Topless Rabbit Forums

Sometimes I wonder what makes us go through what we do to put old cars back together and keep them on the road. For me I just need to be working on somthing or I will go crazy. Phil I can't wait to see the pics of your finished car.

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1993 Cabriolet red. 5 speed(my working VW)
1981 rabbit 4 door auto bronze (needs engine)
1993 Suburban green (used to tow my Rabbit home and fetch parts)

The Saab has a petcock but you gotta be really patient to use it. Last time I did it on a clean system it took around 30 minutes to drain, and this is on a car that only holds a few gallons. When I had previously tried it on the old, crudded up radiator, scale kept plugging the petcock; eventually I just removed it entirely and let the coolant drain through the hole.

So, not really as helpful as you'd think. It's nice if you only need to partially drain the system, like to change a t-stat, I guess.

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Today I replaced the coolant outlet flange on the cylender head. It figures I get the cooling system flushed and then somthing in the cooling system breaks. I have also ben working on the dent as well. I got the Cabby to pass the smog test. You can read about that in my other post. Now I need to tune up the Suburban to get it to pass smog as well. Also the golf cart got a flat tire last week. All my rides have ben keeping me busy lately. At least I am not getting board.

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1993 Cabriolet red. 5 speed(my working VW)
1981 rabbit 4 door auto bronze (needs engine)
1993 Suburban green (used to tow my Rabbit home and fetch parts)

Well the other differential seal is weeping, (drivers side), and I have noticed that the 10v regulator is on the way of the do-do, gaining and loosing a half a tank of gas every 30 minutes, and that the water gauge and tach are following suit. So parts on order SOSND. Next week seems like a lot of fun is going to go on.....and on and on and on....ETC..Etc..ETC.

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Briano

Yes as matter of fact, I have the Luck o'the Irish...everything I touch turns to fertilizer of the bovine variety.

Well, with all the chatter between Brian and Cajunspike, I got off my lazy ass and breathed some life back into Crabby Cabby. She hadn't been out of the garage in just over a year. Blew the dust off, charged the battery and got her to fire yesterday. Today, I actually got her out of the garage and took her for a spin. Got some strange looks along the way (280lbs dude in a cabby will always get an odd look) but got a lot of thumbs up as well.

Hopefully Cristine will get a chance to take her for a spin tomorrow sometime. Besides, she looks a hell of a lot better behind the wheel then I do.

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88' Scirocco 16v
05' Yamaha FJR1300

a woman behind the stearingwheel is always a better look

but don't let the woman drive

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Golf Cabriolet MK1 2H 1800 8v bj 1990 Candy Apple Red
Audi Cabriolet 2.6 V6 bj 1995 DarkGreen Metalic

Well the differential swap from hell is over, 3 days, 50lbs of oil dry, 6 qts of ATF 1 qt 90wt 2 differential seals and swapping the 90mm cups over is finished.
I think I lost 40 lbs through sweat. But I took it for a test spin, and I have 3 forward gears and one in reverse... so far no more leaking. The old differential had some major damage
as I saw a race with a crack, so I blame the 2 bad remaned shafts that beat the hell out of the differential cup.

Don't get me started about the Jiffy-lube butt plug for changing the atf fluid.........farging bastigassssssssss.

But the 90mm cups bolts are exactly spaced so you can get then out by a bolt hole.

2 coronas and 2 large sweet teas, almost make the pain and dehydration go away.................

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Briano

Yes as matter of fact, I have the Luck o'the Irish...everything I touch turns to fertilizer of the bovine variety.

Glad you got it done!

The clutch decided to pack it in on mine. Won't disengage. Cable's fine, pedal feel is normal. It had been a bit draggy lately so I suspect issues inside the bellhousing. It's sitting at the moment because cash-wise the timing isn't good to take it in right now, and I don't have a good place to pull the trans myself. I'm also sort of poking around to see if I can track down an automatic-equipped Cabby, because the traffic around here is really starting to make a stick shift seem not worth the trouble.

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After what I have been through......But, they do come apart so it you have the SMS, you can strip the trans off the Diff. It was almost enjoyable save for the 106 heat index, on WED, Thru, friday...... But I did boogie down the road and it was nice not to where the tranny whine... I am waiting to see if it pukes all over the floor tonight.

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Briano

Yes as matter of fact, I have the Luck o'the Irish...everything I touch turns to fertilizer of the bovine variety.

Yeah, I understand the slushbox is a little more trouble-prone. But I'm the only one in the household who drives stick, too, which makes my current Cabriolet not very useful as a back-up vehicle if one of the other cars dies. Also, I hate clutch-bumping the thing in stop-and-go traffic, and I'm starting to wonder how long the existing tranny will last. It's been low on oil at least once and has gear whine in 5th.

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Actually I have read numerous accounts of the automatics (010) with normal maintenance exceeding 200-250K before a rebuild is needed, and most of those are on
the Transporter.

I have 4 folks that can drive a stick, but I have 6 drivers ....
After my stroke, I got really paranoid on hills with stop lights and my ability to clutch and not roll back, the Auto was oh so more forgivable. Now if I would only install cruise.

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Briano

Yes as matter of fact, I have the Luck o'the Irish...everything I touch turns to fertilizer of the bovine variety.

Well I got the last of my "fixes" done for he week I hope.
My gas gauge and the water temp gauges along with the Tach were going a little bonkers.
They would loose about 1/4 of the amount shown then cycle back.

So I replaced the voltage stabilizer with the one from mouser. 38 cents and 7.99 to ship ok so I odered 10 of them, still came out less than the
cost of one plus shipping from AutohausAZ, 15.00 each and shipping.

Now it is not a direct replacement, but it is electrically the same, the differences are in the mounting. You have to cut off the tits on the cluster to get it to lay flat as the
new one is devoid of the notches on the original. Don't worry as you are screwing it down. Bend the legs like the original and presto repair is done.

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Briano

Yes as matter of fact, I have the Luck o'the Irish...everything I touch turns to fertilizer of the bovine variety.

This has been a good and bad week all in one.

I finally got fed up trying to get the project started, so I called the CAA and towed it to a local shop. Two days later I get the car back and it runs pretty good. Safety inspection complete and away I go.

That night I took the car to a club meeting (yes to show it off) and returned home. I was very happy. I was planning to have it at our club show on Sundy.

Friday I clean the car and go to start it. After a minute or so I hear a strange sound so I shut it down and go to have a look.

The oil blew past the seal on the oil filter and there was about 3 quarts of 20W 50 on my drive way.

Once that was cleaned up, I started to ask "What could cause that?".

Well since the engine is a newly rebuilt, most folks thought 20W 50 was too heavy for the break-in period and suggested I use lighter oil.

OK, I changed the oil, and filter and tried again.

Car ran good but the oil pressure was way hight (like 100 psi) and after 90 seconds, well you guessed it, another two quarts of oil on my driveway.

Seems I have a serious blockage in the oil system, somewhere after the sender.

More to follow.

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Phil

'87 Cabriolet, "Topless Bunny"
'88 Cabriolet, Project Save a Bunny (getting closer to finish)
'99 Jetta
'04 Golf

Stuck pressure relief valve?

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Could be. I am going away for a few days, so it will be Sunday when I drop the oil pan and check.

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Phil

'87 Cabriolet, "Topless Bunny"
'88 Cabriolet, Project Save a Bunny (getting closer to finish)
'99 Jetta
'04 Golf