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1981 Volkswagen Rabbit Caddy 1.6l Turbo Diesel 5 Speed Manual, Svo Conversion on 2040-cars

Year:1981 Mileage:246183 Color: Blue /
 Blue
Location:

Banks, Oregon, United States

Banks, Oregon, United States
Advertising:
Transmission:Manual
Body Type:Pickup Truck
Engine:1.6 liter 4 cylinder turbo diesel
Vehicle Title:Clear
Fuel Type:Diesel
For Sale By:Private Seller
VIN: 1v1kg0172bv128166 Year: 1981
Number of Cylinders: 4
Make: Volkswagen
Model: Rabbit
Trim: Caddy Pickup Truck
Cab Type (For Trucks Only): Regular Cab
Drive Type: front wheel drive
Options: Leather Seats, CD Player
Mileage: 246,183
Sub Model: caddy
Exterior Color: Blue
Warranty: Vehicle does NOT have an existing warranty
Interior Color: Blue
Number of Doors: 2
Condition: Used: A vehicle is considered used if it has been registered and issued a title. Used vehicles have had at least one previous owner. The condition of the exterior, interior and engine can vary depending on the vehicle's history. See the seller's listing for full details and description of any imperfections. ... 

 I have worked on this project for the last 6 years. It was a fun experiment but things have changed and it's time to move on. My initial reason for getting this was the prospect of using vegetable oil as a motor fuel. The VW seemed to be one of the more popular donors and was in the affordable end of diesel powered vehicles. I chose the Caddy as A. it is a pick-up handy for hauling things. B. It is not some behemoth that would get 10 MPG on a good day. C. It's front wheel drive. Good for bad weather driving . and D. It's a cool looking rig.
  While the primary reason was to create an alternative fuel vehicle, being a lifelong hot-rodder, I had to improve the basic machine. Modifications are as follows:
> 10" vented rotors w/ Audi calipers-front
> '85 GTI rear disc brakes
> '89 Jetta master cyl. for 4 wheel discs
> Sirocco K-bar frame brace
> '94 jetta trans w/ 3.67 ratio and .80 5th gear. This required the 215mm clutch conversion which doesn't slip like the old one. It's also an 11 lb flywheel instead of 13 lb for a little quicker revving.
> And , most of all, a 1992 jetta 1.6 turbo diesel engine. I put on a 2 1/2 " exhaust system as the stock one is a crime. K&N air filter. The blow-off valve has been shut so the waste-gate goes at 15 lbs. The pump which was rebuilt about 200 miles ago is adjusted for max power.
   The injectors are new.

  The basic vehicle is in pretty good shape considering it's 32 years old. The original owner opted for the undercoating so it isn't a total rust bucket. The strut towers and suspension attaching points are solid. There was some rust below the rear window but that has been repaired.
Everyone knows that rabbits leak like a sieve so this one was totally trashed when I got it. I tore everything out and repaired and replaced the bad stuff. The windshield caught a rock and I was fortunate to find a tinted replacement. A new gasket and good to go. All of the suspension has been rebuilt with new bearings, ball joints, tie rod ends and KYB struts.

 THE SVO SYSTEM :   The primary purpose of this project was experiment with the feasibility of  an alternative fuel vehicle. Using free vegetable oil sounded great mainly because of the word free. I could have made bio-diesel or just go with straight vegetable oil. Bio involves a lot of processing with dangerous chemicals and I'd have to but a lot of methanol at $7.00 a gallon. SVO just needs to be cleaned and heated and off you go-or so it seems. The problem is that there is a lot of bad and incomplete information out there and wading through it all and finally finding the best process takes an enormous amount of time, and as I have found out, money. I now have a system that while not the prettiest, does function with minimal attention. It consists of:
> a 10 gallon stainless steel oil tank with heater.
> a Racor water separating filter with heater
> A tried and true switching valve.
 I have a processing system that makes a good product that removes many of the evils that have caused me grief over the years. I will sell that for an additional $200. The filter alone was $175. I will also tell you everything I know so that you don't have to make the same mistakes that I did.

EVERY VW PART I OWN:  Over the life of this project there have been many trips to the junkyard. I have a large collection of spare  parts that I will never use again, so I'm including it in the package. Too much to list-look at the pictures.

ETC;  It has a rare bed liner that really makes it look much better than the beat-up box. It has leather seats and an upgraded dash. I installed opening wing windows that are the newer bolted type. I did a paint job. Not the best but much better than it was. The front bumper is from an earlier model. I removed those turn signals and installed driving lights. It's got 15" mags with 195-50-15 tires. I've got a set of 13" mags but they won't fit over the bigger brakes. While the odometer says 246K, I set it at 200K when I started. Most of the suspension and drive train doesn't have that much usage on it.

The bad:  It has a cracked head. I changed the proverbial  " blown head gasket" but that wasn't it. It fires right up but you can only get about a half mile before it overheats and you have to shut it down. I wish it didn't but it's a common problem. Therefore, it will have to be towed or          trailered home.

In it's hey-day, it would hold it's own. Diesel rabbits have a reputation as slugs and a lot of cars show no respect. I beat many of them when I put the pedal down. It pulls hard at 70 in 5th and I've had it over 100. On vegetable oil too. It's a great little ride that you can haul stuff in and still get good mileage.  I'm moving on to other projects so it's time for this one to go.

  Local pick up only. If you want it shipped, that's on you. I will help where I can, but that's not my forte.  Please ask questions early. I work odd days and hours and may not be able to respond to last minute queries.

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Auto blog

An inside look at VW's new California R&D center

Thu, 18 Oct 2012

Less than two months ago, the Volkswagen Group opened a new facility in Oxnard, California (about an hour's drive west of Los Angeles). The $27 million investment, touted as Test Center California (TCC), serves as a research and development lab testing emissions for all brands under Volkswagen's umbrella, including its newest member, Porsche. While still not fully operational, we toured the new 64,000-square-foot building last week and had a first-hand opportunity to see just how much work is involved testing engines and meeting increasingly stringent government emissions standards.
Replacing a similar facility established in 1990 in Westlake Village (about 20-minutes east of the new location), our guide explained how Oxnard was chosen for its temperate climate, varied regional terrain for test drives and low altitude. (The area is only a few feet above sea level - a critical parameter when instrument testing emissions.) The new facility is capable of analyzing hundreds of vehicles, prototypes and customer-owned vehicles, annually.
Most interesting to us was the huge stainless steel climate chamber, with a massive four-wheel dynamometer that allows VW to test running vehicles in both scorching desert and freezing climates without ever leaving the building (an Audi Q7 was running in place during our visit). We were also mesmerized by the countless storage tanks and intricate plumbing of chemicals, stored in both liquid and gas states, needed to perform the variety of tests. Lastly, we took a look at Bugatti's service center on the west coast, located completely within the new center. While there were no supercars on site, the facility is equipped with plenty of spare forged wheels (mounted with expensive Michelin PAX tires) and a Veyron-specific repair jig that allows the vehicle to be completely disassembled, if needed. It is a shame that the facility, which set off all of our automotive geek alerts, is closed to the public.

VW admits 430,000 2016 models have implausible CO2 ratings

Mon, Nov 16 2015

Volkswagen finally explained more details about its CO2 rating scandal in Europe and admitted that 430,046 of the estimated 800,000 affected vehicles with "implausible" figures came from the 2016 model year. They included some from Audi, Seat, Skoda, VW, and VW Commercial Vehicles, according to the automaker's list (as a PDF). The problem mostly impacts diesel engines, but the inventory also shows some gasoline mills. VW will next determine the accurate CO2 emissions for these vehicles, and the German Federal Vehicle and Transport Authority will supervise that process to ensure the data's veracity. The automaker will also launch websites in Europe to let owners enter their model's VIN to check whether it's affected. Because governments there often link vehicle taxes and CO2 production, the company promises to work with regulators in each country to cover any fees that result from the inaccurate figures. VW announced the CO2 scandal earlier in November and estimated the equivalent of $2.2 billion to fix it at the time. A later report claimed that a group of engineers were responsible for fabricating the emissions data. They allegedly couldn't meet reduction goals from Martin Winterkorn, and between 2013 and this spring the workers did things like overinflate the tires during testing to achieve the desired results. VW is also closer to a fix in the diesel emissions scandal. According to an anonymous insider to Bloomberg, the company has a repair for the 1.6-liter engine that's reportedly neither very complex nor expensive. German regulators would still need to approve the solution before it could roll out to owners. Next step in clarifying the CO2 issue Affected Volkswagen Group models of the current model year have been identified Customers being informed via website Discussions with the authorities have begun The Volkswagen Group reports that the vehicles of the 2016 model year affected by the CO2 issue have been identified. There is thus now clarity about the new vehicles of the current model year out in the marketplace. On 3 November 2015, the Group had already reported that irregularities may have arisen in determining the CO2 figures for type approval of around 800,000 vehicles. This was identified during its own currently ongoing investigations and had been made public. The internal investigations into the current vehicles of the 2016 model year provide results for narrowing down the actually affected vehicles with implausible CO2 figures.

Which will Dieselgate hurt more, Volkswagen or US diesels?

Tue, Sep 22 2015

The most damning response to the news Volkswagen skirted emissions regulations for its diesel models may have actually come from the Los Angeles Times. On Saturday, the Times published an editorial titled "Did Volkswagen cheat?" The answer was undoubtedly yes. When you can't drive down Santa Monica Boulevard without seeing an average of one VW TDI per block, the following words are pretty striking: "... Americans should be outraged at the company's cynical and deliberate efforts to violate one of this country's most important environmental laws." VW has successfully cultivated a strong, environmentally conscious reputation for its TDI Clean Diesel technology, especially in states where emissions are strictly controlled. A statement like that is like blood all over the opinion section of the Sunday paper. The effect on VW's business, even Germany's financial health, was already felt Monday when the company's shares plummeted 23 percent in morning trading. The statement on Sunday from VW CEO Dr. Martin Winterkorn says "trust" three times. That probably wasn't enough in nine sentences. Writers over the weekend have compared VW's crisis to one at General Motors 30 years ago, when it was the largest seller of diesel-powered passenger cars until warranty claims over an inadequate design and ill-informed technicians effectively pulled the plug on the technology at GM. In a sense, VW is in the same boat as GM because it has fired a huge blow into its own reputation and that of diesels in passenger cars. And just as automakers like Jaguar Land Rover, BMW and, ironically, GM, were getting comfortable with it again in the US. VW of America was already knee-deep in its other problems this year. Its core Jetta and Passat models are aging and it needs to wait more than a year for competitive SUVs that American buyers want. The TDIs were the only continuous bright spot in the line and on the sales charts. Even as fuel prices fell and buyers shunned hybrids, VW managed to succeed with diesels and show that Americans actually care about and accept the technology again. Fervent TDI supporters might actually lobby for that maximum $18 billion fine to VW. I've personally convinced a number of people to look at a TDI instead of a hybrid. Perhaps not so much for stop-and-go traffic, but I know buyers who liked the idea that a TDI drove like a normal car and wasn't packed with batteries.