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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

2015 Green Car Of The Year finalists announced, run alt-fuel gamut

Tue, Oct 21 2014

The 2015 edition of the Green Car of the Year award is following right in the footsteps of previous years with a variety of alt-fuel powertrains making the just-announced finalists list. You've got your plug-in vehicle (the BMW i3), your compressed natural gas (the Chevy Impala Bi-Fuel), your high-efficiency diesel (the Audi A3 TDI), your 40+ mile-per-gallon gas engine (the Honda Fit) and, finally, a car that can do a little bit of everything (the VW Golf). The Golf is available – at least in some parts of the US – with three different powertrains: a 2.0-liter diesel, a gasoline engine and all-electric drive. The Impala can burn either natural gas or gasoline in its 3.6-liter engine. The A3 is an efficiency champ, able to get 73.5 mpg on some European tests. The i3 can be a pure electric vehicle or come with a short range extending engine. And the Fit brings 41 miles to the gallon in a practical, affordable package. The GCOY award is announced every year at the Los Angeles Auto Show by Green Car Journal. The committee doesn't just take the fuel-saving technology into account, but also a vehicle's "availability to the mass market." Last year, the Honda Accord Hybrid/Plug-In Hybrid won top honors, following up on wins from the Ford Fusion models (plug-in hybrid and hybrid) for 2013, the Honda Civic Natural Gas for 2012 and the Chevrolet Volt for 2011. FINALISTS ANNOUNCED FOR 2015 "GREEN CAR OF THE YEAR"" Green Car Journal to Reveal Winner of 10th Annual Award at LA Auto Show" Press & Trade Days, November 20 LOS ANGELES, CA (October 21, 2014) – Green Car Journal has announced its five finalists for the magazine's high-profile 2015 Green Car of the Year® program. The 2015 models include the Audi A3 TDI, BMW i3, Chevrolet Impala Bi-Fuel, Honda Fit, and VW Golf. The Green Car of the Year® award, an honor widely recognized as the auto industry's most important environmental accolade, celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. An increasing number of vehicle models are considered for the Green Car of the Year® program each year, a reflection of the auto industry's expanding efforts in offering new vehicles with higher efficiency and improved environmental impact. Green Car Journal has been honoring the most important "green" vehicles every year at the LA Auto Show, since its inaugural award announced at the show in 2005.

Poor headlights cause 40 cars to miss IIHS Top Safety Pick rating

Mon, Aug 6 2018

Over the past few months, we've noticed a number of cars and SUVs that have come incredibly close to earning one of the IIHS's highest accolades, the Top Safety Pick rating. They have great crash test scores and solid automatic emergency braking and forward collision warning systems. What trips them up is headlights. That got us wondering, how many vehicles are there that are coming up short because they don't have headlights that meet the organization's criteria for an "Acceptable" or "Good" rating. This is a revision made after 2017, a year in which headlights weren't factored in for this specific award. This is also why why some vehicles, such as the Ford F-150, might have had the award last year, but have lost it for this year. We reached out to someone at IIHS to find out. He responded with the following car models. Depending on how you count, a whopping 40 models crash well enough to receive the rating, but don't get it because their headlights are either "Poor" or "Marginal." We say depending on how you count because the IIHS actual counts truck body styles differently, and the Infiniti Q70 is a special case. Apparently the version of the Q70 that has good headlights doesn't have adequate forward collision prevention technology. And the one that has good forward collision tech doesn't have good enough headlights. We've provided the entire list of vehicles below in alphabetical order. Interestingly, it seems the Volkswagen Group is having the most difficulty providing good headlights with its otherwise safe cars. It had the most models on the list at 9 split between Audi and Volkswagen. GM is next in line with 7 models. It is worth noting again that though these vehicles have subpar headlights and don't quite earn Top Safety Pick awards, that doesn't mean they're unsafe. They all score well enough in crash testing and forward collision prevention that they would get the coveted award if the lights were better.

Volkswagen Golf, Ford F-150 named 2015 North American Car and Truck/Utility of the Year

Mon, Jan 12 2015

Congratulations, Volkswagen Golf/GTI and Ford F-150. You've just been named the 2015 North American Car and Truck/Utility of the Year, kicking off the first press day of the Detroit Auto Show. The Golf faced some seriously stiff competition from its runners-up, the Ford Mustang and Hyundai Genesis. But the Golf has been a highly awarded vehicle since its launch, including recently being named Motor Trend's Car of the Year. As for the Truck/Utility award, it wasn't immediately clear that the aluminum-bodied Ford F-150 would win the North American honor, topping the Chevrolet Colorado and Lincoln MKC. The Chevy, after all, has been widely praised since arriving this fall, including taking home MT's Truck of the Year award. In 2014, Chevrolet had a sweep of the NACTOY awards, with the Corvette Stingray and Silverado taking top honors. Here's a look at the 2015 North American Car and Truck/Utility of the Year voting breakdown. As you can see, it wasn't exactly neck and neck. Car of the Year Volkswagen Golf/GTI – 256 points Ford Mustang – 204 points Hyundai Genesis – 110 points Truck/Utility of the Year Ford F-150 – 297 points Chevrolet Colorado – 205 points Lincoln MKC – 68 points The winners were determined by the votes of 57 North American jurors who work in all forms of media – magazine, newspaper, television, online and radio, and their ballots were tabulated in secret by accounting firm Deloitte & Touche. Autoblog editors Sharon Carty and Chris Paukert are members of the North American Car and Truck/Utility of the Year jury. Featured Gallery 2015 Volkswagen Golf TSI View 16 Photos Related Gallery 2015 Ford F-150 View 36 Photos Detroit Auto Show Ford Volkswagen Truck Hatchback 2015 Detroit Auto Show NACTOY