one car, 13 years of ownership, Every square inch rebuilt.
Project: 2004 VW R32
This one’s personal. I’ve owned this R32 for over 13 years, and it’s been through just about everything. The previous owner was a body guy — but not the kind that cared about the long game. What looked decent on the surface turned out to be a mess underneath. Rockers rotted, panels cracked, strut tower gone — the whole thing had to be stripped down and rebuilt the right way.
Every inch of this car has been touched, repaired, or remade. Custom panels, reworked structure, refinished from the ground up. It’s not just about saving an old chassis — it’s about proving what patience, precision, and a little stubbornness can do.
This build set the foundation for how jc-werks approaches every project today — one detail at a time, no shortcuts, no compromises. The R32 isn’t finished just yet, but it’s in its final stage of build assembly — the payoff after years of doing it right.
This R32’s in the thick of it — torn down, roughed out, and getting reworked from the ground up. Years of patch jobs and neglect finally caught up, and what’s left now is the truth of the metal. The rockers are split, the quarters are crusted, and every panel shows a different story of how it got here. It’s sitting in mock-up, measuring fitment, planning cuts, and building the roadmap before the r
This isn’t a flip or a weekend freshen-up. It’s a full rebuild the way it should’ve been done the first time — slow, precise, and done right. Every inch will be stripped, corrected, and brought back stronger than before. It’s not finished, not even close. But this is where it starts — the teardown before the transformation.
And yeah — sorry for the blurry shots. Long night, cold shop, shaky hands.
Rockers cut off, cancer gone. The replacement section’s been cleaned, treated, and locked in with epoxy. Weld-thru primer’s laid down, all edges prepped, holes punched, and the fit checked twice. Everything on the bench tells the story — grinders, air saws, hammers, and half a dozen screwdrivers that shouldn’t be there but always are. The shell’s stripped to its truth now, sitting high on the rack
Custom aluminum intake system in the works — fully hand-built from raw tubing, including a matching MAF housing and machined throttle-body adapter. Feeding it all is a 3.2L Porsche Cayenne intake manifold, reworked to clear the bay and tie into the new layout. Every piece is fit, trimmed, and clocked by hand — no off-the-shelf parts, no compromises. Just functional, aggressive fabrication built ar
Intake is in primer and prepped for paint. Custom core support is being mocked up for final welding — all factory mounting points kept and still dead-on spec. The hood latch and striker are deleted, switching fully to hood pins for a cleaner, more direct setup. The new support structure ties in everything — headlights, bumper supports, and radiator — built with function first and minimal excess. E
Custom aluminum intake laid down in Porsche Acid Green, test-fit after paint. Lines up dead-on — clears tight, sits aggressive. Pops hard against the bay’s tone, like it was always meant to be there. Precision over flash, all intention.
Complete back and underside of the widened fiberglass front fenders refinished in a textured black protective coating. Built to take abuse — chip, scratch, and impact resistant. Clean lines, no overspray, no shortcuts. Function meeting finish where it counts.
Both outer fender rails and front wheel housings refinished in the same textured black protective coating — sealing, toughening, and evening out every surface. Chip, scratch, and impact resistant. No gloss, no flash — just durable protection built to last.
Mockup shot showing the intake, core support, wheel housings, and full engine bay refinished — high-contrast combination of textured black, gloss grey, and neon green tying everything together. Clean prep, crisp masking, and refined edges throughout.
Driver-side strut tower replaced, bay stripped down and gutted. Every seam, bracket, and weld line reworked until it was clean and flat. Nothing fancy — just a lot of grinding, welding, and hours chasing straight metal. Firewall and rails stayed intact; everything else got redefined. It’s the kind of work that doesn’t show off, but makes the difference when it’s done right.
Epoxy laid down, seam se
Passenger-side 3/4 view — exterior work in progress. The carbon fiber hatch was shaved, reshaped, and set tighter than factory, then blended in a hand-built ducktail that’s part function, part aggression. Two-door R32 side skirts reworked and extended to fit the four-door body without a seam in sight. Rear valance is a hybrid — 20th AE base with reshaped dual cutouts housing 996 Porsche tips. Ever
Door fully stripped and cleaned back to bare metal. Minor bodywork handled where it counted — straightened and smoothed to perfection before being sealed in epoxy primer. Both doors and quarters went through the same full process. No disguises, no shortcuts — just real prep, solid foundation, and everything done in the right order.
These seven pictures above, below, and to the right show the grind — days of sanding and blocking, 320, 400, and even 600 grit in spots, chasing every imperfection out of the panels. Nothing skipped, nothing rushed. every edge, seam, and transition worked by hand until the surface was dead straight and ready for epoxy and paint. Precision earned.
Everything before paint has to be spotless — not just clean, controlled. every edge, seam, and opening masked tight to keep overspray out and definition sharp. Plastic sheeting sealed, tape lines precise. no shortcuts, no dust, no guessing. What happens here determines the clarity and finish of everything that follows — this is where control starts.
The shell was locked down under a full coat of epoxy, followed by an epoxy sealer to anchor everything in. Every surface was stripped of dust, wiped until the rags came up clean, and tacked under bright light before the first pass. This is where control takes over — every inch checked, every flaw eliminated. No shortcuts. No forgiveness.
Three coats of Audi’s Suzuka Grey base hammered down for full saturation, followed by four heavy coats of high solids clear laid wet for maximum depth and reflection. The finish builds density and tension — sharp, hard, and flawless. The product of deliberate execution.