Former VWDieselParts.com Forum

I have a new project I am working on. I bought a 1984 diesel Rabbit that was hit in the rear and undrivable. I also have a 1981 vw diesel truck, the front end is rusted out so I am thinking of welding them together. Am I crazy for thinking about this. I did see a jetta welded to a truck so I know it can be done. I am sure the Rabbit would match up to the truck far better than the Jetta did. Anyone try this. Thoughts?
Thanks Dean

Is this 4-door Rabbit? Either way I would want to add additional frame supports as a minimum since the unibody never struck me as being extremely strong. Always wanted a 4-door turbo-diesel pickup!

The 84 Rabbit is a four door. I am thinking I should cut in the middle of the front door on the bottom. I would cut the 84 Rabbit long enough so I can crimp the metal and tuck it into the frame rail on the truck and weld. Then I would make a piece metal about 4 inches wide and weld over the crimped section going into the truck. I think I can grind out the factory weld on the inside near the windshield on both vehicles. Cut near the top of the windshield on the roof. Then weld the factory weld back together on the inside, weld on the inside of the roof. I will also add lot of extra support on the floor.

I've heard of this being done with 2-doors,
sort of stretches it out in the passenger compartment.

Great project.

More space for more hotties, its a win-win. Do it.

coke wrote:More space for more hotties, its a win-win. Do it.

I've never known Rabbit diesels to be real pussy-magnets. Sooooo, unless the owner is himself a "hottie", I don't foresee the ladies throwing themselves in front of his "PussyWagon".

If my wife finds out this thing is going to be a chick magnet she will put the kaibosh to the project.
I am thinking of making a jig to fit in the door so I cut in the same spot on both cars. When I do get ready to weld I will have to close the doors and make sure open and close before I do any welding. It will be a week or two before I get to that point. I wll add pics after I get it welded.

Sometimes my sarcasm is overwhelming.

HA! Depends on what crowd you're hanging out in, I guess. In a 'progressive' college town, there are plenty of hippie-ish alternative types that seem impressed with biofuels and DIY types. Not that I've won any points over it.

What I've been strongly milling over for a while is whether it would be that difficult to make a custom MkII Jetta wagon. Has anyone seen/heard about anything like this? I'm thinking all that I'd need is a Golf donor car. You'd just make the appropriate cuts in order to match things up right. Then weld in place and smooth everything out.

I think my mkII is a chick magnet. All you have to do so say, "I'll pick you up". Me and the wife had to pick up some dolls at an estate sale 5 1/2 hours away so we said, "we will pick up her sister and daughter. Pulled up in front of the house when they were just unloading is furniture. What timing. Carried it all up to the second floor. Brilliant timing. Started driving five hours back. Had to make a pit stop in Innisfail to drop off some designer children's furnisher. Got stuck in a womens clothing store for 1 1/2 hour. Lot's of women running around with on shoes on. Told this tall skinny lady she would look good with a toe ring on. Started to get Clint Eastwood look from my ladies but did finally get out of store.

pipe dream:

doing a clip is time consuming but is also the easiest I used a 84 gti front clip use the doner floor and cut the windshield post high on the outside post low on the inside same on the rockers take lots of mesurement and check the bentleys lot of welding

I saw a 4 door Mk1 VW pickup on sale on ebay about 1.5-2 years ago. I think it was somewhere in Nebraska. Unfortunately, the body was pretty rusty. The rear doors on the car weren't stock Mk1 Rabbit rear doors, and they definately weren't another set of front doors either. I remember asking the guy what he used or if he know much about the rear doors, but he didn't know anything as the conversion was done prior to him getting it. Can't remember if any/much interior pics were posted, but from what I remember, it really looked like a well done conversion. I wonder if I downloaded a picture of it somewhere. I'll have to check for that. I think that would be an excellent hauler, but probably wouldn't be able to have much payload in it if it has a stock 1.6 NA in it. Toss in a 1.9TDI and you'd have a pretty decent ride.

So far so good, I haven't started any welding yet.

The donor car