1980 Volkswagen Rabbit Diesel

September 8, 2014
I finally want to get my rabbit back up running again. It was my very first car that I also drove the last two years of high school and the beginning of college. Needless to say it served me well even though it is the slowest car ever. The top speed is 80! Good mileage and reliable as heck was a good trade-off. So for now I just want to get it back running again. It needs some TLC but it was built like a tank, so this should be fun once it comes back to working order. So I thought I post here to keep track of things a bit and maybe do a few pictures of a few things I fix here and there.

Here is the car getting unburied from all that dirt. It's been a number of years and it still looks okay.

Here's the washed version.

Here's the very first thing I need to replace. I will need to put things back there so they don't get lost This needs to get fixed or get hit by a very heavy rear door. The gas strut just doesn't work anymore. Well it's been a very long time and it served it's purpose for many years.

Now I have these wires that won't reach that switch up there, so I need to find out which two are supposed to go on that switch where the hose is.

I also found this one just hanging here. I can't see where this plugs into. It looks like it's from the AC unit.

Here's the engine after cleaning all the dirt a bit. I need to get some degreaser and let it sit for a while so I can see things a little better.

This is the good thing about a manual sunroof, it still works today without any problem.

I did a bit of wire cleanup with some cable ties and it looks much better now. I also put in a can of degreaser in there and things are looking a bit better. I then cleaned up some of the electrical contacts and put in a little bit of contact cleaner in them since it's been sitting around for a number of years.

This plug is for the heater...I was plugging before the prius even existed. LOL

This is the fuel filter number. I wanted to know what the number was for when I need to change it.

I guess I'll need to find me some new ground straps. This one is just old but still works. Never hurts to have new electrical contacts. I ended up just using the wire wheel to clean these up. They now look like new again.

These are the spare wires I found on both sides of the car. These were never plugged into anything, but if I ever get some extra driving/fog lights they may come in handy as I have no idea what they were for.

Here's a better pictures of these.