Due to ignorance

[wdyasq]

I'm looking for a VW diesel. I am curious as to the years these little beasts were produced with mechanical pumps.

I an not afraid of a high mileage vehicle as the motors are inexpensive enough to replace and should last half a million miles or more. How dependable are the manual transmissions?

Is there a general formula as to what it takes to have a very reliable VW diesel? On old JEEPS, (this dates me) you could "build one for $1000". The $1000 JEEP would be pretty complete but the $300 one would need about $700 of parts.

Now that gas is $4 a gallon, I need an economical little vehicle as I drive over 30k miles a year.

I will eventually use a small VW diesel as the engine in a "hot rod".

Thanks,
Ron

[bscutt]

Mechanical pumps were used from 1977 (in the US) until 95 or 96. In my opinion the transmissions are good for 300K miles if treated respectfully - worst case the 2nd gear synchro gets bad but you can work around that with slow shifting. Basically I would look for a 82-92 Rabbit/Golf - lighter than the Jetta, relatively easy to fix, have 1.6 liter engines which have more torque that the 1.5 and get mileage in the 40s or more depending on hills, speed, stoplights, etc. I drive in the DC area (suburbs) in rush hour traffic, some hills and stoplights, and get 39 in the winter and 44 in the summer.

[TylerDurden]

The little 1.6 vehicles are popular items these days.

• ~$2500 might get you a mechanically sound A to B daily driver, prolly without AC, ~200K miles on the clock.
  
  ~$3500 might get you the above with good paint and recent major mechanical.
  
  ~$4500 might get you all the above with cold AC and low miles.

Another tranny issue is 5th gear: it is up high in the box and starves/burns easily if the oil level is not kept up.

[wdyasq]

Thanks folks,

Just the kind of information I am interested in.

5th - or high overdrive gears in most transmissions fail early. They are the preferred driving gear. They are NOT straight through and usually involve at least two more bearings to wear. The answer can be 'proper lube' and actually filtering or changing that lube. I use premium gear lubes and drain and change standard transmission and differential lube at 25k miles and about every 50k miles after that on a new car.

I would like to eventually build a light diesel everyday sport driver. It will have pressure filtered transmission and differential oil systems, by-pass filter systems on the engine oil system and a fuel system with super filtration and a 'day tank' of super-filtered fuel. I think if the weight were kept to less than 750kg/1600lb it would get 60+mpg. I actually think it would get closer to 100mpg if one took the time to build a really low drag body. Well, one would need a very good air filtration system too. Clean air, fuel and oil makes things last.

Of course, if the car companies built such a car, I think it would sell. BUT, such a car would easily last a million miles or more.

Ron

[82vdub]

If you put 30k miles on a year, a Rabbit is a pretty small drivers area, for anyone with decent leg length. The 86 Jetta's I've owned have had the extra 2-3" of seat movement to make them a lot more comfortable to drive.

The problem with the VW 5 speeds is that 5th gear is the highest in the trans, the gear that suffers the most when it's not lubricated properly, and one of the quickest gears to fail, if the fluid levels aren't maintained. The 4 speed in Ole 82 is closing in on 390k with zero maintenance, other than checking fluid levels and filling as necessary.

[Fatmobile]

If those are highway miles you might prefer a MK2 Golf,.. or Jetta if you like a trunk.
Quieter, smoother ride, more room.

[vwtyp133]

The early Rabbit diesels weren't much over 1600lbs & would get (real world, not EPA official rating) 60+ mpg... stock. Our 1977 1.5na would do that with its 4-speed; our '81 1.6na easily hit that with the 5-speed trans. I've even come close to that with my 1979 Dasher sedan (loaded @c. 3100Lbs), with the stock 1.5na & 4-speed. We had contacts in the late 1970s with builders/users of homebrew-turbocharged, but non-intercooled, 1.5L VW diesel Rabbits who reported 70-72+mpg on the highway.

Obviously it's about how the engine was built & how the car is set up, but even more about how it's driven. If you 'have to' go fast, it takes more fuel, lots more fuel @ 85-100+mph. If you insist on huge ground clearance, underbody turbulence sucks fuel efficiency down. If you like wide tires, to hang tight in fast hardcore mountain driving, bring more money! Carry a full set of tools, 2 spare tires, a week's worth of backcountry camping equipment, 4 hefty friends inside and their skis on the roof... don't even worry about the costs. (In 300Kmiles+ of VW diesel travels, BTDT on all those issues)

But it's all relative: loaded to the gunwales and on winter roads, the Altima Hybrid that's in our service right now would probably drop to around 18-20mpg, rather than its typical 33-35mpg highway usage. On winter ski trips our '81 Rabbit fell from its usual 62-63 highway mpg down to 52-54mpg with several passengers, lots of gear & skis on roof rack, whirring along with cable chains on its front tires.

Way back in the'70s or '80s one of the D-I-Y enthusiast magazines featured a home-built project which got 85mpg @ 55mph, and that was with a Kubota tractor diesel engine. http://www.rqriley.com/cent.html Possibly a Turbo-intercooled VW engine could do as well, or even better; certainly there's room for an individual to experiment. Go for it.

[wdyasq]

One of the cars I admire is the little "Lowcost 7" with a Kubota diesel that can be found here:

http://craigvetter.com/pages/2011-%20Fu ... sults.html

As mentioned, driving style and speed become critical after all the other minutia are attended to. I do have a 2.2l MOWOG Diesel I could use. In case you aren't one of the rare ones who knows odd diesels, MOWOG stands for MOrris WOrks Gear. They were one of the engines used in London Diesel Taxi Cabs before they went to Nissan Diesels.

A friend of mine designed a light weight car and intended to use a Mazda Rotary. It was to weigh 500kg/1100lb and have 325hp. He ended up using a small Ford V8 and 1300lb. He claimed it was a 'rocket', and I don't doubt it. He had designed a winning Indy car and the "Formula Rotary".

One of the most amazing diesel records to me was the Opel 24 hour record run of 139mph and ~26mpg at that speed. Actually the speed was over 150mph but they fried the engine at 23 hours and hand pushed the car around the track for the finish.

Honda did some real work with record too when they introduced the diesel in Europe. I regret in this land of freedom, we are excluded from the best.

Ron