From VW GTI, back into the seat of a B13 | mm3's Build!
Howdy folks!
A few years back I owned a '94 4-door Limited Edition B13, with the GA16 and an automatic. It was my first "real" car, and I daily'd the hell out of it. I even made a thread here about it! Unfortunately, I wrecked it.
Before,
After.
Lady driving a minivan stopped at the end of a blind corner, in the rain, at the bottom of a hill, waiting to make an illegal u-turn. She didn't have insurance, and my insurance would've declared me at-fault by default anyway, so I took the hit. It really stung. Parted out what I could then picked up a '95 Escort wagon to get me far away from Long Island, down to Houston Texas.
Fast forward to April of 2012! Purchased a close friend's '02 Mk4 GTI. Fell in love, and did many, many things to her... Lots of motor mods, a Jetta front end swap, mild suspension stuff, and plenty of repairs. Currently at 230whp or so, and for the first time ever, finally done. It's been a very long and hard 14 months with her, but I believe it is time to let her go. Too many long stints in the garage for random, expensive things breaking. Love the car, but I need something that's more forgiving to drive and work on.
Here's as she sits today.
Assuming I get asking price for her, I'll have between $4300-$4400 to play with to dive into a B13. I want a four door, and would very much like to have a GXE or Limited Edition, as I want power windows, mirrors, locks, etc. I will strongly attempt to find one that's missing a motor, needs a new motor, or with a tired old motor, as I will be rebuilding this car from the ground up.
The first thing I will most likely be doing is tearing apart the entire front end, removing all lights/trim/etc, and having it painted. I want the body to be flawless, no dents or rust (not hard here in Texas!), so if there are any imperfections I will be bondo'ing and sanding. I'll do all painting prep work myself then will tow it to the nearest paint shop. I'm undecided however, if I should try to tackle the paint job myself, using rattle-cans or otherwise. I've seen a few roller-applied jobs which looked pretty good, as well as an entry-level air compressor with an air gun. We'll see what rolls my way when the time comes. As far as color goes, I love very glossy black paint, or a slightly-deep gray, similar to some cars I've seen around here.
Moving on, once the car is freshly painting it will be drivetrain time. The GTI has effectively gotten me addicted to turbochargers, so I will most likely want an SR20DET. Again, I will be building the car from the ground up, including the motor. I'm aiming for ~300hp. What it'll take to get there, I do not know. I ask you folks here at The Dash to throw some things out at me that are "must-do's" engine-wise, a list of bolt-ons, what turbo to use, so-on and so-forth, to help me achieve at least 300hp. I want it to be faster than my GTI. I want the motor to be as no-nonsense as possible. If it can be deleted, delete it. EVAP(?), EGR, everything. If it won't cause me to fail a smog sniffer test, I don't want it on the vehicle. As far as ECUs/tunes go, I'm clueless. If an ECU exists that fits my no-nonsense need, excellent. With everything cleaned off and deleted I want the car to run smoothly with no Check Engine Light blaring in my face like the Volkswagen did. For the exhaust, I will most likely do a ~2.5" custom exhaust, with a high-flow catalytic converter, and a relatively loud and deep-sounding muffler.
Once the motor is built, installed, and mated to a [manual] transmission I will then focus on the other crucial aspects of the car - brakes, A/C, steering. I would like the best setup possible while still being able to fit at least 14-inch wheels. I do not want ABS. A/C is very important here in Texas so having a working, R134-filled, cold A/C is crucial. Heck, if larger compressors are available, or any other way to make them even colder, I'll be all over it. I would also prefer power steering, out of comfort, but if the P/S systems are prone to fail (or if the performance gain from a manual steering system is significant enough), I will go the manual steering route.
Then, the interior. I want it to be fully functional - no gutting it out or anything. Fully functioning back seat, passenger seat, what-have-you. A nice stereo system, properly done, a comfortable steering wheel, and maybe overhauled gauges. Some A-pillar gauges for that extra "rice-spice"!
I love black interiors, but from what I can see, all B13 interiors are gray/beigeish? I might end up dying the headliner black, as well as the carpet, but the seats might be a little tricky. This can be worked out later.
Onto suspension and wheels, I'm a sucker for steelies. I'm more-than-okay with rocking some freshly painted white, gloss-black, etc stock steel wheels, with no caps. I feel as if it gives the car some attitude. Of course, this opinion could very much change if a set of B15 wheels come my way, or something like that. I'm not one to toss a lot of money at a set of wheels. For the ride, I'd like to throw on a set of decent coilovers, with a ride height that allows for juuuust enough wheel gap so that one finger or so will fit between the fender and the wheel.
For the body, I'm okay with either spoiler or no-spoiler. What I would like to have, however, is an SE-R trunk for those SE-R taillights. I like them very much. Since these can be hard to come by I am okay with settling for whatever comes with the car if one does not come my way after a certain amount of time after getting it, since the first thing I'll be doing is painting it. I also prefer the 93-94 taillights, which I know is weird to a lot of you, but hey, that's what I like. I'm not a fan of clear turn signals or anything like that, I'd much prefer having a very clean, undamaged set of 93/94 stock tails - no tint or shade on them either. For the headlights, leaving HIDs will be hard, but the projector setups I've seen available for the B13 aren't exactly desirable, and one of my biggest pet peeves among car enthusiasts are those who put HIDs (real HIDs, that is) into stock reflector housings. Needless to say, I'm up in the air about the headlights. I like the stock Sentra grille, so no Sunny or Tsuru for me. Stock one is nice and simple. It will most likely be painted to match the car. The car will most likely have dark tint, 2-5% in the back and the state-law-required 25% up on the two front windows, and nothing on the windshield. I will equip the car with a nice alarm system and maybe auto-start, if one can be wired in that can bypass the clutch safety switch (of course this means I'll have to leave the car out of gear when parked, so I'd like to see if it's possible to disable the remote start system if the system detects that the car is in gear). Being able to control the power windows (I'm fine without a sunroof) from a remote would be cool like some VWs and Audis (and others?) have, but obviously I'm fantasizing here.
So there you have it, folks. This is my plan for my future B13. I'm already searching up and down Craigslist and have found a few good examples to start with for less than a mere $900. As I said earlier, if I can find one for super cheap that has motor issues or no motor at all, that'd be prime as I'd be ripping it out anyway. Wish me luck on my search!
A few years back I owned a '94 4-door Limited Edition B13, with the GA16 and an automatic. It was my first "real" car, and I daily'd the hell out of it. I even made a thread here about it! Unfortunately, I wrecked it.
Before,
After.
Lady driving a minivan stopped at the end of a blind corner, in the rain, at the bottom of a hill, waiting to make an illegal u-turn. She didn't have insurance, and my insurance would've declared me at-fault by default anyway, so I took the hit. It really stung. Parted out what I could then picked up a '95 Escort wagon to get me far away from Long Island, down to Houston Texas.
Fast forward to April of 2012! Purchased a close friend's '02 Mk4 GTI. Fell in love, and did many, many things to her... Lots of motor mods, a Jetta front end swap, mild suspension stuff, and plenty of repairs. Currently at 230whp or so, and for the first time ever, finally done. It's been a very long and hard 14 months with her, but I believe it is time to let her go. Too many long stints in the garage for random, expensive things breaking. Love the car, but I need something that's more forgiving to drive and work on.
Here's as she sits today.
Assuming I get asking price for her, I'll have between $4300-$4400 to play with to dive into a B13. I want a four door, and would very much like to have a GXE or Limited Edition, as I want power windows, mirrors, locks, etc. I will strongly attempt to find one that's missing a motor, needs a new motor, or with a tired old motor, as I will be rebuilding this car from the ground up.
The first thing I will most likely be doing is tearing apart the entire front end, removing all lights/trim/etc, and having it painted. I want the body to be flawless, no dents or rust (not hard here in Texas!), so if there are any imperfections I will be bondo'ing and sanding. I'll do all painting prep work myself then will tow it to the nearest paint shop. I'm undecided however, if I should try to tackle the paint job myself, using rattle-cans or otherwise. I've seen a few roller-applied jobs which looked pretty good, as well as an entry-level air compressor with an air gun. We'll see what rolls my way when the time comes. As far as color goes, I love very glossy black paint, or a slightly-deep gray, similar to some cars I've seen around here.
Moving on, once the car is freshly painting it will be drivetrain time. The GTI has effectively gotten me addicted to turbochargers, so I will most likely want an SR20DET. Again, I will be building the car from the ground up, including the motor. I'm aiming for ~300hp. What it'll take to get there, I do not know. I ask you folks here at The Dash to throw some things out at me that are "must-do's" engine-wise, a list of bolt-ons, what turbo to use, so-on and so-forth, to help me achieve at least 300hp. I want it to be faster than my GTI. I want the motor to be as no-nonsense as possible. If it can be deleted, delete it. EVAP(?), EGR, everything. If it won't cause me to fail a smog sniffer test, I don't want it on the vehicle. As far as ECUs/tunes go, I'm clueless. If an ECU exists that fits my no-nonsense need, excellent. With everything cleaned off and deleted I want the car to run smoothly with no Check Engine Light blaring in my face like the Volkswagen did. For the exhaust, I will most likely do a ~2.5" custom exhaust, with a high-flow catalytic converter, and a relatively loud and deep-sounding muffler.
Once the motor is built, installed, and mated to a [manual] transmission I will then focus on the other crucial aspects of the car - brakes, A/C, steering. I would like the best setup possible while still being able to fit at least 14-inch wheels. I do not want ABS. A/C is very important here in Texas so having a working, R134-filled, cold A/C is crucial. Heck, if larger compressors are available, or any other way to make them even colder, I'll be all over it. I would also prefer power steering, out of comfort, but if the P/S systems are prone to fail (or if the performance gain from a manual steering system is significant enough), I will go the manual steering route.
Then, the interior. I want it to be fully functional - no gutting it out or anything. Fully functioning back seat, passenger seat, what-have-you. A nice stereo system, properly done, a comfortable steering wheel, and maybe overhauled gauges. Some A-pillar gauges for that extra "rice-spice"!
I love black interiors, but from what I can see, all B13 interiors are gray/beigeish? I might end up dying the headliner black, as well as the carpet, but the seats might be a little tricky. This can be worked out later. Onto suspension and wheels, I'm a sucker for steelies. I'm more-than-okay with rocking some freshly painted white, gloss-black, etc stock steel wheels, with no caps. I feel as if it gives the car some attitude. Of course, this opinion could very much change if a set of B15 wheels come my way, or something like that. I'm not one to toss a lot of money at a set of wheels. For the ride, I'd like to throw on a set of decent coilovers, with a ride height that allows for juuuust enough wheel gap so that one finger or so will fit between the fender and the wheel.
For the body, I'm okay with either spoiler or no-spoiler. What I would like to have, however, is an SE-R trunk for those SE-R taillights. I like them very much. Since these can be hard to come by I am okay with settling for whatever comes with the car if one does not come my way after a certain amount of time after getting it, since the first thing I'll be doing is painting it. I also prefer the 93-94 taillights, which I know is weird to a lot of you, but hey, that's what I like. I'm not a fan of clear turn signals or anything like that, I'd much prefer having a very clean, undamaged set of 93/94 stock tails - no tint or shade on them either. For the headlights, leaving HIDs will be hard, but the projector setups I've seen available for the B13 aren't exactly desirable, and one of my biggest pet peeves among car enthusiasts are those who put HIDs (real HIDs, that is) into stock reflector housings. Needless to say, I'm up in the air about the headlights. I like the stock Sentra grille, so no Sunny or Tsuru for me. Stock one is nice and simple. It will most likely be painted to match the car. The car will most likely have dark tint, 2-5% in the back and the state-law-required 25% up on the two front windows, and nothing on the windshield. I will equip the car with a nice alarm system and maybe auto-start, if one can be wired in that can bypass the clutch safety switch (of course this means I'll have to leave the car out of gear when parked, so I'd like to see if it's possible to disable the remote start system if the system detects that the car is in gear). Being able to control the power windows (I'm fine without a sunroof) from a remote would be cool like some VWs and Audis (and others?) have, but obviously I'm fantasizing here.
So there you have it, folks. This is my plan for my future B13. I'm already searching up and down Craigslist and have found a few good examples to start with for less than a mere $900. As I said earlier, if I can find one for super cheap that has motor issues or no motor at all, that'd be prime as I'd be ripping it out anyway. Wish me luck on my search!
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