I'm going to look at a 1982 diesel Rabbit truck today. The guy says "the unibody broke at the firewall." I had an 81 Rabbit many years ago. By "broke", I assume he meant "the paint holding the rust together finally fell off."
I'm by no means a VW person. What should I look for and what is terminal doom for these things? Keep in mind I've been resurrecting MGs and Austin Healeys for three decades, so I know rust. I'm also not above scabbing on sheet metal in a crude, haphazard fashion. This will be a farm use only vehicle. A pdf manual would be awesome too.
If you can take care of the rust, the engine sounds good and the price is right, you should be fine. There ARE some Rabbit owners that will know more around here. Don't know who has time to get a pdf for you.
I'm thinking "broke at the firewall" in car terms equates to "it's only Cancer of the brain stem" in humans.
pinchvalve wrote:
I'm thinking "broke at the firewall" in car terms equates to "it's only Cancer of the brain stem" in humans.
From what he said he can do, if he were working on humans, he'd be one hell of a neurosurgeon.
7pilot
Reader
3/15/13 8:13 a.m.
I'd recommend that you walk away.
The unibody at the front clip is double walled. water gets trapped between the two layers over the life of the vehicle. Any rust around the strut towers is usually the tip of the iceberg.
It would probably be uneconomical to fix.
m
Go with the pilot. Plenty of good 4 banger trucks are available for under $800.
Ive been half cutting rabbit trucks for a couple years. Buy a cabby and half cut it. The cabbys hold up better than the US metal (all German built) and the work isnt harder than any other of the same type.
They get really bad and there is nothing to weld to.
This one averaged 52 mpg over the 13000 miles I drove it before selling it on.
Edit: as you can see the cabby I cut up was green; my civic blew up so I never finished painting it just threw it into use for eight months or so.
Too late. We bought it. It turned out to actually be cracked rather than rotten. It was on the driver side right next to where the rear control mount bracket is (supposed to be) welded to the unibody. It looks lie somebody forgot to put enough spot welds there. It flexed until it cracked and it cracked enough until the suspension could get some crazy toe out. While making a lefthand turn, the CV joint popped apart. They parked it.
Asking price was $1500. They accepted $650. I pulled the crack closed and welded it, reassembled the CV to check for binding. I checked the alignment and seam welded the bracket to the body. A new $57 axle and a $65 starter will be here in the morning.
Solid for the most part, though I did fix some minor issues.
If you recognize the angle, you'll see the bracket in the lower part of the picture. The diagonal weld was the crack. The upper welding is me reinforcing the seams. The other welding is were I stuck a chain on to pull the crack closed.
Overall, it was not bad, especially when you don't care how it looks. I like one day fixes. Meanwhile, my 6-year BE Sprite restoration continues.
Looks like a killer driver to me!
Apis_Mellifera wrote:
There it is.
Nice looking Caddy. Be sure to inspect those front strut towers. And check all seams. They're usually covered with sealer and the rust is lurking underneath. All the go fast GTi parts fit up front.
Yeah watch the seams and the suspension mounting points. I have a couple Rabbit shaped rust collections sitting in the yard that can attest to that.
