Project: Bringin sexy back. 81 Rabbit

Been trying to get this car from the PO (a friend of mine) for months now. Finally was able to pull it out from under the tree where its rested for the last 6 years. Solid floor, rockers, front and rear valance. Over all a really solid car.
Plans for now include getting it in the air and undercoating the bottom, I hate road noise. Pulling the motor and trans from my other one, fixing all the leaks and painting them for this car. Thinking about shaving the bay but not sure yet. Prolly gonna pull and polish all the glass.
My goal is to clean it up inside and out, buff out what i can, respray what i cant, clean all the chrome. And drop it as low as possible. Keep and eye on this thread. I will be a good one!

This is the end goal im shooting for. Same color, wheels, maybe a bit lower. And a roof rack. And yes i stole this pic off the internet
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All mossy
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after wash
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Ill post some before and after pics of the inside later today... Let me know what you think.

ill try to resize pics next time so it dont look all retarded...

Great, now you made me join another VW forum!

Looks good man, prolineracks.com sells the 2 bar gutter rack for $40, just got mine in the mail All I have to do is cut the bars to size.

I love clean, OEM diesel rabbits.

Hell yeah Nolan! You got your work cut out for you!

Did a bunch of cleaning on it yesterday. Hoping to pull the seats and shampoo the carpet today. maybe start scrubbing down the engine bay. Im also gonna call around and see who will sandblast some stuff for me for a good deal. Anyone ever dealt with Mt. Baker Powder Coating? I also am gonna try to get it safely on its side and see what i can do about undercoating. Hope it dont rain all damn day
Door panels before
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and after
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interior before
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and after a bit of cleaning and vacuuming
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I am also very happy about the seats. The car only had 121k on it and the seats still feel new
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Seat vinyl before and after
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Spent the rest of the time scrubbing the body down and pressure washing
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Change of plans... I just picked up this car for parts
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This car was supposed to have a good diesel motor in it. So i was jazzed to not have to pull mine out of this...
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but upon pulling the head i found this....
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So.... Thats not gonna happen. But alas i still have Owens old 1.8 JH block and the car was gas to begin with. So i think im gonna clean it up and paint it. Find me a CIS head and mate it to an FF trans i have laying around and see what happens.

Nolan should get a cookie for having the only post in April.

Looking good, I have a good JH head if you need one to mate to that block. Just grab a stock carb setup and call it a day.

Sean Wolk lives in snohomish, I got my carb setup from him, he still has extras sitting there!