Hey everyone,
My name is Jack, and I hail from south of the border (Wisconsin). I'm currently a student at the University of Wisconsin Whitewater, and I've been messing with Volkswagens for about 5 years. I've had a bajillion in those 5 years, mostly mk1s, but all gassers. I've finally got my greasy paws on a nice '82 diesel, hence the joining of your fine forum.
The car: (sorry for the grainy pictures, if it would stop raining here I would snap some decent ones)
The story of the car goes like this: my friend traded his '71 bay window bus for two diesels, this rabbit and a '91 Jetta TD. He had just picked up an '82 diesel rabbit the week before, so he sold me this one. According to the previous owner(who's owned the car since the late '90s), the car was sold in the West Bend area new, and he remembers seeing it (with the Titleist sticker!) in 1984, putzing around the area north of Milwaukee. He put over 100k miles on it, and he took really, really good care of it. He let it sit after he bought the TD, and then let both sit when he picked up a mk4 diesel. For being a Wisconsin car it's entire life, it is in surprisingly good shape, rust wise. It has some issues around the rear beam mounting points and inner fenders, but it really isn't that bad.
We replaced all of the brake hard lines, both rear soft lines, passenger side caliper and rear wheel cylinder, and the master/booster assembly, and I was on the road. I'd like to make a quick note at this point: I am an aircooled guy through-and-through, and I actually own my dream vehicle, a '66 SO-42 Westy, so I'm used to driving slow cars. However, this Rabbit feels even slower than my bus! In fact, it is very much like driving the bus. Narrow tires and boxy shape make it hell in crosswinds, reaching 55mph is a feat to be celebrated, loading it full of people and driving around is not the greatest idea, and, well, they are both 4 speeds, so the shift points are nearly identical.
Of course, being 28 years old has it's disadvantages. The radiator was rotted out all along the bottom, so I had to replace that. The lower rad hose leaks at the pump, no matter how tight the clamp is. A friend told me it is likely corrosion on the pump housing(?). It has a loud, farty exhaust leak, so I'm on the hunt for a dual-chamber down pipe from a gasser (have the manifold), as I believe the toilet bowl gasket is the culprit. Needs tires real bad, they are all pretty worn (except my awesome GTI spare, as seen in the pictures). I also need new headlight buckets, although my lights work quite well for lighting up the road directly under the car or the gravel shoulder.
Wow, what an epic first post. I hope to become moderately proficient in working on my new toy, which is my reason for joining this forum. Now, I'm off to lurk, searching for veggie grease conversions and the such. Thank you, whomever makes it all the way through this slightly wordy post.
Parting pictures of my other cars, past and present:
First VW, an '85 GTI(sold in '07):
My bus (left), hanging out with my dad's bus:
First 'vert (an '82, sold in '08):
Second 'vert(also an '82, cut up last year):
'80 with a 16v(still have, it's for sale):
'90 Jetta(winter beater)
(yes, it's lifted)
Topic: New guy (Read 6111 times)
