'84 Rabbit, 4 door, with AC and sunroof
Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2012 10:32 pm
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:
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: