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My...Uh..Not really a build thread.

156K views 1K replies 82 participants last post by  01 
#1 · (Edited)
So about a year ago, I decided to liquidate all of my VW bits. After so many, and a lack of time because of work and family I figured it was time to be done tinkering.

This car sat on a local classifieds for about 6 months just taunting me, many a times I simply passed over it when friends suggested I buy it. The car was brought to Utah, tinkered on, and driven casually by the previous owner, but not much was changed.

After reading aeffertz's build thread a dozen times, reviewing every detail and going over it in my head I decided it had to be mine to "finish"

http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?5630936-Alex-s-Rabbit-Project-Take-Two

--

So here it is, almost exactly as it was left....

The Good



  • Almost exactly as Alex left it
  • Running and driving



The Bad



  • Paint issues (chips, dings, polishing burn, deep scratch on the hatch, etc.)
  • Oil Leak (Valve Cover)
  • Cool bits were sold (moroso, scientific rabbit manifold, etc)
  • Excessive Head Tick (likely lifters, or valve stems)
  • Dash is degrading (repairs falling apart)



Not much else to say, other than I plan on finalizing a few of the unfinished things. Improving things that I'm not a big fan of. And really just driving and enjoying it. The good news is that it's in amazing shape and doesn't "need" anything at all.


Current condition









 
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#967 ·
everyone and the SCCH shifters lately lol - are they really that good? Let me know what you think, please.
haven’t driven with the shifter yet, but it does feel great.

Sad to hear this. I was on the Tapatalk for a while, but I am finding the direct Vortex hosting of photos to work even better. What is annoying you about the forum?

I guess that one of the things I like about the Vortex is the antiquated concept of writing text (in a letter to a friend, rather than click-bait manner) to go with the pictures. Helps that the forum is mostly populated by old VW heads that are/were barely computer literate. Self included?

Posted using Chrome on my Samsung Galaxy 7. (Remember when that was a thing? [LOL])
The forum works pretty good on mobile browsers, no need for an app. I quit tapatalk ages ago because it was a massive battery drain.
tbh this was just my mood swing after being blasted with ads galore. I’ve been isolated as a premium Tapatalk user for the past who knows how many years (many).

Im here, I’ll survive and I’ll continue to post. Few adjustments later and It’s fine, but I won’t admit to it being equal.. the browser experience isn’t as good imo..
 
#1,008 ·
haven’t driven with the shifter yet, but it does feel great.




tbh this was just my mood swing after being blasted with ads galore. I’ve been isolated as a premium Tapatalk user for the past who knows how many years (many).

Im here, I’ll survive and I’ll continue to post. Few adjustments later and It’s fine, but I won’t admit to it being equal.. the browser experience isn’t as good imo..
I got the app ad block pro for like $9.99/yr. blocks all the in between adds and pop ups and such on all sites
 
#514 ·
Braking bits arrived today, I decided against Wilwoods as I didn’t want to mess with boosters and MCs for some flashy goodness and went with some Brembo rotors to ditch the unventeds and some grippy pads.

Should be more than enough without going overkill. Not to mention they will work without worry on all my wheels.

 
#519 ·
Odd, the links work for me. Oh well. I agree that the hardest part will be picking the tire size you want. Being a former tire guy (25 years before career change), I'm a big fan of sticking with more or less stock outside diameter, so for 15" that would be 195/50-15. But I know that lots of people don't share my feelings on that.
 
#541 ·
Some of the braking bits arrived today. I decided against a BBK kit as I mentioned earlier in the thread. I was going to run EBC Redstuff, with good metal all around (Brembo)

But found that Porterfield still made full race, track and street performance pads and shoes. Seeing as I’m retaining the drums I figured I’d give their R4S compound a go all around.



I also have braided lines and brass bushings for the sliders on the way.

Still need to source the rear brembo drums but they are NLA in North America for whatever reason.

Brembo Vented Rotors
Brembo Drums (Still need to source)
Mk1Autohaus Braided Lines (Front & Rear)
Porterfield R4S Pads & Shoes
LellaAutosport Bronze Bushings & Sliders Kit
Tech-53 22mm MC (Early Booster)

Should be a decent little setup!
 
#550 ·
Not related to the rabbit (is super close but not running quite yet)

But today, after some debating and a fu** it moment I decided to go look at a 1984 GLI that has been sitting in my local classifieds. I told myself for weeks (yes it sat unsold for weeks) that it was likely not a great example…

Turns out I was wrong, so I brought it home with me today.

It’s a 1984 1/2 (the last runs of the mk1) Jetta GLI, A/C car (although some bits have been removed from the bay) and a non sunroof car with the blue and silver insert seats. It had been sitting in a garage parked waiting for someone to rescue it since 1996/97 when the previous owner experienced issues with the oil pressure gauge (GLI has an oil pressure gauge in the console) and cluster oil pressure warning. It seems to only happen when not under load (idle) and when the car is at operating temperature. I decided to raise the idle to around 1800 and drive it home with no issues.

It’s nearly all there, and nearly completely stock (excluding that terrible trunk lid rack) and only missing a few things like the driver side lower dash (kick panel) a broken right rear fender flare and missing A\C components (compressor, condenser, etc)

I plan first on bringing it back to its former glory. It’s been sitting so long that I needs to have basically everything looked at or replaced.












I even spent a few mins after cleaning out all the trash and misc parts on seeing if the paint would shine up. Few minutes of hand polishing and waxing and I think it’s going to work out :)



 
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