1996 Volkswagen Jetta 2.0 - Cruzing

He then found a friend who'd upgraded the brakes on a Corrado G60, so bought the original equipment and fitted the 10.1" front rotors to his Jetta. He also swapped the rear drums for the Corrado's rotor assembly while he was at it.

For the past two years, the 2.0 had rolled on 16" Keskin KT1 wheels, but it was definitely time for change. Lacking money but desperate to have the car ready in time for Waterfest, his girlfriend Jessica bought him a set of 16" Schmidt TH Line wheels with staggered widths.

The day before Waterfest, three of the four wheels arrived. The third had got lost in shipping but a friend who worked for UPS discovered it had fallen from the conveyor belt and was reunited with its siblings.

A set of gold bolts had also been ordered but these were loose in the boxes. Not wanting to break the airtight seal on the wheels, Efrain and his 10 year-old daughter, Jessy, spent four hours on Saturday replacing each bolt, one at a time. He missed the first day of the show but arrived on Sunday to win first place in the modified Jetta class and to be photographed by us - lucky fella!

The tires are Toyo T1R: "I really like the T1R tread pattern and not everybody makes a 195/45 front tire. The Toyos also stretch well, so I could get that European look," he explained.

Since the Jetta's bodywork was so straight, it initially needed little more than a respray, using the original Sequoia green with extra black mixed in. Last summer, however, Efrain decided to shave the front bumper, hood squirters and rear emblem. All three were first filled with metal to reduce the amount of filler needed before they were sprayed to match.

Lighting upgrades involved HID units from an Infinity G35 with angel eye halos. The side markers then became the front indicators, while the tail lights were upgraded to OEM GLX units.

The interior was last on the list when the stock benches made way for seats from a Jetta Trek edition. These were later transformed with beige leather covers from Katzkin, complete with black suede inserts. "I took a swatch of beige leather from a stock Jetta into the trim shop and had them match it," Efrain explained. "I was then able to get OEM leather door cards to match, as well as the headliner."

He also bought a new instrument cluster from a '99.5 Cabrio. It was illuminated blue and the zero miles meant he'd know exactly how many more he'd put on the rebuilt motor.

On the left-hand side of the dash, he installed a boost gauge to show the 13.5psi maximum, while a Sparco steering wheel and Mk4 GTI gear shifter completed the interior mods until the Auto Power roll bar was fitted in the rear. "Auto Power don't make anything for the Jetta so I bought Golf bars and had to weld 8" onto the length. I then had the bars powdercoated so they'd look original," he said. "To be honest, I've been really meticulous in this car. Everything I could change is brand new: the radiator, bushings, control arms, everything."

Having worked on the car over four years, Efrain doesn't plan to sell it. Neither does he plan more major upgrades. "The car's never done me wrong," he explained. "It's been reliable and the gearing makes it really quick.

"It's come a long way in the past four years. This wasn't an overnight thing but has been done gradually as it was needed or as I could afford it."

Having taken first and second place trophies at Waterfest, H2Oi as well as Show 'n Go, Efrain's hard work is finally paying off and we hope you agree this is one of the nicest self-built Mk3 Jettas out there.