Aesthetic help for Rabbit!!!!!!!!!!

[rabbit82]

Well, I've been working on this thing for a while now and have about everything fixed, major that is. I put new cv axles on, wheel bearings front and back, rebuilt struts all four (that's another topic), brakes, adjusted shifter linkage(PITA) for perfect results, cleaned injectors, new glow plugs, timing belt, water pump, and many little things. Then when it was good to go it took me a while to get used to driving it on the interstate. Used to my truck, what a change!! But now that I finally cleaned the inside good and got the radio working I think I have passed the "can't take the ride" stage. The interior is in actually very nice condition for its age, but the orange tan is not much to work with for a new paint job.
Now, to get to the topic. The PO had started on this but never finished it. He installed a really good low mileage motor, diesel of course, and painted it. The paint job is good but I have to be honest, I hate the color. I don't want to paint it so this is where you guys can help. What can I do to spruce this ride up a bit. I have read where you can drill out the bumper shocks and bring them in closer to the body, easy enough. Would a black stripe on the lower section of the body look good?  The strip of chrome about mid way up the side is all chrome, looks cheesy. Best to do away with that? I don't know, what would your suggestions be? I am on a budget to, so keep that in mind.
I have read up on some of the alloy rims that will fit. I am curious though as to going to a larger size rim and tire, would that effect gpm or power?
That's enough for now, let me here your opinions.

[R.O.R-2.0]

GIVE ME MY CAR BACK!!!

lol, kidding.. nice lookin car tho, but it needs more low, and some tweels..

[R.O.R-2.0]

and, rather than destroy your bumper shocks, you can simply install 84 rabbit bumper brackets. they are ALOT SHORTER (bumper sits about 1" away from the body) than the standard bounce away bumper shocks..

i believe all the 84-later small bumper cabbys had these brackets

[rabbit82]

How do I get more low? And what would that do to the ride? I have had a hard enough time getting used to it as is.
Not to get this off my main topic but I put the oil filled shocks, Monroe I think, all the way around. I thought it would make it ride a little better but it is so tight now . Of course the ones I took out had nothing left. There wasn't even any oil left anywhere, all dried up. you could turn the shock upside down and the top part would drop without pulling on it at all. Talk about getting your moneys worth!
I aint no youngin either so comfort trumps looks 

[maxfax]

I think I have a tan shift boot about...

[rabbit82]

I think I have a tan shift boot about...

Ha! so you noticed did you? What, did the blue give it away?  I'll take you up on the boot.

[DieselBalz]

I heart how clean it is. I hate the color, but damn its so clean I wouldnt mess with it. As for your wheels, I would try and find some "snowflakes" for it or some corrado steelies. They are a 14 inch wheel and go with a taller tire. It will fill up the wheel well without having to lower it, and give you a much better ride.

Sweet ass Rabbit man.

[maxfax]

Ha! so you noticed did you? What, did the blue give it away?  I'll take you up on the boot.

Yeah, it just kinda jumps right out at ya.. I'll look tomorrow and see if the one I have is any good..

[ORCoaster]

I am with Dieselbalz on the change out of the wheels to snowflakes and up the tire size.  Not necessarily the width but the sidewall measure.  The 14 inch versus 13 inch just fills that gap much better.  Here is my ride before I was able to get some real rims on it.  These are the regular 13 inchers after we painted them up. 



Hearing from all the "experts" here on the forum, yes even mister snowflake hater himself. I found a set for 80 bucks on Craigslist.  Didn't even need much cleaning.  And this is the look now. 




As for the paint change out.  I would work with what you have as it is in such great shape.  Change can be subtle, like a decal or portion of a panel painted.  Notice the half and half look I went for.  That is somewhat on purpose as I wanted two colors but I didn't want to have to buy two quarts of one color and one of the other and have lots of extra of each when I was done. 

I would take the picture of the car in to a paint shop, a digital version and see if they can use their software to show you what different colors might look like on it.  Currently it is flat, You don't like the chrome strip?  Man I would take that in an instant.  There are so many light to heavy metal flake paints out there now I bet you could find something on a color wheel at the paint store that complemented that tan color. 

No 8 V I am not talking cameo here,  Sheesz.

I have seen some reddish, gold and that tan color schemes and that looks good to my old eyes.

I can relate very well to the comfort factor of the ride.  My larger wheels do turn a tad slower than those little 13 inchers so there is about a 20% drop in RPM.  That just means I get to go faster mph for the old RPM values. 

[theman53]

I LUV snowflakes and have 2 sets. One is bead blasted and looks just like aluminum and the other looks like the rabbit above. If you are going for low the ride quality will be compromised unless it is a high dollar setup...even then from what i have heard it is not good. If you stay at stock height I like the bilstein brand, at least you won't be doing the job every 2 years. KYB seems stiff and the Sachs seem to last about 2 years for me.

I have bilstein touring and bilstein sports and from what I have read I will be going with Bilstein HD for my next round.

[Baron VonZeppelin]

Rabbit82, Howdy neighbor.
What part of NC are you from ?
I'm near the state zoo.

Your Rabbit is in super good condition.
Unbelievable the padded dash is still in that shape.

Those aren't my fav colors either - i have a 82 Truck with same colors.
That interior was about the most popular color in 81 82. What were they thinking huh ? Black should have been only choice.

You won't usually find too many Diesel Rabbits with the bright trim around windows. And i have never seen one with bright body side moldings before.

I had a picture of one your color that looks really good - but can't locate it right now. Probably on my other crashed computer.

But it had 14" SnowFlakes, the black fender arch trims, the rocker panels and adjacent lower heels of fenders were semi-gloss black. And it had black body side moldings. Was a Real Good looking car - especially for that color.

Yours sorta looks like a Nun would be driving it.  haha 

Lots of mk1 Jettas, some Rabbits, and all GTI's had the fender arch trims - if you do any Jyarding take a cordless drill in case you find some. They also reproduce them now too.

The body side moldings would be a shame to deface/paint them.
Probably a lot of guys with dark colored cars would like to have them.
But you can Zinc prime and paint them semiblack - or source some replacements.

A 4-button steering wheel will give the interior more upbeat character.
GTI's , Quantums, Jetta GL's and some others used those - up through about 86 or so.

A guy on NCDubs has/had a good set of SnowFlakes for sale.
They are usually 150-200 set for good condition.

Not very much besides VW alloys will fit our cars.
Don't get fooled into Honda, Mazda and other 4x100x14. The center hub hole is too small for ours. Unless you have a good friend who can bore them.
Some really older Audi/BMW wheels will fit.
And aftermarket Uni-Lugs, but most of those look really cheap'ish.

SnowFlakes and Castelletes are about the only ones i think look good/right at all on Mk1's to be honest. Otherwise just find some full disc VW hubcaps or keep what you have and paint the rims silver or body color.

Monroe sensa-trac gas charged struts would have been a much better ride.
I have them on the front of my 81 HD-TD Truck and really like them.

[mystery3]

Not very much besides VW alloys will fit our cars.
Don't get fooled into Honda, Mazda and other 4x100x14. The center hub hole is too small for ours. Unless you have a good friend who can bore them.
Some really older Audi/BMW wheels will fit.
And aftermarket Uni-Lugs, but most of those look really cheap'ish.

I disagree on the import wheels, most that I know of have 73mm centerbores and are lugcentric while bmw and vw have 57.1mm cb and are hubcentric so you if you found a set that you actually liked the center bore difference can be easily overcome with a set of hubcentric rings. Also keep an eye on offset depending on the donor vehicle it may or may not be compatible.

As far as cleaning up the car I think you should paint the side molding and window trim black or swap for stock black units, get some flairs, get some flag mirrors and call it a day. I don't mind the beige though for some reason. I think it'd be a good idea to respray all the trim and grill etc to set off the beige a bit, I think the trim black from duplicolor is the best match for vw's which is nice because it's a lot cheaper than SEM which matches bmw trim perfectly.

[rabbit82]

Baron VonZeppelin, I'm in Drexel NC, about 30 minutes west of Hickory and 1 hour east of Asheville.
As far as the side chrome moldings, they are an after market stick on. I didn't put them on either. The window trims are original though, but the windshield and hatch glass trim is in poor shape.
I would love to see some pictures of the car you are talking about. I'll have to do some digging on the net to find some pics for some ideas.
I was impressed with the interior also. The front seats have some tears in them but nothing a good set of seat covers won't cure. They at least look better than the crazy seat covers that was on them. The dash is perfect, no cracks at all.

[rabbit82]

I am with Dieselbalz on the change out of the wheels to snowflakes and up the tire size.  Not necessarily the width but the sidewall measure.  

I really like those snowflakes, and the car looks great. What size tire did you go with? What's up with the flare trim around the wheel wells and rockers? That is a nice clean look.

[rabbit82]

As far as cleaning up the car I think you should paint the side molding and window trim black or swap for stock black units, get some flairs, get some flag mirrors and call it a day. I don't mind the beige though for some reason. I think it'd be a good idea to respray all the trim and grill etc to set off the beige a bit, I think the trim black from duplicolor is the best match for vw's which is nice because it's a lot cheaper than SEM which matches bmw trim perfectly.

What flairs are you referring to? What are flag mirrors?