My 1.7TD Rabbit GTI project.

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Moderator: Fatmobile

Fatmobile
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Posts: 7564
Joined: Wed Oct 30, 2002 10:28 pm
Location: north central Iowa

Re: My 1.7TD Rabbit GTI project.

Post by Fatmobile »

Exactly, I've been leary about runing it up to full temp because of this.
I am using the rabbit radiator hoses.
I did clear that port on the radiator,.. but it wouldn't take much to plug it again.
I think that rad port is where they put the restrictor in the Rabbit. At least on the A2 upper rad hose setup; I could put a filter before the restrictor.
They try to limit the amount of coolant/air flowing into the resevoir,.. but a fresh engine, that hasn't been flushed properly could plug it easily.
I usually put water in and drive, then drain.
I usually do that a couple times, then flush with filtered water a couple times.
Then fill with fresh antifreeze.
This time it was too cold to risk putting water in it
so I put some used/filtered coolant in.
'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.
Fatmobile
Global Moderator
Posts: 7564
Joined: Wed Oct 30, 2002 10:28 pm
Location: north central Iowa

Re: My 1.7TD Rabbit GTI project.

Post by Fatmobile »

OK, I found the problem with the non-draining resevoir.

I used my easy-drain to drain the block,.. and the resevoir didn't empty.
I had put some blue masking tape over the metal pipe, where the resevoir drain hose connects, so crap woulodn't fall in it while I was working on stuff. I must have grabbed the hose and connected it without seeing the taped end.

I checked the injection pump for internal pressure today, it has some.
Starts/runs great, lots of power and the turbo has a great whine.

Some more electrical work to do
The control arms look so bent up, I should find a better set or some new ones.
The rear interior can be put in place now, but I need to do some floor repair before I can put the front carpet in.
'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.
Fatmobile
Global Moderator
Posts: 7564
Joined: Wed Oct 30, 2002 10:28 pm
Location: north central Iowa

Re: My 1.7TD Rabbit GTI project.

Post by Fatmobile »

I got alot done on the 2-door these last couple days.

The control arms were all bent up, someting I threw on to get it moving.
so.. while they were off I took care of the bent-up floor rail:
Image
Image

it used to be a trailer queen and it looks like the ramps were too steep.

While the wheels were off the ground I tried using the dasher strut bushing in the old school strut cap, where the strut attaches to the body:
Image
The metal spacer bushing needs to be shorter, about 4mm,.. or I'll get banging noises on bumps.
If that metal bushing isn't there, the bearings will take all the forcr of the nut being tightened.

Image
Then there is the gap between the bearing and cap, that needs to be filled.
So when the top nut is put on, it will squeeze the metal bushing/spacer.

I messed up the trany reverse on the AGS I had in there,..
so I spent some of last week making tools to pull a trany apart.
Here's what the reverse gear looked like:
Image
a little ground up on the top.

and here's the reverse idler:
Image
alot ground up on the top.
There was a chunk of ice inside the trany, that wouldn't allow it to fully shift into reverse.
I pulled a reverse gear and idler from a bucket of 4-speed parts I'm glad I kept.

1 tire keeps losing air, that gets fixed and it should get on the road into town for a tire alignment.
'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.
Fatmobile
Global Moderator
Posts: 7564
Joined: Wed Oct 30, 2002 10:28 pm
Location: north central Iowa

Re: My 1.7TD Rabbit GTI project.

Post by Fatmobile »

The windshield is cracked so that needs replaced.

The dash also needs to come off:
it has holes in it
the sound deadener and carpet needs to be installed so the heater box has to come out
and because it's maroon,...I found a nice dark blue one in the pile.

and it's pretty easy to put it back on when the windshield is out so it's time to get all this done.
'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.
Fatmobile
Global Moderator
Posts: 7564
Joined: Wed Oct 30, 2002 10:28 pm
Location: north central Iowa

Re: My 1.7TD Rabbit GTI project.

Post by Fatmobile »

Got all that stuff done,.. and took it for a tire alignment.
It drives a little rough,.. found a full set of NOS boge progas and neuspeed lowering springs for $50 locally. I like the ride it's just different than the high-riders I'm usually driving.
Only problem I'm having is the clutch slips in 3rd,.. and in 4th at 7psi,.. and thermostat seems to run a little low..
Otherwise it runs great.

I fixed the reverse problem in the AGS so I'll probably do the clutch when that trany goes in,..
the ACH seems to run at noticably higher RPM on the interstate.
'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.
Fatmobile
Global Moderator
Posts: 7564
Joined: Wed Oct 30, 2002 10:28 pm
Location: north central Iowa

Re: My 1.7TD Rabbit GTI project.

Post by Fatmobile »

Pics of the car:
Interior shot. The dash was maroon but I had a nice blue one that goes better with the gray.
Image
Old Blue lives on in other cars,.. organ donor of the door cards, driver's and rear seat and carpet which I think also go well with the gray.
Might try to install the bow-style headliner from Old Blue too.


Notice the weird rear view mirrors,.. they are Hella.
Image
Image
I spent some time learning how to bend BBS RAs straight and ended up with a whole set.

I'll get some engine bay pics.
'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.
79 300sd
Diesel Freak
Posts: 109
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2009 2:45 pm
Location: Acworth, Ga

Re: My 1.7TD Rabbit GTI project.

Post by 79 300sd »

Fatmobile wrote:Pics of the car:

Image
Image
I spent some time learning how to bend BBS RAs straight and ended up with a whole set.

I'll get some engine bay pics.
Those wheels look great, but would look even better on my car!!!

Did you get around to taking any pics of the engine bay yet?
Fatmobile
Global Moderator
Posts: 7564
Joined: Wed Oct 30, 2002 10:28 pm
Location: north central Iowa

Re: My 1.7TD Rabbit GTI project.

Post by Fatmobile »

I took it into town today.
The clutch seems to be holding better, might have just been some oil on the surface.

Here's a couple lame engine bay pics:
Image
Image

This is my first intercooler. I think I need to break the max fuel screw collar off, can't get any black smoke and I think it should have more power.

The BBS RAs are nice rims but are known to bend easily,.. so I figured they would bend back easily too, ha.
They did.
'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.
Fatmobile
Global Moderator
Posts: 7564
Joined: Wed Oct 30, 2002 10:28 pm
Location: north central Iowa

Re: My 1.7TD Rabbit GTI project.

Post by Fatmobile »

I got a chance to put some brackets in the engine bay.
This one is for the stock TD airbox, it's from a Rabbit gasser battery box, holds the gasser airbox, just happens to fit the mounting pins on a MK1 TD airbox too.

Image


Fuel filter was just banging around in the raintray so that's bolted in now:
Image

I ran all the glow plug and sensor wires inside a plastic cover, just used one path, instead of one coming from the other side of the brake booster.
Also a pic of the windshield washer revesevoir bracket I got mounted today.
...and take note of the Mk3 battery cable upgrade.
Image

...and here's the engine bay from farther back.
Image

Still needs some work on the crankcase vent.

I drove it to town the other day,.. without a toolbox :shock:

Should be a quieter engine bay when I hit bumps,
and with this suspension I feel/hear the bumps.
Nice ride though.
'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.
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