 and rebuild the CIS system was a realistic option, however after looking at the cost of the rebuild he realized he was well on his way to a later model motor swap. Even better. Better mileage from an 02 controlled fuel system, more power, easier to find parts. Win-win!

On to the evidence!!

Slightly better after a washing!

Ready to Paint!

Our MK1 VR6 motor mounts ready to go!

Motor hanging!

Integrated Cable Boss on our mk1 02a mounts, we also offer a smooth version for our mk1 hydro kit

Its ready to go home!

Mk1 Vr6 Scirocco conversion, stainless shift rod kit, full 2.5″ stainless exhaust, silicone coolant lines, hidden 3″ maf intake pipe, 2.25″ tucked radiator with fan and shroud. everything you need to have a fun in your mk1!

Interested in installing one into your own mk1? Interested in having us install one into your mk1?

Check the kit out here !! Contact us anytime : info@s-pautomotive.com