Category Archives: 1981 VW Rabbit Project

Memorial Day Weekend Tinkering

Spent a little time working on the Rabbit today.  It was roasting outside, so I waited until there was a little shade mid-afternoon.  Got a new air filter earlier this morning, and I made today’s mission one of installing it, and generally cleaning up those areas.

Took the air ducts off the throttle body, and the air regulator doo-hickey.  Removed the lower part of the housing where the air filter is supposed to live.  Cleaned up the housing with some sun and earth cleaner and few paper towels, it was pretty gross.  Put the new air filter back and (after some initial frustration) got all the clamps back together to keep everything shut up tight.

Main Air Ducts in 1981 VW Rabbit ConvertibleOh, and here is a picture of the Auxiliary Air Regulator I had taken out and reinstalled the other day:

Auxiliary Air Regulator on 1981 VW Rabbit ConvertibleWhile I was working near the throttle body, I took a peak inside to see it in action, I’ve took a little video while working  on it.  I cleaned it up with some carb cleaner like I’ve seen done in many many videos online, and I just generally cleaned around that area.  I also ‘shortened the leash’ on the accelerator cable a bit, I may have to re-adjust at some point.

 

Oxygen, oh air!

Yesterday I was tooling around in the rabbit, and since I made some good progress with the electricals, I wanted to try and figure out what kept the engine from completely starting.

Reading in the Bentley manual, I noticed that the starter motor is supposed to have a ground going from the – bolt to somewhere, either the chassis or the – battery post.  I stopped by the local Advanced Auto Parts (recently opened, had to check it out), and bought a cheap grounding strap.  Didn’t realize how short it was till I got back to the rabbit, so my idea of adding it to the battery post faded.  I just bolted it to a hole on the chassis for now.

Tried starting up again, no real difference in the way it performed, still shut off after releasing the key.  Then I started to think about air and gas, I finally got spark, and these are the other two major components to a happy engine (also compression?).  Sooo, I started up the car and decided to rev it up a bunch to see if I could clear a blockage or get some much needed gas into the lines.  Gave a good press on the gas while starting and all I got was a good stall.

This should probably give me a clue, and I haven’t had time to poke on the net yet, but I did start taking a look at the air hoses.  It looks like some may be missing, but the main ones going towards the engine are intact.  I believe a found the auxiliary air regulator, near the top of the engine, so I took it out to clean it up a bit, luckily I found and old allen of the perfect size lying in the front bumper of the rabbit (not mine, but oh so strangely convenient) that I used to take it out with.

You can’t see it in the pic below, but it’s right behind that hose in the top left, next to the cold start injector.

Auxillary Air Regulator

Oh yes, and as I was poking around, I peeked at the air filter, only to discover NO air filter, I’ll add that to my list of things to “get” for the rabbit.

I’ll take some pics before I put it back in, but I think it’s just fine.  Now, I’m not sure if all the wires going to it are powered, we’ll see.  I know this probably didn’t help get the car going, but’s nice to take a piece off, and put things back, I’m beginning to get more comfortable working with the rabbit, no need to be timid on a project car!

Partial Start!

Good, good, GOOD news!  I’ve kinda almost got the rabbit started.  With the help of the Bentley manual, some wire and connectors, and noticing that I have an ignition control unit, I was able to get some new action out of the once-quiet rabbit.

I rewired the connections that go to the ignition coil, and created a new wire that goes from the starter solenoid to the ignition coil (where there was none previously).

When I turn the ignition to the on/start position, the car sounds like it’s started, but when I release the key, the engine shuts off right away.

It looks like no one ever put a ground strap on the starter solenoid, so I’ll get one of those on soon and ground it.  Maybe that will do the trick!

No one ever did make it over with a flat bed, but I think it’s fate, I was just meant to fix it myself.  One step closer  :-D