'79 Rabbit L TDI

[drrtybyl]

my ghetto welded downpipe

[Rabbit on Roids]

the d/p is temporary right? that flex section is grossly restrictive, it goes down to around 1" in places.

[drrtybyl]

the d/p is temporary right? that flex section is grossly restrictive, it goes down to around 1" in places.

Ya... My goal at this point is just to get the car drivable.

[dbk]

put some fuel in a bottle and run a line from it directly to the pump and try that. it's easy to do and will eliminate your fuel supply system. crack your injector lines while it's running and see if the cylinders drop out if they are all firing your black and white smoke is probably injection timing   

[drrtybyl]

prothe door handle fail:

At least my old handle was in decent shape and I was able to slug in the new lock. Hey, $15 for new chrome inserts and a matching set of locks still isn't a bad deal.

Let the carnage begin!

[Rabbit on Roids]

seeing that last pic, i would run far, far away from that mess of medusa...

[drrtybyl]

So I was able to get everything organized and tagged - and it's all ready to go into the car, but now I'm seriously considering going mTDI instead.  I'm liking the idea of mTDI because:
-Cluster swap is extra work/fab. The mTDI setup wouldn't have a tach, but the speedo would still work, and there are aftermarket tachs a plenty.  Swapping to the TDI cluster means getting a unit to convert speedometer output from my dinky old 5sp
-No pedal swap/throttle cable removal
-Lots of work left to port the fuse box into th car

I'm thinking I'll go ahead and continue with the electronics transplant -- going back is always possible.


Going to use the one on the right or the stock TDI IC.  The Volvo IC isn't going to fit without serious core support/panel cutting.

[drrtybyl]

13 years: time for some updates  Thanks for keeping the forum alive- it's a great resource for these cars.

[fatmobile]

He's baaack Ha ha,
 How's it running?

[ORCoaster]

Hopefully he doesn't post one of those pictures where the car is abandoned and the windows are broken out and the entire interior is trashed and one big happy mold factory. 

Although he could slap a sign on it that says Ran when Parked, 7,000 dollars.

[oblique]

Bump. would like to see it as well.

[RabbitJockey]

hell yeah lets see another mtdi on the road.

[drrtybyl]

To shorten this car's last decade-plus: after mostly putting everything back together, it became obvious that the junkyard IP also needed a rebuild, so this project went mTDI: the pump options were also much cheaper. I started with somebody's modded AAZ pump from ebay.



I ended up overhauling the head, re-ringing the block and getting injectors rebuilt with .216 nozzles. Turbo is K03 with manual control set to top around 20psi -- usually only sees 12-15. It's a large go kart that gets 40mpg+ flooring it. The best part of driving this car is how it continues pulling at the top end of 3rd and 4th under full boost. I'll add more photos of the rest of the build as I find them

Here's a random blurry shot of my 1.5 IP next to a Rover pump in 2012. it's hard to believe that a running 200tdi pump shipped from the UK in 2012 was a little over $200



A move put this project on hold but I gained garage space, where it sat and wouldn't ultimately make it onto the road for a while. At this point nearly everything has been replaced or rebuilt except the 020 [fingers crossed]. Brakes, suspension, fuel system, interior, etc, with other things still to replace (AC condenser).

Wish I'd had the following mTDI mk1 swap tl;dr (all documented in detail on this forum/tdiclub):

-PS engine mount is easily fabricated chopping down a stock mk1 mount
-Rover pumps need the IDI pump mounting bracket widened to fit hub. Use/mod an IDI rear mounting bracket
-Rover pump timing may not correspond to the AHU hub
-EGR mess should easily be deleted via blockoff plate
-mk1 pump throttle cable bracket needs chopping for the Rover pump
-downpipe may interfere with the 020 shift linkage- not sure how others handle this? For this car, reclocking the turbo and refactoring the downpipe wouldn't have created enough room. Here's the ~3" linkage offset I made to be able to shift into 5th on my F0 020

[drrtybyl]

More recently: in case you wanted to see what a leaking wolfsburg-made mk1 golf brake rear proportioning valve looks like










These are apparently unobtainable nowadays? Rebuild kit, part number, replacement, or workshop manual documentation are mysterious. A bunch of teflon tape at each connection seems to have fixed the leak for now. Future failure will probably result in swapping out with one of the many manual/non-suspension contingent aftermarket options

[drrtybyl]

Brakes were getting really soft