My 1982 TD

[BlackTieTD]

1982 Volkswagen Rabbit Diesel L

Engine: 1.6L Turbo Diesel, MF Code (no modifications except mix of mkI/mkII parts, or missing parts)
Transmission: FF, original (1st 3.45, 2nd 1.94, 3rd 1.29, 4th 0.97, 5th 0.76, R&P 3.89)
Weight: ~1800Ibs
Built: Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania; Tuesday, August 25, 1981

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LAST UPDATED SATURDAY, JUNE 9, 2007
I put up this post to document some of the changes to the car that I have made, it has been reorganized to detail changes to the car in reverse chronological order.


Spring 2007
May 2007
- installed an 83-84 rabbit/jetta turbo diesel intake and airbox with factory air intake shroud
- installed a mkI diesel upper timing belt cover
- rerouted the crank case vent so it no longer goes to the intake
- installed 1.5L diesel valve cover and oil cap
- replaced vacuum line from intake to LDA (3rd time its ripped, brand new line)
- removed all remaining wiring associated with the transmission including upshift/tach relay
- efforts to continually improve on the relatively reliable electrical system: routed all wiring through one grommet hole into the engine bay as one wiring loom, soldered and sealed longer wires with new connectors for the engine's sensors and the fuel solenoid, eliminated all wiring connectors except the four main 10-pin harness connectors, -ongoing-- next: going to reduce it down to three 10-pin harness connectors (nothing is hard wired, can all still be removed as original)

March 2007
- repaired and simplified the rabbit electrical system for my requirements
- removed associated wiring for: rear wiper motor, rear washer fluid, rear defroster, rear side markers, reverse lights, front washer fluid motor, blower motor, radio, lighter, -ongoing.

Photos from March, 2007:






Winter 2006-07
February 2007
- the winter car wasn't working out so wiring work began on the rabbit
- replaced the starter and negative battery terminal connector
- installed from 1984 GLI: ignition lock cylinder, ignition switch, wiper stalk, steering wheel
- replaced all fuses, all bulbs, many relays, and did a good cleaning and inspection of the entire electrical system

December 2006
- the ignition switch fried and killed the starter, i thought the fusebox/wiring was toast and the car came off the road in favour of a winter car



Summer 2006
August 2006
Wasn't so lucky on August 10th:

- rear ended on the 404 where it meets the 401


Winter 2005-06
December 2005
- new rear brakes, e-brake cables, and wheel bearings (dec 20)
wooo i survived driving this thing down the 401 all winter!  

Photos from April, 2006:






Photos from January 17, 2006:










Fall 2005
- p155/80r13 winter tires mounted on 4.5" wide rabbit steelies
- installed good used blower motor



Summer 2005
I drove the Rabbit until March 2005 but it was getting rough around the edges. Suspension, brakes, wheel bearings. I parked it until July 2005 and drove a rusted-out GTI.
Here it is before it was plated next to the mad-hauler-diesel:


Here are some photos of the GTI in June '05. These were taken during the last major driving trip of its 21 year life:
photo #1 || photo #2

The GTI was nice, peppy for what it was, but it was rotted out, kept breaking. The gas prices didn't hinder my decision either, out came the diesel. I cut up the GTI in the driveway and kept what I needed.

Photos from June 2005:



Then the work began....

Installed parts from '84 GTI:
- front braking system (9.4" vented with Kelsey Hayes calipers)
- front suspension with metal strut caps, poly bushings
- control arms
- axles
- wheel bearing housings (with under 2000km wheel bearings)
- grill & snowflake rims

then
- tan vinyl seats from '81 Caddy
- cut out the US dash brackets and put in black dash with woodgrain strip from late '70s German Rabbit
- filled some holes in the body (rear side markers, rear wiper)
- installed Optima Red Top group 34/78 - 800 cold cranking amps
- oil/filter change, 15w40 & oem filter at 194,000km
- put carpet, bumper on. fixed front signals. improved exhaust flow. improved air intake :lol:
- painted 1st half of the car black (Sept 3+4, '05)


Photos from September 8, 2005:




Fall 2004
Photos from November 2004:




Summer 2004
- interior items removed except for necessities to drive
- small taillights put on


Spring 2004
- 1.5L let go - 1.6TD goes in, thanks to the Dr. (1990 Jetta donor)

- coolant flanges and engine mounts changed for mkI parts
- gasket set replaced incl. headgasket
- rebuilt 0km head
- fuel/oil/air filter
- shift linkage bushing set replaced
- elimination of power steering and air conditioning systems except for extra pulley at harmonic balancer
- retained mkI transmission and hefty starter
- all four cylinders hold 500+psi compression
- previously done to motor: bored .040 over, original turbo replaced with oem unit
- note: exhaust, fuel filter, and air intake were not properly installed. if you're doing this swap and want it done clean find mkI TD parts for these items.
- also put on 14" steelies from 1990 Jetta TD





Winter 2003-04
- plates, insurance
- height adjust Scirocco front seats put in, and rear bench

I purchased this car in December 2003 from the second owner. Its original 1.6L diesel powerplant had been replaced with an earlier 1.5L. After looking it over top to bottom on a hoist I bought it certified.

Photos from December 2003 (first day with car):




Shortly after purchasing the car, I discovered it is a Black Tie Special Edition, one of a limited number offered for one year, 1982 — USA/Canada market.

Classy  :lol:

[mk1vdub]

excellent, sounds great and fairly similar to my mk1 GTD
love to see some more pics!
also I'm just wondering, why did you eliminate the power steering and air conditioning?
as they're two things I'd love to have aon a mk1 as we never got them over here

[BlackTieTD]

i saw your thread about your GTD, very nice  

i wish we could find big van intercoolers easily over here. your's is a nice fitment too.

about the power steering/AC:
with any car, i tend to be obsessed with simplifying the system, and dumping un-needed weight. the less parts there are to break, the better. although peppy, my little TD rabbit does better with less weight to haul around. acceleration, braking, handling... all get better everytime i dump some weight. i don't really mean to eliminate every non-essential system in a car, but that usually happens.

power steering, just don't need it in a sub-2000Ib car. furthermore, i prefer the feeling of the road with manual steering.

AC, only an issue for about 2 months out of the year, and for those months i'd rather cruise with the windows down and the sunroof open anyway.

i'll be eliminating the remainder of the oem heating and ventilation system soon. this, along with eliminating the coolant overflow, will simplify the cooling system and keep the coolant only under the hood (none going into the interior). i plan to work out my own solution for winter heating and windshield de-fogging. normally i only use oem parts, but the mkI HVAC system is garbage.  :cry:

[BlackTieTD]

i've been having some starting issues over the past week. the battery seemed very weak and like it wasn't charging. it would start maybe 1 in 10 times.... 9 in 10 i was stuck jumping it  :?

so i went out a bought an optima red top last night. got the group 34/78 for its higher cold cranking amps (800 vs. 720 in their other batteries), and more reserve and capacity. car fires up immediately now like it should, just hoping its not the charging system at fault. i tried putting the old battery on a charger and that didn't do squat (wouldn't charge to full anyway) so i'm thinking that this new battery will solve my issues. it was pricey but worth it in my opinion.

i added a list of needed parts to my original post above.

[Rat407]

Sounds like you got your hands full. It will be one sweet ride when your done.

The down pipe will make a huge difference. At leas it did on my 91 TD Jetta. I had a 2.5" made. With Giles pump and the exhaust opened up the jetta really scoots now.

[BlackTieTD]

thanks for the reply. i just want to get the car setup nicely so i can enjoy it instead of working on it all the time. it will be a process but i'm hoping with a little $ injection the project will move along.

once all the issues are sorted, yeah for sure, giles pump! i know these motors can move with an overhauled pump, and i've got the rabbit down under 1900Ibs now. should be fun.

who made up your 2.5" downpipe?

[Rat407]

A friend of mine made it. He is into the rice burner cars. He made his own intake for his Nissan. Told me he would hook me up with a custom intake if I wanted to go to a T25 turbo. It is something to think about I guess. He also wants to hook my jetta up with an intercooler.  He works at the metal fabrication section here in the Air Force and has a nice set up of his own. He made my down pipe by cutting out pie slices to make the bend. To me a ton of extra work but for him it was no big deal. Once I get it installed I will take some pictures of it. I'm hoping he will be done with it by this weekend.

[BlackTieTD]

wow, those are some fabrication skills i wish i had!

i'm trying to get someone to make me up a 2.5" downpipe for mkI TD but i'm having zero luck so far. i planned to make one myself from mandrel bent pipe but i just can't seem to find the time. [edit] something like this:


yesterday i changed the oil and some other small stuff. i also discovered that the big intake pipe from my GTI works perfectly to move my air filter up into the grill right next to the rad. air intake now gets a direct shot of air through the grill.

[BlackTieTD]

went camping friday night, did some canoeing saturday morning, picked up some rattlecans of black paint on the way home and worked on the diesel until sunday night.



as you can see, i painted the formerly-silver hatch, and everything below the swage line.

going to try to finish the rest of it next weekend... but i'm happy with it for now. the back end looks much better all in one colour.

i was going to go through the process of a proper paint job, my friend offered to shoot the car for me if i prep it... but i'm going to save that for another car we're working on.  :mrgreen:

[BlackTieTD]

i updated the original post with some more info and a bunch of photos.  



engine shots still to come! (i know thats all you guys care about, rightfully so)

[BlackTieTD]

it's tempting:

[BlackTieTD]

scully, you asked me at the last meet what i want to do with the interior.

its not a huge concern for me, as soon as i have a complete interior in there one of my friends will break some plastic clip or one of my dogs will put a claw through a seat  :lol: regardless, i've been trying to pull together some of these pieces. not easy!

[BlackTieTD]

(added Dec '03 pics to original post above)


vs.

vs. (added jan 19th)

[Master ACiD]

whats up with the tail lights. how does one accomplish that?

[BlackTieTD]

master acid, find:
- cabriolet taillights
- female spade connectors/heat shrink tube
- metal sheet to fill two holes
- welder
- grinder
- filler/primer
- paint

mkI rabbits/golfs came this way from the factory 1975 through 1980.