Well, now I have two diesels- I just got an '81 rabbit pickup. Straight, rust-free california truck, 145K mi, pristene bed because of the deluxe camper shell (which I will sell as soon as I clean it up). Has a lot of new parts on it. Curiously, it has a hydraulic lifter head- is that stock for that year? it's too dirty to see the block code yet. anyway- just sharing the news. I'll have more questions in IDI- the head was a new replacement 10K ago but never got retourqued (per instructions of the installer) so the H.G. went out on it. Everything else looks good.
I'll get some "before" pictures up. It is very dirty and neglected. was sitting in an industrial park here, I left a note on it a few months ago. it was never "on the market"- he just got tired of the project.
It's a 4-spd, The timing belt is tracking halfway off the pump sprocket, there's oil in the coolant, she's a beauty. paid $600 (that's about $450 canadian
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Hey Tyler, did '81's come with hydraulic lifter engines, or is this likely a replacement?
Sweet it sounds just like mine, except it was a swapped 5 speed and TD. Blown head gasket as well :lol: and also $600.
Hydraulic lifters were not introduced in north america in diesels until 1986 AFAIK
