Resurrection of an 83 Rabbit 1.6....Maybe...Hopefully

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

Moderator: Fatmobile

Will this rabbit live?

Not in a million years
0
No votes
Maybe if you pull the mirror off, park a running rabbit under it, and reattach the mirror
0
No votes
$20 on you getting the engine running, $50 that it moves under its own power
1
10%
Pray, pray, pray
3
30%
Of course you will, you're on the best VW forum on the net!
6
60%
 
Total votes: 10

DrAnonymous
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Resurrection of an 83 Rabbit 1.6....Maybe...Hopefully

Post by DrAnonymous »

So, I posted two questions in the general forum and alluded to the fact I was trying to bring a car back to life. The history on me and this project is roughly like so -

Car: Sitting at my parent's house for the last 8'ish + years as a lawn decoration. It was given to my dad, for reasons long forgotten. Its possible that he just wanted another yard decoration, which my mother frowns upon. Maybe he was hoping to make an oversize go-cart from it. Its hard to say. When it came to me, via the trailer I borrowed and towed it back to town on, it had pieces in the trunk, some loosely attached in the engine compartment, and others lost. It also came with dead grass and the skulls of some rats that made it a home for awhile. (I didn't know Rabbits ate rats, but who am I to judge.)

Me: I enjoy fixing things. My world is much better when I know something has been repaired and is operating the way its supposed to. I also have an F250 truck which kills me in gas, but tows my camper nicely. To avoid death by gas bill, I bought a 92 Kawasaki ZX6 that was not running. It was restored back to decent condition (poor thing has had a hard life) via hours in the garage and funneling some money towards eBay. The result was decent 2 wheeled transportation that gets me about 40+ MPG. A friend urged me to drag the rabbit home, with claims of great gas mileage and a 'fun project'.

I figured I'd document the journey here until it lives or gets hauled away.

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DrAnonymous
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Re: Resurrection of an 83 Rabbit 1.6....Maybe...Hopefully

Post by DrAnonymous »

Previously - vacuumed the interior, hosed down the engine, verified the crankshaft wasn't frozen up, finished pulling off the injector pump (it was partially removed already), and sorted the parts that were laying around

Saturday a friend and I pulled off the compressor, brackets, valve cover, pulleys, and lower timing cover. Looks like there is an issue with the intermediate shaft pulley (it can rub against the engine).

Got the Bentley service manual in today. Yeah for ebay!
Fatmobile
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Re: Resurrection of an 83 Rabbit 1.6....Maybe...Hopefully

Post by Fatmobile »

Nice looking project to start with.
Got any pics of underneath,... pinch welds running along the bottom of the rocker panels?

A low coolant level warning light in the dash? I see the sensor in the coolant resevoir,.. and a light next to the glow plugs.
'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.
bscutt
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Re: Resurrection of an 83 Rabbit 1.6....Maybe...Hopefully

Post by bscutt »

Nice project, looks better than some I have drug home. If the engine goes back together and has good compression you may well have some nice transportation. Of course you will spend the next few years doing a rolling restoration but that's part of the fun.
Bob

'06 Jetta TDI
'82 Rabbit 1.6NA
Honda, 99 GMC Suburban, '41 Chevy Coupe
GolfGTD
Glow Plug
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Re: Resurrection of an 83 Rabbit 1.6....Maybe...Hopefully

Post by GolfGTD »

That Rabbit looks like it is in good shape. I would definitely spend the time on it.

Automatic Rabbit Diesels are kinda scarce. Second automatic Rabbit Diesel I have seen with a coolant level sensor. TD Rabbits have them also.

Do it up!

Dennis
DrAnonymous
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Re: Resurrection of an 83 Rabbit 1.6....Maybe...Hopefully

Post by DrAnonymous »

As requested, here are some pics of the underside. I had a hard time getting them, since I don't know how to use my wife's camera very well. :?

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You can see the engine block heater cord in this photo. Living in Southern Arizona, I don't think it will get used. :)
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bscutt
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Re: Resurrection of an 83 Rabbit 1.6....Maybe...Hopefully

Post by bscutt »

I don't see anything scary under there. A little rust and minor pinch weld damage and a little bend in a control arm flange that shouldn't hurt anything. Looks like a keeper to me. I have made daily drivers out of much worse.
Bob

'06 Jetta TDI
'82 Rabbit 1.6NA
Honda, 99 GMC Suburban, '41 Chevy Coupe
Una
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Re: Resurrection of an 83 Rabbit 1.6....Maybe...Hopefully

Post by Una »

The fuel mileage will suffer because of that automatic. Kind of ominous to see the timing belt removed and the valve cover still fully bolted down. I'd just assume the valves are bent.
Great looking Rabbit.
'81 Diesel Rabbit
'88 Dodge Omni
DrAnonymous
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Re: Resurrection of an 83 Rabbit 1.6....Maybe...Hopefully

Post by DrAnonymous »

Well the cover is off because of me. When I found my dead rabbit, the timing belt was in the engine compartment and it was not broken. Its hard to say if they were having injector pump issues or what. I've learned the intermediate shaft flange is broken off, but I don't know if that's something you'd notice without taking the timing belt off (ie noise when running). I'm hoping to do a compression or leak down test this weekend. Crossing my fingers that its ok.
fj40dave
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Re: Resurrection of an 83 Rabbit 1.6....Maybe...Hopefully

Post by fj40dave »

Nice looking project!

I think you'll really enjoy it once you fix it up, and know all about it :D
DrAnonymous
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Re: Resurrection of an 83 Rabbit 1.6....Maybe...Hopefully

Post by DrAnonymous »

It LIVES!!!! :D

Last weekend a buddy came over and we tinkered around and we were able to get it to start and idle. We both had big grins. Before we could do that, we had to do some prep work:

- Figure out what the strange button in the ash tray did, as it was wired into the battery and the starter circuit.
- Verify I had set the timing correctly (used him to verify I didn't mess anything up)
- Test the starter and make sure it was ok, with glow plugs out
- Connected the 60amp fuse lines together, since the box that goes on the firewall is missing (temporary, till I get the box or insert an inline fuse)
- Get a battery (didn't want to commit to this, till I was pretty sure I had a chance)
- Get some diesel and hookup my homemade fuel bottle I made for my motorcycle for the sync'ing the carbs
- Pray....wait...pray...

Turns out the button, was a bypass for the ignition switch. I have no idea why someone would want it, other than restarting the engine while the key was on. The ignition switch appears fine and I put everything back to stock. Unfortunately, one of the mounting ears on the starter is broken, but it was good enough for testing. The starter solenoid probably needs to be replaced, as the starter didn't always engage properly, there was a slight click at times.

We tried about 4 or 5 times, and were able to get it to start and then idle. Since I have no water pump or cooling system hooked up right now, I only idled it for about a minute. We waited about 30 minutes and then just to make sure it wasn't a fluke, we started it again. :)

I discovered a bunch of electrical issues that need dealing with. I've got pictures to post in a bit.
coke

Re: Resurrection of an 83 Rabbit 1.6....Maybe...Hopefully

Post by coke »

Fast plugs take a 50 amp fuse, not 60. The slow I believe uses a 40 amp fuse. 12 amps per fast plug, and 9 per slow.

Glad to hear you got it started. My VWs have always had an after start lockout, meaning, you can't engage the starter once you've already tried to do it once. Probably why they had the bypass button, so when the starter failed to engage (due to the solenoid issue you previously spoke of) they could engage it again without having to turn the key off and back on.

Glad to hear it runs. The automatic transmissions weren't much count though, so I wouldn't expect a fabulous life out of it. :P
DrAnonymous
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Re: Resurrection of an 83 Rabbit 1.6....Maybe...Hopefully

Post by DrAnonymous »

So, this weekend was spent getting some of the electric operational, including some tidy up on the dash.

- Heater fan switch only worked on two speeds
- No overhead light
- Faded needles in instrument cluster
- No left turn signals
- No high beams
- Emergency flasher was nearly impossible to switch
- No windshield wipers

The thing that fixed the majority of the issues was removing the switch or related assembly and cleaning it well with CRC electrical contact cleaner. Thanks to the age of this car, most switches can be fully taken apart with some patience. So for the flasher rocker switch, I pulled it completely apart and cleaned the contacts and then used some silicone dielectric for lubricant, then reassembled. Works just like new and has a smooth on/off now.

The light switch had a bent armature, where someone had rotated it too far CCW. I bent it back where it belonged, which makes it stop at overhead light on with full instrument cluster brightness.

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I dismantled the instrument gauge and removed the dead moth and cleaned things. I also painted the needles a bright orange. The clock got a red paint job, just to be 'artsy'. One thing I didn't think of was that the lighting was all overhead, not like a modern gauge where the light is typically dispersed throughout via using clear plastic with a transparent color (a light pipe concept). That meant, the red disappeared completely and the orange was pretty muted with the green lighting. I pulled it all back out and put white 'tips' and a line to accentuate things. Looks and works much better. You can see one of my little helpers too. :)

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Fatmobile
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Re: Resurrection of an 83 Rabbit 1.6....Maybe...Hopefully

Post by Fatmobile »

Ahhh great help.
It's good for kids to see things taken apart,..
and put back together.
See how things work.
'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.
DrAnonymous
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Re: Resurrection of an 83 Rabbit 1.6....Maybe...Hopefully

Post by DrAnonymous »

Well, after a small break (3 months.......) I've got my parts and the motivation to get things finished with this car. A friend and I put on a new starter and right engine mount last weekend. I got the water pump and hoses on last night. Time to time the timing belt and put on the rest of the parts.
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