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General Information => General => Topic started by: Rat407 on August 30, 2005, 03:36:23 am
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I was wondering how hard it would be to put a 1.6 TD into a gas body rabbit, Golf, or Jetta? Is it worth it and is it hard to do? I can find gas body vehicles all day long but no diesels.
Thanks
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not too difficult, but of course it would be better to start with a diesel body.
i'd disconnect the fuel return at the tank, and run the car until bone dry and it stalls out. i'd probably fill the tank 1/2 full with diesel or something and then pop the hose off the bottom of the tank, drain out that gas-fouled diesel (or have the tank properly flushed, but if you need to remove the tank, the rear beam has to be dropped).
you'd have to get rid of the CIS fuel pump from under the car and just fill the gap with fuel line. you'll need to run fuel line to where you need it from the fuel line feed and return at the firewall, passenger side.
i'd probably pick up a diesel gauge cluster meant for your car, that plugs into the wiring harness you have for the engine you are installing. ideally i'd get the fusebox, wiring, gauges, engine, all from the same donor. make sure you get the wiring and fuse holder for the glow plugs as well. the advance knob and cable wouldn't be a bad thing to get from the donor either.
there's probably more but that will get it running..
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Thanks, That is a start and some things I didn't think about untill you mentioned them.
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is there any way to fit a vw truck diesel tank under a gasser rabbit to replace the gas tank and lines?
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is there any way to fit a vw truck diesel tank under a gasser rabbit to replace the gas tank and lines?
I think that's gonna be a no.
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well maybe it will fit in the trunk?
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well maybe it will fit in the trunk?
Maybe, but why? There is no reason you can't use the gasser tank.
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im having bad thoughts about the gasser sending unit and seals not being compatible with diesel. espically the fuel filler etc.
i once dripped a bit of diesel on some gas line and it swelled up to twice its size and got all soft. i would hate to see that happen with rubber gastank parts?
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Yep the fuel tank is the same. Gas or diesel.
The filler hole on a gas car won't fit the diesel nozzle at the station but the restriction can be removed pretty easily.
I can't picture a caddy tank fitting under a Rabbit very well.
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I think the A2 radiators are different so if you are swapping it into an A2 gas Jetta you'll have to grab the right radiator.
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hey what about wiring up glow plugs to the ignition? and my diesel has standard steering but the gas body im using was equiped with power steering so if i didnt change the rack would it just be like drivivng a standard steering car cause its not hooked up to a pump or would it be like having no power steering belt and almost impossible to steer, i think ive got everything else covered for my transition just these things need to be addressed
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i just won this car on ebay
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1,1&item=7996477336&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWN%3AIT
i talked to the seller and the car has a nearly rust and dent free body. i plan to swap all the diesel related parts into this car and run some homemade biodiesel.
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I'm currently putting a 1.6NA in a 1991 GTI gasser. So far the diesel's sitting on the garage floor, and the gasser and it's ECU have been ripped out of the GTI. I'll post pictures in the coming months as I get the diesel put in.
For glow plugs, I'm just going to use a momentary pushbutton switch on the dash. And for power steering, I'm just disconnecting it -- a rabbit is light enough that it should be okay, and I don't like the feel of power steering on the highway anyway. I drove my old subaru with the power steering unhooked for a few months and once you got used to it, it was fine.
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Those are sweet cars, Acid! The 84's are the last year of the Mk1 and have all the evolutionary improvements to that series without all the weight of the Mk2.
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don't want to go too far off topic here (maybe you can PM me..) but what evolutionary improvements are you refering to? there was an evolution of the mkI, but i don't know if i'd tie the word 'improvements' in with that. just curious. :)
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yes what are this improvments?
thx,
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1978'ish: An extra steering rack mount was added, among other things.
'80-'81: How many german-built Rabbits you see running around without rust these days compared to westmorelands? I think it's pretty clear the rustproofing was vastly improved in about 1980-'81. There were a whole slew of changes in the '81 bodystyle I'm sure most folks are aware of (square headlights, wide rear tails) but it would be chasing our tales to debate whether the '81 facelift was an improvement or not. '81 engine improvements were noteworthy: the naturally aspirated diesel became 1.6 liters with many new components. Then in mid-year there were more engine improvements as the headbolts grew to 12mm and crankshaft was changed to the beefier-snouted turbo-diesel version.
With newer trim packages (Rabbit L, Rabbit GL, Rabbit GLS, Rabbit S, Rabbit GTI) came better gauges and more instrumentation, front airdams, wider wheels, wheel arches, fancier body moldings, front fender splash liners, glove box lights, rear hatch lights, cowl screen, power steering, cruise control, rear windshield wipers, new colors (some of them basecoat/clearcoat).
'83: There was the more rigid windshield mounting introduced. Not to forget the biggest improvement of them all: the turbo-diesel engine was available as an option! :wink:
'84 only: had A2-compatible front seats and seat mountings welded into their frames. Their transmissions came with extra mounting lugs making it possible to swap them into A2s. They had special front bumper supports which were lighter and set the bumper closer to the body and have the wind deflector. '84 transmissions got the noise-vibration-harshness reducing factory "mini-slip".
(etc etc... I'm sure there's a ton I missed.)
Some things "unimproved":
* In 1981 the headliner support changed from metal wire "hoops" to sag-prone cardboard.
* Also around '81 with westmoreland, pennsylvania production, many parts were changed from being made in germany to elsewhere (IE: canada, mexico. In some parts the quality degraded.
* Lots of the extra options found in the later models added weight.
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thanks for the thorough reply jake.
the changes in '78 i agree with. i think that if i wanted to find the ideal rabbit, with the least amount of work to get it to where i'd like it, i'd choose a '78. other than motor improvments, '78 is where the major improvements end in my opinion.
'80-81 rust proofing improvments. i have to disagree but i would like to hear where they made improvements. i think that the fact that we see a lot more US-built rabbits on the road (IMO) is not so much because they had better rustproofing, but because they are newer and more of them sold. also, the gauge of metal used in the US cars was thicker than the early german ones. it takes longer for rust to take a US-built completely out of commision vs. an early german. i have been under the carpet/interior in many of these mkIs... US rabbit, german rabbit, caddy, cabriolet, jetta... and in my opinion the german ones are made with much more care. the seams and welds are cleaner, the seam sealer and floor treatments seem to be put on with some thought, and the general impression i've gotten from this whole experience has been to find a clean german-built that hasn't been abused and hold onto it. i no longer hold the US-builts in as high a regard purely because of their poor build quality (IMO). for example... german-builts usually have a small piece of cloth over the drain holes and it looks like someone took the time to ensure water would drain properly. the US-builts i've seen have all had seam sealer coming oozing up out of those holes, plugging them and letting the water sit.
visual improvements? yeah, we'd be chasing our tails... (personally i'll give german-1, US-0 here).
trim packages.. i disagree that they yielded any 'improvements' other than gauges, wider wheels, wheel liners (all parts that can easily be fit to earlier rabbits). again we're getting into personal preference for a lot of this (IMO: GTI airdams are ugly US-styling, fender flares are rust breeders, more lights.. more electrical problems, power steering is added weight in a car that doesnt require it, etc etc etc... it all adds up to more weight and brings the mkI closer to where VW landed with the mkIV - i haven't driven a mkV yet to make that comparison).
'83 i agree..
'84, just wondering... what is different about the seats? i've fit many mkII seats into rabbits made before '83 with no problems... and i know that german rabbit seats will fit into mkIIs. the front bumper supports were lighter in '84 - they were just metal brackets, not shocks. although lighter, they treat the rabbit unibody with less respect in an accident as they have no dampening function, so not really a clear improvement IMO. in fact, i prefer the earlier shock-style because they can be drilled out, setting them closer to the body than anything VW offered from the (PA) factory. even better than those were the original 1975 german bumpers... closest to the body of all, and lightest.
what you mentioned about quality degredation of the '81-later westmo cars i agree entirely with.. and it seems to me that the longer VW kept producing cars at that PA plant, the worse the quality got until VW finally had enough and sent the work to mexico.
its no secret that the PA plant was a huge mistake for VW... :cry:
edit: and i have to say...i suspect i'd be singing a different tune entirely if we were comparing 1975-1980 german rabbits to 1981-1984 german rabbits. its more the workmanship of the US cars, the lower quality of many of their bolt-on parts, and the american styling cues that make them an inferior vehicle, in my opinion, of course. :)