New Member

[waldeck]

Hi. New member from Saskatchewan. I recenty picked up an 84 Rabbit. It was totalled due to hail damage but other than that seems to be in pretty good shape for the age. Just a little surface rust on the driver side fender and of course I need to replace the top. It was imported into Canada from the US in 2002 and I believe the speedometer gearing was changed so it reads in KM instead of miles. At least that's how it seems. There is no way I just had it to 100mph that quick. lol. There are a few mechanical things I will need to take care of before it will pass a safety (brakes, steering, etc) but i have been pleasantly suprised on how cheap parts are for these things.

I would like to thank everyone who submits any DIY instructions or ideas on the site. I have already utilized quite a bit of info about convertible top replacement and so on that will help me greatly.

[Briano1234]

Welcome to cabby hood, just make sure your garage is heated as you really need 75 degrees to get the vinyl to stretch.

[CalAltaDubber]

Saskatchewan eh. That's like next door. Where in Sask. are you?

If you are near Regina, I can refer you to a couple of VW gurus that can certainly pass you some good information.

Nice looking car. was the hail damage restricted to the top? Or was there some body damage too?

[Briano1234]

For some Hail damage try this trick. Heat lamp Heat the metal of the area (don't scorch the paint but get hte metal to about 120.).... Then place a piece of dry ice over the dent.

[waldeck]

I live just outide of Swift Current in a small town called Waldeck. I got the car from SGI Salvage in Saskatoon. There is hail damage on the hood but it's not that bad. There is a PDR place in town that does good work but maybe I'll try Briano's trick. Where does a guy buy dry ice anyway? I'm pretty sure the top is the original because it is pretty rotten. The insurance company got top pricing right from Volkswagen ($1300CDN) hence why they totalled the car.

I bought the car to fix up over the winter to keep myself from sitting on the couch too long. Last year it was an 87 Jeep YJ and if the rabbit is anything like it, I'll have way too much money into the damned thing by the time I'm done. Lol. I've got a nice YJ though. I've always like VW's and my wife has an 08 Rabbit so for $600 it seemed like a no brainer to me.

[CalAltaDubber]

I live just outide of Swift Current in a small town called Waldeck. I got the car from SGI Salvage in Saskatoon. There is hail damage on the hood but it's not that bad. There is a PDR place in town that does good work but maybe I'll try Briano's trick. Where does a guy buy dry ice anyway? I'm pretty sure the top is the original because it is pretty rotten. The insurance company got top pricing right from Volkswagen ($1300CDN) hence why they totalled the car.

Gotta love the way insurance companies write off some cars. VW dealers just job out that kind of work to an upolstry shop.

I replaced the top on one of my bunnies last year. It cost me about $350 CDN for parts and a week end of my time. It's not hard, but you do have to pay attention to detail. I bought my top through Concept 1 in Calgary. Doing that cost about the same as ordering one from the US directly.

There was some lead time needed to order the top. My garage is not heated so I waited until Easter week end to do the job.

Swift Current, that's closer than I thought. Well if you are travelling to Calgary, give me a shout.

[waldeck]

Got the garage heated, although it got to 13C here today
I just received my Top , pad, cables and headliner from Cali for just over $500 (including shipping).
Got any tips about installing the new headliner? I haven't found any write ups on it. I did take some pictures when I was removing the old one but probably should have drank one less beer. I'm actually just cleaning the frame and waiting for some new lift struts to arive before I dive into the install.
I do come up that way from time to time as my sister lives in Red Deer.

[Briano1234]

See if Kammy can get a hold of Katherine I should have her PDF on the Headliner... I will have to look.

[kamzcab86]

See if Kammy can get a hold of Katherine I should have her PDF on the Headliner... I will have to look.

Katherine still has it on her server: http://www.atomicalex.com/art/VW Conv Tops_r.pdf .

You'll have to copy/paste that URL.

Edit: And welcome to TRF!

[waldeck]

Katherine still has it on her server: http://www.atomicalex.com/art/VW Conv Tops_r.pdf .

You'll have to copy/paste that URL.

Thanks guys! I totally can't get this URL to work though.......

[kamzcab86]

The link won't work just clicking on it; it needs to be copied and pasted into your brower's address bar, but some browsers don't support empty spaces.

Edit: If that also didn't work, try this: http://www.cabby-info.com/Files/VW20Conv20Tops_r.pdf .

[Briano1234]

Ie works, mozilla don't

[kamzcab86]

Ie works, mozilla don't

Firefox is all I use ("hate" isn't a strong enough word for IE ) and it works for me... weird.

I've uploaded it to my server; link edited above and here it is again: http://www.cabby-info.com/Files/VW20Conv20Tops_r.pdf

[Briano1234]

I use IE for work but mozilla every else. I too finally saved a copy of it...why not it's half mine

[waldeck]

Thanks! I am forever grateful. Awesome info!