Howdy Webriders! Dr. VW here with the long awaited update on the Jetta Resurrection. As some of you might recall from many many months ago, my brother managed to crash his 1997 MK3 Jetta into a parked car during a brief rainy spell. Here’s the link to the whole sad story. Hit the jump read about the yuletide return of the Jetta!

Alright, so quick recap. Car gets wrecked. I cut out all the bent useless stuff and score lots of spare sheet metal and parts from an unwrecked Jetta. I start welding. What happens? Well fast forward to the end of August. My dad, brother and I get the car back together, and it looks like this:

Not too freaking shabby right!? First time doing body work, and with serious structural welding as well. Car looks great. Now drive it! Well we did…. and discovered the head was warped and leaking water into the cylinders. Not good. We began the rather daunting prospect of replacing the head gasket and head. A TON of work, involving the removal of half the bloody engine. Unfortunately my camera was broken at the time so we only have the near completion shots in the gallery.

However, here is the engine, as of this afternoon, fully put back together and ready for it’s last fill up of coolant/distilled water after some test drives and other diagnostic tests. No Check Engine Lights, no smoke, and best of all, a finished project. Check it:

Ahh. Success. That’s all for tonight guys, be sure to check back tomorrow for an inaugural first drive video! Also be sure to check out the gallery for hints about my latest project… this is Dr. VW– signing off.