Let the fun begin 81 rabbit pickup

Greeting to all,

I am going to make this short. I will give more details if needed or wanted.

Want to do : convert my 81 rabbit pickup

I do not know what engine I want still in the research stage.

Asking for help what should I put in the old girl ?

What I have seen and like is Top Gears: Project Sipster can it be done ? Is there something better to do ?

Thank you for your help guys.

I doing same thing

I am tired of 50 smokey hp also! I am in research stage, but picked up a 2001 alh 1.9 tdi motor with broken timing belt/ couple bent valves. Earlier motors are easier from what I have read so far ( AAZ, AHU). You will need a newer transmission also to get good mpg at a realistic speed. Good luck!

I have an '82 VW Rabbit Pickup with the gasser engine! I plan to install a 1.6 TD with Intercooler....

This will be my next project!

Keep us posted on your progress ........

Rafter, do your self a favor, look for a 96-97 passat,or 97-99 jetta,buy the whole car. If this is your first swap it will save you an enormous amount of time and money. Use the 1z motor and trans that came in the car. You will have 90% of what you need to complete the swap. The passat wiring harness will work better in a mk1, with little or no modification. Use the fuse box that comes with the car (ce2) and you will save soooo many headaches and more time for beer.

Thank you for the input I had no realistic idea where to start. I have been looking and thinking about doing this swap for 3 years. It is just time to do it and see what happens.

I have never done a swap but I done a lot of shade tree mechanic projects. So this will be my first if all goes well there will be more to follow.


Do I want to just stay with the whole engine and transmission?
Or do i want to miss match like the Sipster?
They did a 1998 TDI (jetta) transmission with a newer 2003 TDI (jetta) engine.
Would that match fit in the mine pickup ?

I know from all the reading on this Forum that I am not going to get the 70 mpg as a every day driver but if I got 50 plus I would be all smiles. And plus I do not need a super fast truck I do need it where it will get up to speed and flow of traffic ( I live in the Bay area of San Francisco).

Thanks so much for letting me pick your guys brains. I know I will have many more questions and this build goes on.

I think they used an AlH engine because it's slightly more efficient and a little more torque. I think they used the eairlier transmission because there is a taller 5th gear available (needs to be swapped) from a euro spec van. I could be wrong, can anybody ad to this or correct this! They were shooting for 70+ mpg so they went to extreme measures to make sure hwy cruising speed was exactly on torque peak. As a daily driver probably not as important. Listen to 2manydiesels advice and buy a whole car with 1z.

The more I thought about it today at work and what I want plus since this is my first swap I am going to buy a whole car no miss matching this go around. I have been looking at the salvage sites and I am finding a ton of 2000 - 2012 jetta tdi s. I need to see if these engines will fit in my 81 rabbit. I do not mind if I have to do some chopping and wielding as needed. I do want to get a new wielder and what better excuse but for the rabbit.

make it easier on yourself and get a 1998 jetta tdi. Use both trans and engine, the AHU engine fits without modification right in there. I've done two of these swaps and they are really, really nice!

The swap is a go!!! All that is missing is the donor car. It is just harder to locate a 97-99 TDI. The new TDI's (06-12) are so tempting since they are everywhere and prices so low.

Oh man - if you could do a commonrail swap, you'd be my hero. Pretty expensive though. 60+ mpg should be super easy to achieve.

Can anyone out there tell me why it is a bad idea to put a newer tdi (06-12) in the MK1 pickup. Does it not fit? Is the wiring a bear?

Thank you to everyone that has given me some pointers So far it has given me a place to start the is engine swap. I am just starting into my addiction to TDI's. I know the mpg they get form my 02 jetta. And from the performance point I think I am not to far off from that leap.

If the engine does not fit in the MK1 I may just get a different little truck to put it in.
But I really want it to work with the Mk1. I just like driving the little guy plus not everyone and their brother drives a Vw pickup.

rafter 4x4 said:

Can anyone out there tell me why it is a bad idea to put a newer tdi (06-12) in the MK1 pickup. Does it not fit? Is the wiring a bear?

Thank you to everyone that has given me some pointers So far it has given me a place to start the is engine swap. I am just starting into my addiction to TDI's. I know the mpg they get form my 02 jetta. And from the performance point I think I am not to far off from that leap.

If the engine does not fit in the MK1 I may just get a different little truck to put it in.
But I really want it to work with the Mk1. I just like driving the little guy plus not everyone and their brother drives a Vw pickup.

Click to expand...

You can you use the 2006+ TDI engines in your MK1 Volkswagen but it is going to have some running issues and will perform less than satisfactory as compared to a pre 2006 engine.

This issue with the MK5 engines is the electronics. I have done a couple MK5 TDI harnesses for people now it is had been a headache for them.

All 2006 and later Volkswagens have ABS as a standard feature and because of this, VAG eliminated the legacy circuitry for the Vehicle Speed Sensor (VSS) - so no more pulsed signal from the gearbox to the speedometer / ECU to determine speed. The ABS system knows the speed of the vehicle so the speedometer and the ECU poll the ABS controller via the CAN bus for the speed of the vehicle. Front right wheel IIRC.

So unless you are willing to install the MK5 ABS system in your MK1 your TDI will not run correctly and things like cruise control won't work. You might be able to get away with not installing the entire ABS system and just use the ABS controller and then put a bogus input on the ABS wheel speed sensors - this is only a theory, but I can't see why it wouldn't work with lots of screwing around.

This also means you will have to install the MK5 speedometer as it also serves as the CAN bus controller.

I have a 1982 Cabriolet that I am seriously thinking of installing a MK5 engine into, but this will take all winter to do and really I am not sure if I want to go through all the BS needed to make it work correctly. Much simpler to get a MK4 engine, rid the IMMO and then it is a fairly straight forward swap.

Cheers!

well life is moving fast work is picking up and I am still thinking about what all I want to do. I am thinking it all comes down to how much work do i want to do on the swap. and if I can find the donor car I want. I am going to talk to some of my friends this weekend that have done engine swaps in the past and see that they know about all the electronics in the new engines and if a few red neck country boys can handle it or not. With all this re searching I can not wait until I get started on this whole adventure good or bad. I know I will learn something.

Greetings, the chance finally got here . I have purchased a running 98 Jetta. I know I have not been logged in for long time. I want to thank everyone again for the help so far. I'm sure many more questions to come. Since this is my first swap I have been looking at an S and P automotive swap kit. Has anyone used it before? I'm shooting for a 90% stock add ons I want from the Jetta is Cruse control and A/C. I am planning on doing the swap starting July 1. Trying to order as much as Possible ahead of schedule trying to complete swap in 3 weeks vacation. Any pointers or heads up? Is this even a realistic goal? End goal is to have truck as Daly driver.
Things to make hopefully make swap easier.
98 Jetta whole car still drivable only 170,000 miles.
S&P mk1 swap kit
And anything you all would be good to replace or up grade while having truck apart.

Damg be I just looked at the last time I was here 2012... Work always get in the way.

I'm glad 4 years didn't deter you! Post pix for us of the two cars!

I have been reading as many threads and posting possible. Any recommendations?

Looking for upgrading:
Clutch
Radiator (going to add a/c)
Headlights (drive to work in the dark every day)
Suspension
What tire size I should go with stay 13" or go bigger tires .

What is the 10% the donor car won't have ? That I will need to order.

Donor car is a 98 tdi Jetta
Z1/AMC

Sounds like a baller swap, Id love to have that setup.

Cool - my Caddy is the same color...for now.

I worked a lot with project sipster - it was a fun one.

I have two factory new CR170 complete engines with ECU's here, if you really want stupid crazy hp that would be a fun way to go....

We had a Mk 1 Rabbit in (from memory) the same color as your caddy. Our actual Mk 1 pick-up was tan, with a 5spd stick, but......gasser.

Take a look here, good luck!

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=440146

Vacation is approved July will b a great month. Just hoping I'm not bitting off more than I can chew. But how do you know what you can do with out stepping out of the comfort zone.