Greg's Rabbit Diesel Turbo - Sold!

This is NOT a "Rabbit Turbodiesel" but rather a Rabbit Diesel L that's been turbocharged with 1986 1.6TD intake and exhaust. It still has the non-turbo long block. I've done extensive work on this car since I bought it off the street last December. Frankly, it's becoming depressing making this list of stuff I've done in the last year or so, as I realize how much time and money I've dropped into this little car. My daily commute has shrunk from 115 miles per day to less than 30. Regardless, I've enjoyed every minute of ownership, maintenance, and repair; the knowledge I've gained is going to be worth every penny of the financial loss.

1984 Rabbit Diesel L

This car started out as a virtual wreck December 2002. It was sitting in a parking lot along a road I frequent with a For Sale sign on it. I stopped; the guy wanted $100 for it. It started and ran, and that was about it. I bought it on the spot. After about 20 miles I realized why it was being sold for $100: virtually everything in it was broken or worn out. Over the months since then and 15,000 miles I've basically rebuilt a Rabbit:

Rebuilt Engine

Remanufactured 12mm head head (solid lifters) - $400

Intake/Fuel:

Upgrades:

Other engine repairs:

Once that was done I installed all the intake and exhaust parts from a 1986 A2 Jetta TD:

Suspension and Brakes

Body/Chassis

Interior

Instrumentation

UPDATE! 30 November 2003

I got bored this past weekend and decided to install the following items I had on hand:

Here's it getting all that stuff installed...

Whew! what a list, eh?

The only bad news is that the car needs some bodywork and paint. In all honesty, the body isn't in really too bad condition, there's no crash damage and it doesn't appear that it was in an accident, but it was last owned by a 17-yr-old kid. It's just got dings and dents on virtually every panel. There's also some rust on the rear valence under the rear bumper and around the windshield. There's still some surface scabs that I repaired this summer in various locations, but none were deep or rusted through. Despite that, this thing is, mechanically and interior, virtually brand new. If you've seen the work I did resurrecting the last V-Dub (http://www.gatm.com/cars/gti.html) you'd know I do good work. All that's left is the outside cosmetics...