[Chuckhu$tle]

Hey there. I just, finished replacing my wrecked front end on my 97 glx. I was thinking about just doing a straight stock replacement but figured wht the hay, I gotta take this oppurtunity to do something cool. I'm so excited about it just gotta share it.

So I started researching ideas and found lots of info on golf front end swaps. Too much info in fact, to the point that it deterred me. I wanted to do something "different". I was driving on campus when I saw something that set of bells and lights off in my head.

At first glance I thought I saw a MkIV Cabrio, but upon closer inspection I noticed it had MkIII fenders. More research revealed that VW never made a true MkIV Cabrio, instead they just slapped MkIV headlights, grille, and front bumper/airdam on a MkIII Cabrio.

I still have not found any info or pics of this possible mod, so I shall post some in the "pics of my jetta" thread.

Now I'm not vane or conceited enough to think I'm the first to do this, but I'm sure I won't run into many of these.

If anybody would like a play by play on it for a possible future mod let me know and I'll post the key points (this swap is quite involved and requires some cutting, a little welding ,and some drilling and a load of rewiring). But man it's worth it. Now I gotta save up for a paint job (you'll know why when you see the pics).

 

[pow3r hour]

its actually been done more times than i have fingers and toes that I can think of. Its actually called a cabby 3.5 and most of the stuff pretty much fits right on. Im not a big fan of the look unless you use the rear bumper too, and shave the sidemoldings

I cant find the pics with the shaved moldings but ill post up when i dig them up. Im also not trying to burst your bubble or anything, just lettin ya know there are a few out there. good luck

 

[pow3r hour]

here is the pic i was looking for, and to me the only real way to pull it off nicely

 

[Chuckhu$tle]

Nice pics. Well, I already figured it had been before and the shaved moldings definately has my creative juices flowing. But, though I cant speak for golf conversions, on a Jetta very little "bolts right up". New mount holes for the bumper, removal of the lower radiator bracket, trimming for the headlights, complete rewire of the headlight wiring harness, wiring fender lights..... the list goes on. I'm happy with it though, and thanks for the pics I think I'm probably gonna shave the moldings when I debadge and prep for paint.

 

[ENRGZR]

cool man. just make sure to post pics along the way.

 

[Chuckhu$tle]

You betcha. Will do. But the next step (body and paint) may be a while due to budget constraints.

 

[Untitled]

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amazing cars.... damn I can't wait to do something insane with my jetta......... going to be sick.... I see everyone puts on the front end like this

Personaly..... does not look attractive at all..... I preffer the round headlights, with no fog lights, or alternate lights.......

 

[Chuckhu$tle]

Agreed, the round headlights set the MkI's and II's off.

 

[Untitled]

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Like Mixing Oldish with the Newish......... Heres more like it.....

 

[Chuckhu$tle]

here's my whip, post-op, pre-paint

the hardest part is making the engine bay look like no mods took place, like hidind wiring, I was able to weld in the hood lifter from the Cabrio.Thought it was a neat touch.

 

[ENRGZR]

that'll look sweet man. You gonna keep it green?

 

[Untitled]

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Nice whip..... can't wait to see it all painted up....... kinda looks like a big ass dent in the rear quarter panel on the first pic... might be just angle.

 

[pow3r hour]

on mkII's i prefer 7" single rounds with a 7bar badgeless grill. The 7 bar is hard to find though, most are only 5

 

[Chuckhu$tle]

Nice whip..... can't wait to see it all painted up....... kinda looks like a big ass dent in the rear quarter panel on the first pic... might be just angle.

It's just the angle, there is a small dent in the bottom of the drivers door but I'll fix that when I shave the moldings.

 

[Chuckhu$tle]

that'll look sweet man. You gonna keep it green?

Thanx! Not sure yet on the color. I'm kicking around four possibilities; metalic black, silver, gunmetal grey, or some kind of mettalic or pearlescent olive/lime green (I have the color in my head I just don't have the name for it).

 

[Chuckhu$tle]

Here's the damned badgeless grill, it was more involved than I hoped.

as you can see there is a discrepency in the size

So the first thing I did was disassemble the stock grille (3 pieces) as you can see in the previous pic and cut the slats out of the new one.

Then using heavy paper soaked in a water, soap, baking soda mixture I made an expedient mold of the stock grills slats since the new ones are wider and longer.

And then cut the mold into templates which I then transferred to the new slats with primer.

and with a dremel cut the slats to size and fitted them

Now to return the grill to stock until paint time because the slats will need glued in and some more modification to fill the gaps left by the emblem left on the grill itself and the hood.

 

[Chuckhu$tle]

And of course the easy mod. The antenna (is that spelled right).

So I unscrewed the stock ant.

and screwed in the new billet stubby.

what a difference.

Now my car doesn't look like some damn remote control with that big ass antenna coming out the roof.

(edit) This will probably be it for awhile, unless I can convince the wife to let me spend more money on my car sooner rather than later.

 

[Untitled]

Nice feet...... hahaha j/k.... i need to get a stubby antenna...... My stock one is by the hood though.... i have a brand new one but its a long one.... the stock one broke and currently i am using a coat hanger..... Loooks like **** but works....

 

[Chuckhu$tle]

those are combat boot feet. years of wear em will knarl your feet like that.

 

[brimarmay]

Wow, I'm really digging the cabrio front end. Can't wait to see it all painted the same color. Any other mods? Any other mods planned?