'84 Rabbit, 4 door, with AC and sunroof

[Fatmobile]

The '84 is my favorite because of all the extras that earlier Rabbits didn't have,.. they saved the best for last.
It has the plastic front fender liners like those found in later cabbys.
The AC dash even if AC isn't used has the best vent arrangement and can be modded to give heat out the side vents.
The bumper spacers look sharp.
There is some really fat formed-foam sound deadening behind the dash of the '84.
...and I do like a sunroof on a nice day.
A friend had this body in his garage for a parts car. I've been helping him keep his Rabbit running so he gave me this body.

Another friend gave me a hoop building frame to help keep the city off my back and I bought a used billboard to cover it. So much nicer than working outside even though it isn't heated.


The engine is out of the old Fatmobile it died a slow death, no catastophic failure, so it was a good one to start with. I have been collecting parts for this engine rebuild for years. Got a super deal on bearings at a swap meet, 1st oversize Brazilian Mahle pistons were priced right, and my machine shop treats me real good. So the bottom end is all rebuilt.
When it came time to rebuild the head the shop told me it needs new valves and giudes. Ive been pulling my heads apart before bringing them in. Basically all they had to do was install new guides and grind the seats. About $100 in parts but he didn't charge me anything for work because he doesn't have internet and I'm helping him find 1.9 heads for his vanagon.


I'm just going through the pics in the order I hosted them. Next is a pic of the engine that came out of the car. #4 exhaust had a huge amount of carbon build up:
Staged, some fell out before the pic and I set it back in, ha.

Made sure to get a pic of the peddle powered generator in the background

The exhaust manifold shows it better:


I couldn't get a feeler gauge under the exhaust shim on that cylinder so maybe it was caused by a valve being held open.
Even though they put an 11mm head on a 12mm block. The head looks freshly rebuilt.

The body is very solid.

The pinchweld behind the front wheel is a common problem area but it's just a little bent-up on this car.

Here's how I got it home:
I built an old metal bumper into a towbar.


I can drive there with it on the front of my car, then swap bumpers and pull the Rabbit home.


The worst rust is on the rear, near the spare tire and exhaust:

Nothing structural.

Here's the other pinch weld:

[CarlosA]

Nice pics/project. I also appreciate the later models extras and more parts available, etc. Would an early front end bolt onto an 83-84? I can't do without the round headlights.

[Fatmobile]

The early front can be welded on. I do like the round headlights,.. mostly because you can make it quad round and have the extra lighting for high beam.
Made a mistake. I should have taken the time to helicoil the rear main seal carrier before installing.
I also should have put those 2 bolts in before the trany,.. so I stripped one out and had to pull the trany clutch, cover.
Well they are helicoiled now and lessons relearned.

I flushed all the crud from the brake system, pulled the calipers apart, cleaned/inspected, new bolt bushings.
I have all the parts for the rear: the drums are turned/painted, new bearings, shoes, springs, wheel cylinders, e-brake cables.
I'll probably pull the rear shocks while it's still hanging but I'm about to set this thing back down on the ground.
And almost all of the engine work is done,..
just the small fuel lines between the injectors
and coolant hoses
starter and front mount
radiator
alternator.

I can't find a driver's seat, or even a seat base for that side.
,I have about 4 passenger seats.,
Gonna be hard to test drive, sitting on a crate, ha.

[Fatmobile]

It's running and plated but I have some more work to do on it before I can put it on the road.

I upraded some of the engine bay wiring. Here's the bracket for the headlight relay.

In the lower left is the seatbelt lockout relay socket, from a '80 Rabbit I think. It has room for 2 relays.

Worst of the bodywork:

You can see the bubbling paint to the left. All that metal had to be removed.

From underneath:


Inside the wheelwell:

[Fatmobile]

Here's a pic of the rust repair,
I've gotten farther than this, thought I took more pics.

That's all hand hammered stainless, covered in self etching primer.

[Fatmobile]

I've been test driving it and working the bugs out.
Dash lights work now, heater fan lever was hard to move.
Speedometer/odometer are working.

I took a sharp right turn into my yard yesterday and it killed on me.
The rubber hose in the tank had gotten brittle so I did some surgery.
It's a ship-in-a-bottle kind of job and only the second time I've done it,.. seeems like it went faster/easier last time, ha.
Also found out why fuel was draining back to the tank after sitting; the barb on the filter banjo had a gash in it that let air past. I hope that was the only leak.

The aftermarket locking fuel cap had the wrong key.
Finally got it off and put a few gallons in, taking note where the gauge sat after each gallon.
The red area represents 1-2 gallons.
I made the cap match the key.

I found an old block to intake hose and made a block vent.

Backed-off and retorqued the headbolts until I felt them start to stretch.

Oil changed.
I will try to take/post some pics.

[Fatmobile]

New windshield wipers and the sprayer is working.
Joe: if you read this, I lost your number... leave it in next message.

[CarlosA]

I`m kinda wondering about your tow setup. Both of my rabbits are setup to tow but i`m not sure about the safety, would like to see what you think.

The new one I got is fine, it has an aftermarket RV style setup that bolts to the frame. My old rabbit is just bolted through the bumper, are those spring things strong enough to tow? The rear bumper on one of the rabbits has a hitch as well, but again with the spring bumper things. I would like to take one rabbit to pick up the next one I have my eye on.

[Fatmobile]

Yeah, I had a trailer hitch that just bolts to the bumper and have friends with them.
I probably have a post of my trailer hitch setup around here somewhere.
There is a bar bolted to the tow hooks that runs below the bumper and supports the hitch.
So it's not relying just on the strength of the bumper shocks.

My tow bar is also welded to the car side of the bumper shocks, near where they bolt to the frame.

One thing that does concern me about towing like this is some pics I saw on the vortex. With no real control of the steering wheel in the following car;
a strong side wind can set it into an oscilation, swinging from left to right.
It can also push you when you go to turn,
so slow down for turns.
Tire alignment scheduled for tomorrow.
Joe got the windshield ordered.