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