2002 Jetta UTE for sale. ~220K miles $8000. Located in Chapel Hill, NC
The car started off as a 2002 Jetta TDI with auto trans.
I bought it in 2015 with a TCC malfunction and a fuel leak. Already had Hella headlights with fog lights and all wring as well as trailer hitch and OEM steel skid plate. Also has an OldNavy billet CCV filter! Also has a vent-ectomy and an auto-up window function that is not factory. I'm not sure on that. The previous owner was clearly a TDI enthusiast who added some tasteful mods
Fixed the fuel leak and tried to fix the non-locking TC with a valve body but that didn't solve the problem. Tried twice actually. Dumb me. Finally converted it to 6 speed manual and drove it around for a few months.
Later mods/repairs:
OEM used 3 spoke leather steering wheel
silicone vacuum line set
2" suspension lift
Rear Jetta wagon springs (also have some Suplex Euro towing springs I'll throw in).
Bilstein TC front struts with new mounts and bearings
Bilstein HD rear shocks (these are sedan shocks. I just didn't have any wagon shocks on hand at the time).
Audi TT control arm bushings
Genuine VW sway bar bushings
new tie rod on one side.
VW Le Castellete 16" alloy wheels
General Altimax 225/65R16 tires
ECS tuning 17mm hub spacers
OEM used GLI 256mm rear brake equipment with wheel bearings, new pads and rotors
OEM used TT 312mm front brake equipment with new wheel bearings, pads and rotors
DLC 1019 injectors
glass headlight lenses
yellow fog light bulbs
Smyth UTE conversion and sunroof delete (non sunroof headliner with new material)
new windshield
U-pol raptor spray in bed liner. Riv-nut bolted bed panels. Looks fantastic.
replaced driver side window regulator and door lock module with OEM new parts.
Replaced alternator cable and battery-top fuse holder.
I kept a detailed spreadsheet which outlines all costs associated. I have spent almost $13,000 on this car not counting any of my time. I am very proud of it but I have too many cars and this one doesn't fit into the fleet. For around 10 years I ran a successful auto repair shop specializing in VW TDI cars and the MKIV ALH has always been my favorite as well as the reason I got into TDIs in the first place.
A few pictures:
The car started off as a 2002 Jetta TDI with auto trans.
I bought it in 2015 with a TCC malfunction and a fuel leak. Already had Hella headlights with fog lights and all wring as well as trailer hitch and OEM steel skid plate. Also has an OldNavy billet CCV filter! Also has a vent-ectomy and an auto-up window function that is not factory. I'm not sure on that. The previous owner was clearly a TDI enthusiast who added some tasteful mods
Fixed the fuel leak and tried to fix the non-locking TC with a valve body but that didn't solve the problem. Tried twice actually. Dumb me. Finally converted it to 6 speed manual and drove it around for a few months.
Later mods/repairs:
OEM used 3 spoke leather steering wheel
silicone vacuum line set
2" suspension lift
Rear Jetta wagon springs (also have some Suplex Euro towing springs I'll throw in).
Bilstein TC front struts with new mounts and bearings
Bilstein HD rear shocks (these are sedan shocks. I just didn't have any wagon shocks on hand at the time).
Audi TT control arm bushings
Genuine VW sway bar bushings
new tie rod on one side.
VW Le Castellete 16" alloy wheels
General Altimax 225/65R16 tires
ECS tuning 17mm hub spacers
OEM used GLI 256mm rear brake equipment with wheel bearings, new pads and rotors
OEM used TT 312mm front brake equipment with new wheel bearings, pads and rotors
DLC 1019 injectors
glass headlight lenses
yellow fog light bulbs
Smyth UTE conversion and sunroof delete (non sunroof headliner with new material)
new windshield
U-pol raptor spray in bed liner. Riv-nut bolted bed panels. Looks fantastic.
replaced driver side window regulator and door lock module with OEM new parts.
Replaced alternator cable and battery-top fuse holder.
I kept a detailed spreadsheet which outlines all costs associated. I have spent almost $13,000 on this car not counting any of my time. I am very proud of it but I have too many cars and this one doesn't fit into the fleet. For around 10 years I ran a successful auto repair shop specializing in VW TDI cars and the MKIV ALH has always been my favorite as well as the reason I got into TDIs in the first place.
A few pictures:
There are some negatives with this truck. This is not a show car. I didn't set out to build a show car. I used it often to haul lawn equipment and large piles of brush and stuff.
I never really had the time to dial it in and make it perfect. For instance, there was a rip in the seat when I got it which I never fixed. It got worse. I failed to cover the seat when I was welding on the sunroof delete panel so there are some burns from that. That being said, I like the seats and they are comfortable so I never changed them.
The guy I hired to paint it did a great job on the actual paint and really cleaned up a lot of my sloppy fiberglass work but he was careless with protecting the interior from the sanding dust. I got 90% of it out but it is still there in some places.
The sunroof delete panel welding caused some warpage of the roof which was not entirely fixed by the final layer of fiberglass. You can see some bubbling on the roof. It is pretty minor but I need to point it out.
The fiberglass work in the door jambs was clearly where the guy focused most of his attention. They look spectacular. Impossible to tell it is not factory.
The drop hitch is more or less permanently installed since there is insufficient clearance to the rear roll pan to slide it in and out. When I put it in I unbolted the hitch on the driver side and pulled down on it to give clearance to slide the drop hitch into place then bolted the main hitch back up. So you can take it out but it isn't as quick as it normally would be.
I had a very hard time getting the passenger side quarter "window" to stick. The driver side stuck just fine but no matter what I couldn't get the passenger side to stay. I wound up just riveting it in. It doesn't look great but it doesn't leak.
Airbag warning light is on. Stupidly, the fault is the igniter for the front passenger seat belt. I removed the rear curtain bags and went to a lot of trouble to put resistors in the circuit to trick the AB module so that there WOULDN'T be an AB fault. But there is anyway for something unrelated. Dumb.
Never figured out what to do with the radio antenna. It is just sitting in the cab with you. Radio reception isn't great. Also this was a very early production Smyth kit which did not have b-pillar support cut-outs to house the rear speakers. It therefore does not have rear speakers.
Lastly, I never really did anything to the engine. Yeah, I put some nozzles in it and it runs good but it smokes too much for my taste. I probably just need to adjust the IQ since I never did that after the manual swap and added big injectors. I don't have my VCDS cable nearby to do that. It has a small crack in the downpipe flex. I always assumed I would put a bigger turbo and exhaust kit in it at some point so I never fixed that.
It does run quite well and it feels sturdy on the road. The 2" lift makes it feel a little bit wavy at very high speeds particularly when towing. The tall tires probably don't help either.
It was built primarily to look like a truck, not necessarily BE a truck. It is a Jetta after all.
I never really had the time to dial it in and make it perfect. For instance, there was a rip in the seat when I got it which I never fixed. It got worse. I failed to cover the seat when I was welding on the sunroof delete panel so there are some burns from that. That being said, I like the seats and they are comfortable so I never changed them.
The guy I hired to paint it did a great job on the actual paint and really cleaned up a lot of my sloppy fiberglass work but he was careless with protecting the interior from the sanding dust. I got 90% of it out but it is still there in some places.
The sunroof delete panel welding caused some warpage of the roof which was not entirely fixed by the final layer of fiberglass. You can see some bubbling on the roof. It is pretty minor but I need to point it out.
The fiberglass work in the door jambs was clearly where the guy focused most of his attention. They look spectacular. Impossible to tell it is not factory.
The drop hitch is more or less permanently installed since there is insufficient clearance to the rear roll pan to slide it in and out. When I put it in I unbolted the hitch on the driver side and pulled down on it to give clearance to slide the drop hitch into place then bolted the main hitch back up. So you can take it out but it isn't as quick as it normally would be.
I had a very hard time getting the passenger side quarter "window" to stick. The driver side stuck just fine but no matter what I couldn't get the passenger side to stay. I wound up just riveting it in. It doesn't look great but it doesn't leak.
Airbag warning light is on. Stupidly, the fault is the igniter for the front passenger seat belt. I removed the rear curtain bags and went to a lot of trouble to put resistors in the circuit to trick the AB module so that there WOULDN'T be an AB fault. But there is anyway for something unrelated. Dumb.
Never figured out what to do with the radio antenna. It is just sitting in the cab with you. Radio reception isn't great. Also this was a very early production Smyth kit which did not have b-pillar support cut-outs to house the rear speakers. It therefore does not have rear speakers.
Lastly, I never really did anything to the engine. Yeah, I put some nozzles in it and it runs good but it smokes too much for my taste. I probably just need to adjust the IQ since I never did that after the manual swap and added big injectors. I don't have my VCDS cable nearby to do that. It has a small crack in the downpipe flex. I always assumed I would put a bigger turbo and exhaust kit in it at some point so I never fixed that.
It does run quite well and it feels sturdy on the road. The 2" lift makes it feel a little bit wavy at very high speeds particularly when towing. The tall tires probably don't help either.
It was built primarily to look like a truck, not necessarily BE a truck. It is a Jetta after all.
