Author Topic: My '82 rabbit build (Read 6223 times)

JunkcollectorJ · « **on:** October 15, 2007, 10:33:44 am »

I've been working on putting an '82 rabbit TD together for a few months now, so I figured I'd post up a build page.

My friend Justin (Greasecar) gave me this project in the spring. He had put a lot of time into the car already, having done a lot of body work and stripped most of the interior out. He also swapped in a TD.

This was from the day I picked the car up:

Shortly after picking the car up I started in on more body work. I had an '81 rabbit in the driveway already, and decided to strip parts from that to put this new car together. First was a door swap because my '81 doors were pretty nice, and close to rust free:

Then I did a lot of sanding and used a dremel to clean up all the spot welds around the windshield frame that had any rust pitting. I also did some rust repair under the car near the control arm mount by cutting and removing, and welding in new metal.

Next I removed all the suspension, front and rear. I replaced shocks, struts, control arms, bushings, ball joints, and added some H&R springs.

Soon after I found a good deal on a used intercooler. I made mounts for it, and then trimmed the radiator support as much as needed to make it fit. I also mocked up some tubing. The set up works well, however all the pipe and hoses will be changed, this set up was just put together with stuff I had laying around. I will re-do it with silicon couplers and aluminum pipe.

Next was installing the headlight buckets. This car used to have squares, and only part of the round light support was used on this car, so the buckets are a bit custom...I welded them in, but I think they came out decent.

Now the car is still in process. I'm still sanding and doing a bit more body work, and am impatiently waiting for paint...which should happen on the 27th if all goes well. After paint I will put a lot of effort into re-assembly and get this things on the road as soon as I can!

J

JunkcollectorJ · « **Reply #1 on:** October 31, 2007, 09:20:17 am »

A lot more progress, after 20+ hours of work on it over the weekend.

I'll let the pics do the talking, but I completely sanded the entire car...DA, prime, Fill, DA, Prime, wet sand, epoxy prime, paint, etc...it was a lot of work, but well worth it. For my first big body work project, I'm happy with the results. I have plenty of buffing to do on the car, but it'll look decent.

Next will be re-assembly of the car. I have parts in the mail, and as soon as they get here I'll be moving forward more. Until then, I'm working on getting the dash back in and the wiring sorted out.

Vanagoner · « **Reply #2 on:** October 31, 2007, 09:48:52 am »

A lot of work there- nice to see the old ones being saved. I'm doing that with my westy which I rescued from Minnesota. Takes time, but worth doing especially when the car isn't too far gone.

fuslit · « **Reply #3 on:** October 31, 2007, 10:06:28 am »

I always loved that paint color and it looks like you're doing an awesome job so far.

The car is gonna look even better when your finished.

-Todd

Op-Ivy · « **Reply #4 on:** October 31, 2007, 10:22:53 am »

The colour is very suiting for a rabbit for some reason! Well done!

SMOKEYDUB · « **Reply #5 on:** October 31, 2007, 07:54:20 pm »

cool build man

JunkcollectorJ · « **Reply #6 on:** November 06, 2007, 08:39:27 am »

Thanks for the replies. I'm still working on it, and it's coming along. I unfortunately spent my weekend doing home owner stuff, so not much work on the car...but I did manage to dye the dash and get that ready for install, and I sprayed the hood flat black for now...I'll paint it soon, after I get time to finish straightening it out. Right now I'm going to concentrate on getting the dash in, the glass in, and re-doing my intercooler pipes with the new mandrel bent aluminum pipes that I just picked up.

Greasecar · « **Reply #7 on:** November 06, 2007, 09:50:07 am »

What, no pictures of you and those other two rednecks piled into the car with the cops on your tail? :wink:

I have to say once again how great that color is.

JunkcollectorJ · « **Reply #8 on:** November 06, 2007, 11:07:17 am »

Quote from: "Greasecar"

What, no pictures of you and those other two rednecks piled into the car with the cops on your tail? :wink:

I have to say once again how great that color is.

Yeah, no pics of the cops pulling us over. Apparently he wasn't impressed with 3 guys touring around in the rabbit, with only the drivers seat in, and no glass...doing 3 gear pulls down the street. Needless to say it's parked until I do some more assembly

Yup, I love the color too...seems pretty perfect for the car, and it's awesome how different it looks in different light.

JunkcollectorJ · « **Reply #9 on:** November 09, 2007, 08:48:52 am »

I installed my new intercooler pipes last night. I went with 2" mandrel bent aluminum...looks much better than the cobbed together exhaust tubing I was using. I'm sure it flows a lot better too. I'm really happy with how it came out, but I still need a couple more new silicon pieces and need to re-plumb fuel lines that are all over the place.

Excuse the lack of paint in the engine bay...eventually I'll get that painted to match the rest of the car.

old tubing:

new tubing:

Greasecar · « **Reply #10 on:** November 09, 2007, 02:26:02 pm »

Lookin good Jay! I sent that other intake manifold back up with mark that has the 90 degree port which you sould be able to swap out for that rubber elbow. Looks like you got rid of the jumper wires too.

What do you have in mind for the intake?

JunkcollectorJ · « **Reply #11 on:** November 09, 2007, 03:04:46 pm »

Quote from: "Greasecar"

Lookin good Jay! I sent that other intake manifold back up with mark that has the 90 degree port which you sould be able to swap out for that rubber elbow. Looks like you got rid of the jumper wires too.

What do you have in mind for the intake?

Thanks! Yeah, the 90 degree intake would be sweet, I'll swap that out when I get that.

Yup, attempted to loose the jumper wires...but still sorting that out...I'll get it, or just rewire it.

The intake...well, that's a secret

Current idea is to put it where the old ac exchanger was...in the rain tray, under the hood vents, for a clean look.

JunkcollectorJ · « **Reply #12 on:** December 11, 2007, 11:56:34 am »

Just a quick update...
I've been working on re-assembling the car, which is a bit of a process, but it's coming along. I'm currently trying to insulate my garage, so that's been taking time away from the car. Anyway, I found a burnt wiring harness, so that slowed me down some, but I'm working on getting that all sorted out and replacing some wires. The interior is coming along now too. Here are some progress pics.

I also cobbed in a boost controller. I used a pressure regulator from an air line. It's probably not the best set up, and it's tough to dial in because of it's high pressure range, but it seems to work. I just plumbed it in line between the turbo and wastegate. Anyone see any problems with that set up? It seems to work fine so far, but I've only driven it a few miles. I currently have it set around 15 psi and it seems to behave fine (comes up to that pressure and stays here, according to my boost gauge).

J

RabbitJockey · « **Reply #13 on:** December 11, 2007, 09:40:21 pm »

air pressure regulator is fine, thats all a boost controller is, like you said though the only issue is that its very sensitive

JunkcollectorJ · « **Reply #14 on:** March 30, 2010, 11:17:14 am »

So much has changed with the car, hard to figure out where to start.

Got the hillclimb bug, so started running my little TD on the hills. It's a blast, even in a diesel rabbit. Can't believe I never did it earlier.

I've done a ton of stuff to the car since i last posted, but I'll just give a run down of the diesel specific stuff I've installed or changed:

-lowest temp T stat I could find
-new H2O pump
-Dual scirocco fan set up
-removed the front mount intercooler (didn't like having it sandwiched with the radiator, felt like both were running hotter than they should)
-Installed a top mount intercooler
-built a naca duct-like scoop in the hood to feed the intercooler
-built and installed 2.5" downpipe
-trying a k14 this year

the turbo spools instantly. It's probably not any more powerful that it was before, but the power/torque curves have moved so it's much different to drive. I really like it, can't wait to get it finished and get some more seat time.

Pics are better than words