Afternoon everyone, been a long time attendee of the RRG and forum browser. So now I have something worth posting I thought I'd share it with you all!
It's a 1980 US Import MK1 Rabbit, 17k Miles and basically the most Red I've ever seen on a car, ever!
Anyone for Red Leatherette?
It all started one sunny day sat around a barbecue at Le Man's Classic '18. Having consumed a few beers I thought it would be a good idea to have a browse on eBay at some bargains, this is where I found the Rabbit, which wasn't a bargain. Having followed the previous owner on Instagram for a number of years I'd always loved the car and when I saw it for sale I had to buy it!
A deal was done and a couple of weeks later I was on my way with car and trailer to collect it. Unfortunately it hadn't moved for a few years due to head gasket failure, but a new bottom end was included in the deal along with a mountain of parts to get the car running again.
Finally the car was home.. sort of!
After closer inspection it was fairly obvious where the old bottom end had failed, can you spot it?...
With no room at home and a little out of my depth I took the car to my good friend Chris, who's a MK1 guru and all round top bloke. We got the car in his workshop and work quickly started!
Engine rebuilt:
With my deadline being RRG 18, Chris was putting in max effort to get this thing up and running
I started to build up the radiator cowling with motor and new zinc bolts etc, minus the radiator. This would prove to be a bigger problem than it seemed!
With one week to go until RRG18 the last piece I needed before we could start the car was the radiator. Basically the Rabbit has a 1.6 8v Kjet Fuel injection engine like the original GTI's just detuned, so you would be think the GTI radiators would fit the cowling? Wrong. For some reason MK1 Rabbits have a larger 520mm radiator but it's also top fill so no expansion tank. After ordering every radiator under the sun we still didn't have the right one, so the RRG deadline was out the window!
I'm still on the hunt for the correct radiator now, but in the meantime I've decided to fit an early GTI 480mm Top Fill rad with Spal Fan as a stop gap just so we can get the car running and driving!
This is how the car is currently sat, radiator and cowling turned up yesterday so we're hoping to have the car running by the end of next week in time for a couple of shows before the years out!
Thanks for reading, Tom👍🏼
It's a 1980 US Import MK1 Rabbit, 17k Miles and basically the most Red I've ever seen on a car, ever!
Anyone for Red Leatherette?
It all started one sunny day sat around a barbecue at Le Man's Classic '18. Having consumed a few beers I thought it would be a good idea to have a browse on eBay at some bargains, this is where I found the Rabbit, which wasn't a bargain. Having followed the previous owner on Instagram for a number of years I'd always loved the car and when I saw it for sale I had to buy it!
A deal was done and a couple of weeks later I was on my way with car and trailer to collect it. Unfortunately it hadn't moved for a few years due to head gasket failure, but a new bottom end was included in the deal along with a mountain of parts to get the car running again.
Finally the car was home.. sort of!
After closer inspection it was fairly obvious where the old bottom end had failed, can you spot it?...
With no room at home and a little out of my depth I took the car to my good friend Chris, who's a MK1 guru and all round top bloke. We got the car in his workshop and work quickly started!
Engine rebuilt:
With my deadline being RRG 18, Chris was putting in max effort to get this thing up and running
I started to build up the radiator cowling with motor and new zinc bolts etc, minus the radiator. This would prove to be a bigger problem than it seemed!
With one week to go until RRG18 the last piece I needed before we could start the car was the radiator. Basically the Rabbit has a 1.6 8v Kjet Fuel injection engine like the original GTI's just detuned, so you would be think the GTI radiators would fit the cowling? Wrong. For some reason MK1 Rabbits have a larger 520mm radiator but it's also top fill so no expansion tank. After ordering every radiator under the sun we still didn't have the right one, so the RRG deadline was out the window!
I'm still on the hunt for the correct radiator now, but in the meantime I've decided to fit an early GTI 480mm Top Fill rad with Spal Fan as a stop gap just so we can get the car running and driving!
This is how the car is currently sat, radiator and cowling turned up yesterday so we're hoping to have the car running by the end of next week in time for a couple of shows before the years out!
Thanks for reading, Tom👍🏼