New forum member, old Rabbit, timeless journey

This is a place for us to share progress on and upgrades to our vw diesels.

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abadcliche
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New forum member, old Rabbit, timeless journey

Post by abadcliche »

Hello everyone.

My name is Matt, and I recently entered the car world, the VW world, and the diesel world at the same time when moving from Brooklyn NY to Raleigh NC and bought a 1979 VW Rabbit diesel. Talk about a lot to learn! My only other car I ever owned was a 93 Corolla, which meant I never had to open the hood except oil changes. The Rabbit is a different beast altogether!

This was part of my plan, though. I make my living repairing musical instruments and as such am decent with my hands and decent with figuring things out, and I love to DIY. So I figured hey, let's kill quite a few birds with one stone- get a car with a simple engine I can learn on, with relatively abundant repair parts, that I can buy cheapish, that will get really good fuel economy since the price of fuel has tripled since I last drove.

Thus I ended up with a 1979 Rabbit, this one a Canadian, so a German import with everything in km, 4 speeds, 1.5, and only 30k original miles- now about 35k. The first owner had used it as a dinghy behind his RV, and the 2nd and 3rd owners had it briefly before abandoning the idea of a full restoration. I don't want to do a full restoration, just get it right for me. And that's what I've been doing for the past 8 months since I've owned it. It now gets 48mpg on the highway (although I think she can do a little better with a timing adjustment), starts right up in all weather, and has only broken down once- although threatened to break down many more times than that! I am still chasing vibrations and tweaking and I don't think I'll ever be really done, but it is at a point where I finally feel like I could road trip with it and where I am not white-knuckling every time I drive straining to hear whether that particular clatter was there before.

I'm also on the lookout for a driver's side headlight surround- the car had a dent (now removed) which had broken the surround, so I am missing that one.

Here she is:

Image

And here is the back deck, where I've removed the back seat and made a cedar plank decking. It really holds an awful lot, and my wife and I are looking forward to road tripping and camping later this year. You can see the original color (blue) here. I had to paint it because the paint was dying and there was some surface rust starting, and a blue car without AC was killer. Plus yellow is awesome on a car like this.

Image


The things remaining to do are myriad: replace a few more hoses, go through the electronics, maybe eventually make it ready for biodiesel, paint the wheels, get the valve adjustment tools, try and make my headlights brighter, install speakers, acquire parts and spares as I find them, and of course the continual tracking down of noises, rattles, and vibrations. Owning a 32 year old VW diesel as your daily driver is a process.

Anyways everyone that's me and that's my baby. The information here has been invaluable to me on many a sleepless night and I hope eventually to be able to give back.
Fatmobile
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Re: New forum member, old Rabbit, timeless journey

Post by Fatmobile »

Nice looking car,.. I like yellow Rabbits..
A little bold for me, but I like the way they look.
'91 Golf gasser converted to a 12mm pump, M-TDI.
'84 1.6TD Rabbit with a VNT-15 turbo, still setup to run on vegetable oil.
'84 GTI with 1.7TD pistons and intercooled.
2003 TDI wagon
2000 TDI Jetta.
abadcliche
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Joined: Sun Feb 20, 2011 5:42 pm
Location: Raleigh, North Carolina
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Re: New forum member, old Rabbit, timeless journey

Post by abadcliche »

Thanks! I thought maybe it would help me find it in parking lots, but it still manages to hide behind almost anything.

It sure is easy to get addicted to 40+mpg even in winter, even city driving.
funkaholik
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Re: New forum member, old Rabbit, timeless journey

Post by funkaholik »

Hi. Nice little bunny. I like the cedar lined storage area. Very stylish and practical. I have a few plastic headlight surrounds. Some have chrome trim, some not. Could you take a closeup pic of your passenger side one, and post it here? If I have the right one, I'll get it to you cheap.
Erik Miller
Berkeley, CA, USA

2001 Jetta TDI
1992 Jetta 1.6TD
1981 Caddy 1.6TD
abadcliche
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Posts: 6
Joined: Sun Feb 20, 2011 5:42 pm
Location: Raleigh, North Carolina
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Re: New forum member, old Rabbit, timeless journey

Post by abadcliche »

Thanks for the compliment on the cedar floor! It sure came in handy.

Actually just sold the old girl- we've got a bun in the oven and replaced this bunny with something a bit quieter, safer, roomier, with more doors. Honda too, so I probably won't be turning a wrench too much any time soon.
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