Hey guys, I have an 81 Rabbit with the 1.6 NA and I Have decided to use this motor in another vehicle. I wanted to find a Caddy that was needing an engine but no luck there. What I have found right here in my own town is an 84 Cabriolet not running with the gas engine.
My question is: What do I need to swap my diesel in to this cabrio?
If the engine mounts are the same then I'm assuming all I need to do is swap engines and all relative hardware to the diesel.
Also the Cabrio is an automatic and my rabbit is a 5 speed. I want to keep the 5 Speed so How hard is it to swap the pedal assy. and shifter?
I'm going to keep looking at posts to figure this out but if anyone could point me in the right direction fairly quick, I would appreciate it. Going to look at the cabrio tonight.
there shouldn't be much trouble swapping everything over. both of those cabriolets use the rabbit mk1 platform, so the mounts will be the same, although the diesel ones might be a little stronger to accomodate the extra vibration. if you're anal, you might want to swap over the cluster for the glow plug light, and the diesel only for the fuel gauge, but its not required.
having a complete car to do the swap is real nice!
Bought the Cabby. Gonna see whats wrong with the gasser before I get started swapping. I've found out alot of info after more research. Thanks to all who post on here. Seems i'll need new fuel lines and I'll need to remove the external fuel pump. Can I take the fittings off of my fuel lines at the filter and shove some new lines on to them? Any how still wondering about the pedal assy.
And yes it seems nice that i have a donor car except that it was My very first car and I rescued it from the woods where I parked it so many years ago. Kinda bittersweet really but still looking forward to the convertible.
Okay...after reading a post by master acid I see the cluster is pretty easy to swap, The steering rack has got to swap...for the best anyway imo. And the radiator. No need to worry about the flywheel because I'm leaving the whole thing together.
Please post a build thread with lots of pictures and details of what kind of trouble you run into. This is something that I have wanted to do for the last couple years. Here is the one concern that I have had. I notice that when I run my 86 Diesel Golf down the road with the rear hatch open, the diesel fumes from the exhaust pipe come into the cabin area of the car really bad. I am wondering if the same would happen in a convertible? Let us know!
AND GOOD LUCK!!!!!
If your golf was a gasser you would smell gas fumes because the large open hole in the back of your car creates a vacum when the air rushes around the side of your car. I don't expect to smell anymore fumes than I would if I fixed the gasser and left it in there. I will take pics and post them. And I'm sure I'll be back on here with any issues I have. Hope to have it pretty much done by the end of this next week.
the swap itself would be a no brainer, as nothing would have to be modified. all of the motor mounts will be the same, the exhaust manifold should bolt right up, and you need to remove a few things. gotta get rid of whatever ecu is there along with wiring, the fuel pumps, and you're golden. cut out the diesel restrictor thingey at the fuel filler. run a couple new fuel lines and wires to your injection pump, and enjoy. I did a swap with a 1.6 from a rabbit into a mk2 jetta. the only difference is that I had to cut the ps motor mount, because they are different in a mk2. even used the jetta's ACN 5 spd, and didnt even have to touch the clutch.
http://www.vwdiesel.net/forum/index.php?topic=19324.0