Hi All,
... Drug two "Rabbit Pickups" back from the chaparral yesterday - quite a feat, I must say! These cars had sat for decades, and the one of them was literally embedded in the dirt almost to its axles. How we got them both out in one day was miraculous. And, we did have near tragedy as one car came off the car dolley we were using, but somehow we remedied the situation.
...The plan is that I bought them both and even before getting them out of the desert, I flipped one of them and figured I'd sell the second as well. However, the flipped one is to a friend of mine who intends to run it and I already know I'll be the "mechanic on duty" even though I'll have him do all the work in a master / apprentice relationship. Only, I'd better be up to the task of "master!"
However, while fetching the first car, I instantly understood that the one car was much worse off than I'd realized, so there's really only one good set worth of parts present, and the other is unlikely to be anything more than a backup set of additional parts - though they'll have to be sold off (or scrapped if necessary) due to space limitations.
I know from the time of my ownership of a 4 door Rabbit, '79 to '83 that there are virtually no length-based hoses on the engine, though I do recall, I think, that there were some such hoses in the engine bay... maybe the coolant overflow, windshield washers, and maybe (gasoline model) evaporative control system... I suppose one could just try the hoses and let them fail, but seems to me foolish: all new if you intend to run it! Maybe a vendor supplies a kit?
The one is a 4 speed and is thought to have a good gearbox but the engine is seized. The other is a 5 speed and the engine is not seized, but the transaxle is said to have a bad 5th gear. Unfortunately, the one with the bad engine AND only 4 gears is the one which has the better body. We're now thinking we'll move both good engine and bad transaxle from one the one with the worse body, rebuilding the transaxle along the way, so the car ends up with 5 speeds. Are there any reasons this wouldn't work?
Also, the one with the better body and 4 speed doesn't shift AT ALL, and it's in gear. With a seized engine, this makes it rather annoying to move around! I vaguely recall from my earlier Rabbit experience that there are nylon balls or some such in the linkage that can cause such a problem? Any pointers here? ...Today I've ordered the Bentley manual, but it will take some time to arrive. In the mean time, any tips on either popping it out of gear or perhaps manually actuating the clutch from inside the engine bay soas to release the gearbox? I guess I can disconnect the axle ends - do they take an M6 hex or a special star shaped tool? My vague memory of my '79 Rabbit says yes, one or the other, like earlier IRS VWs, but also that that's not necessarily the most simple means of releasing things, either.
In making this a runner, brakes are also on my mind. Any issues to look out for here? Are some parts no longer available?
Also, on the better car, both rear wheels stuck to their drums so we were lucky the rubber was good enough to take air and get us home. Any advice on removing these "alloys" without damaging them?
AND... Without the benefit of the Bentley yet... Where are the dang jack points and where do you put jack stands for safety? Several Porsche models have this same "lack of jack points" issue and it's a royal pain... For lack of a better plan, I ended up using the bottom of the engine's oil pan to lift the whole front end and I gather that's bad practice - does this hurt anything?
Thanks in advance.
Regards,
Richard
... Drug two "Rabbit Pickups" back from the chaparral yesterday - quite a feat, I must say! These cars had sat for decades, and the one of them was literally embedded in the dirt almost to its axles. How we got them both out in one day was miraculous. And, we did have near tragedy as one car came off the car dolley we were using, but somehow we remedied the situation.
...The plan is that I bought them both and even before getting them out of the desert, I flipped one of them and figured I'd sell the second as well. However, the flipped one is to a friend of mine who intends to run it and I already know I'll be the "mechanic on duty" even though I'll have him do all the work in a master / apprentice relationship. Only, I'd better be up to the task of "master!"
However, while fetching the first car, I instantly understood that the one car was much worse off than I'd realized, so there's really only one good set worth of parts present, and the other is unlikely to be anything more than a backup set of additional parts - though they'll have to be sold off (or scrapped if necessary) due to space limitations.
I know from the time of my ownership of a 4 door Rabbit, '79 to '83 that there are virtually no length-based hoses on the engine, though I do recall, I think, that there were some such hoses in the engine bay... maybe the coolant overflow, windshield washers, and maybe (gasoline model) evaporative control system... I suppose one could just try the hoses and let them fail, but seems to me foolish: all new if you intend to run it! Maybe a vendor supplies a kit?
The one is a 4 speed and is thought to have a good gearbox but the engine is seized. The other is a 5 speed and the engine is not seized, but the transaxle is said to have a bad 5th gear. Unfortunately, the one with the bad engine AND only 4 gears is the one which has the better body. We're now thinking we'll move both good engine and bad transaxle from one the one with the worse body, rebuilding the transaxle along the way, so the car ends up with 5 speeds. Are there any reasons this wouldn't work?
Also, the one with the better body and 4 speed doesn't shift AT ALL, and it's in gear. With a seized engine, this makes it rather annoying to move around! I vaguely recall from my earlier Rabbit experience that there are nylon balls or some such in the linkage that can cause such a problem? Any pointers here? ...Today I've ordered the Bentley manual, but it will take some time to arrive. In the mean time, any tips on either popping it out of gear or perhaps manually actuating the clutch from inside the engine bay soas to release the gearbox? I guess I can disconnect the axle ends - do they take an M6 hex or a special star shaped tool? My vague memory of my '79 Rabbit says yes, one or the other, like earlier IRS VWs, but also that that's not necessarily the most simple means of releasing things, either.
In making this a runner, brakes are also on my mind. Any issues to look out for here? Are some parts no longer available?
Also, on the better car, both rear wheels stuck to their drums so we were lucky the rubber was good enough to take air and get us home. Any advice on removing these "alloys" without damaging them?
AND... Without the benefit of the Bentley yet... Where are the dang jack points and where do you put jack stands for safety? Several Porsche models have this same "lack of jack points" issue and it's a royal pain... For lack of a better plan, I ended up using the bottom of the engine's oil pan to lift the whole front end and I gather that's bad practice - does this hurt anything?
Thanks in advance.
Regards,
Richard