Picking up my 78 Rabbit this weekend

[DutchVDub]

So since just before I left for Iraq my 78 Rabbit has been sitting behind a friends' garage in his backyard. Well I finally got things arranged and I'll be picking it up and bringing it into my garage this weekend. Its deteriorated quite a bit in the last 3yrs (parked it March06) and unfortunately my said friend decided to throw away the seats. This wouldn't bother me but I found out that in 1978 my car having a red interior (dash, seats, and all) made it a rather rare car. It was a special edition that was white w/ red interior and white rims. So now it'll be fairly impossible to find another set of red seats that are correct for the car. The dash is trashed too, but luckily I got ahold of Andy Moss (guy has a private VW junkyard) and will soon have a good condition replacement. Unfortunately it'll be black and not red.
old pics:

And what it should eventually resemble:

 

[Kiefer316]

Heck yeah... I think im gonna get one. I actually like the look of em all fixed up all nice and what not.

 

[YELLAHEEP]

Please tell me you'll have better taste in wheel offset and tire size....... That Polizei rig looks like it should run in the Cinco de Mayo parade with those freakin' rims..... uke:

Whatcha gonna do with it? Did ya get an Audi sold yet?

 

[DutchVDub]

Specs on the car are as follow:

1978 VW Rabbit C
1.7L fuel injected (thats right, no carbs for this fancy guy) 4cyl engine producing 78hp at 5500rpm (according to my original 1977 sales brochure)
4spd FWD transaxle
9" solid front rotor disc brakes w/ rear drums
boosterless brake master cylinder (just need strong legs)
no power steering
no rear wiper
no rear defrost
no a/c
no cruise control
basically no options

last time i drove it i was averaging 40mpg w/ a city/highway mix. there is something to be said about not having options and weighing only around 1000lbs.

 

[YELLAHEEP]

Damn, I bet you boys got ALL the girlies when you rolled up at the mall sportin' those sick whips....... Oh wait.... there'd be girls in the photo if that were true........ :doh:

:roflmao:

 

[DutchVDub]

Well back when I first bought it for a whopping 500$ and had a 1984 Rabbit GTI for a daily/track car I was hoping to fully restore the car. Its an original from Germany, imported Rabbit so its kind of rare. By 1980 (didn't come to North America until 1976 or 77) all VW Rabbit's were made in Westmorland, PA by lazy americans that ruined VW's reputation and sales. Its pretty sad when the build quality on North American VW's was greatly improved by transfering over to a plant in Mexico.

Anyways, with it being as rotted and worn out as it is now and with the pre-1980 parts being harder and more expensive to come by i'll probably skip on a full 100% restoration. It'll probably be more of a stripped out Auto-X car/ Polezei replica fun mobile. I'm going to keep the 4spd (add in a limited slip) but probably swap in my high compression 1.8L GTI motor. I might also go with a dual side-draft carb setup or maybe a Mega-Squirt electronic fuel injection using 4 individual throttle bodies. Its getting a minimum 4point cage.

One thing I've been dreaming of though for a long time is a turbocharged VR6 swap with the motor and transaxle in the rear. I might do that eventually too, not sure. I just want to get the rust fixed and start driving it again first.

 

[DutchVDub]

There are girls that like VW's

 

[YELLAHEEP]

There are girls that like VW's

Just not YOUR VW.......... :laugh3:

(Rebuttal post from JohnJohn in 3...2...1...... )

I keep forgetting - I gotta scan that pic of the "custom" Rabbit I built several years ago........ I'll post it up when I get home in the morning. :thumbup:

 

[DutchVDub]

I'm also thinking of going side draft carbs in homage to the aircooled scene. It'll also probably be dumped about as low as this guys for a time, especially while its still all super rusty:

I can't remember his name as I haven't been on the MK1 forum in years, but he actually had to raise his engine.

 

[Kiefer316]

How the hell would you get a jack under that thing?

 

[YELLAHEEP]

Diesel Rabbit pick up.......

http://denver.craigslist.org/cto/1168893194.html

Secksy green interior........

http://fortcollins.craigslist.org/cto/1169991533.html

VR6 swap.......

http://denver.craigslist.org/cto/1163578857.html

Here's another VW bone yard in Erie.......

http://denver.craigslist.org/cto/1180035176.html

 

[DutchVDub]

Thats two junkyards in Erie. Maybe Erie is just some hidden source of VW heaveness. I'll have to check that out though, my buddy has a 66 Bug he is working on.

 

[YELLAHEEP]

Here's the "custom" Rabbit I owned for all of about 48 hours. Donated for an attraction at a Cop's cars exclusive charity car show........ I called it "Whack-a-Rabbit"...... The neighbor kid painted it.......... :laugh3:

Before:

After:

 

[Stang5lgt]

My wife's step dad has one of these.

http://images.google.com/imgres?img...ox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&sa=N&um=1

 

[Stang5lgt]

And what happened to S10 V8 project? You change your mind as much as a woman.

 

[DutchVDub]

I've already got a V8 truck, its just a Silverado. Basically I already owned the Rabbit, I've owned it for 4 yrs now actually. I've also been helping my friend work on his 66 bug and it kind of got me back into the old VW thing. Granted this is a watercooled car, but its the original watercooled car and used to be sold right next to the Bug. And again, I already own it.

 

[DutchVDub]

Troy, I should probably go to your house and shoot you with your own gun. That Rabbit was a first year Westmoorland. Meaning it was the first year to come out of the Westmoorland, PA factory here in the USA. That makes it a rather rare specimen and the front fenders, grill, and headlights are rather sought after because they are so unique.

 

[DutchVDub]

How the hell would you get a jack under that thing?

Its on air bags man.

 

[Stang5lgt]

Just teasing ya. You could have a different project each week and you would still not be as bad as my buddy back in Iowa. He up to 25 cars and trucks now. LOL

 

[DutchVDub]

Got her back in the house yesterday afternoon, and then this morning I started removing the glass in prep for stripping the body and doing the rust repair. From what I can tell the rear window and the two rear pieces of side glass are original. They all say VW/AUDI and SEKURIT, there is also nothing about being made in USA like my VW/AUDI windscreen. The glass in the two doors also match the rear three windows. I managed to save the seals on the rear side glass, but the windscreen and rear window seals were trashed. The windscreen was already broken too so it went the way of the dumpster.

possible original glass:

The channels for the glass are in pretty good shape with only a bit of surface rust on the bottom edges:

Unfortunately the rear corners and arches are fracked:

The German print on the vacuum diagram:

Older style Audi badge and the infamous 1.6L designation on the cyl head casting: