[Mannywhan]

It does look like there’s a small bit out of round, looking at the second picture of the injector flange. I’m not familiar with the tool you mentioned but am open to trying it - new injectors are expensive!!

Yah.. I just redid did all my brake lines with new piping, with this tool from autozone (green colored). You'll also need a small pipe cutter too for like another $10. There are so many variations of the tool and I'd cut the least material off as possible with the cutter and then reflange...

This kit on Harbor freight includes both for 14.99

EDIT: yeah that's not going to work. I thought it was on the pipe end. I just sold a set of working injectors for $70. You may get lucky on ebay.

 

[fatmobile]

What does the end of the line look like?
I prefer to tighten them some then more if they leak.
Doesn't take as much as most people would think and you can smash the line end.

 

[cripplecreek]

What does the end of the line look like?
I prefer to tighten them some then more if they leak.
Doesn't take as much as most people would think and you can smash the line end.

The new line looked fine to me - had a small bit of surface rust which I took off with some emery cloth, but it didn’t make a difference, the leak was still there. Is there a torque spec for the injector lines? I did kinda crank on this new one when first installing it, just to make sure I could get home, but ya know, within reason. But I do wonder how the injector side got that little warp in it, seems overtightening could be as good a guess as any.

 

[cripplecreek]

Hey y’all, just checkin in quickly; I’ve been mainly waiting on parts so haven’t had much to update. Got a new Bosch injector to replace the cursed #3 one and a new set of lines to go with it; damn parts place ain’t cheap, I’m already close to the budget limit I set for this truck, but ain’t that how it goes…

The new injector seems to have solved the problem, and the truck runs a lot better, but I’m now having an odd problem with the engine surging coming out of gear. It doesn’t happen when the engine is cold but once things warm up it’ll idle high & erratically pretty much every time I shift into neutral. The only thing that fixes it is to drop it into gear, lug it for a split second and then pull back to neutral. Gonna have to do some more research on this but my thoughts are pointing to the shift linkage — I have a missing linkz kit on order so will see if that fixes things. Gonna adjust the clutch cable during the install in case it might not be disengaging all the way, or something.

Anyway, today some exciting things did come in: the carpet and paint!

Gettin’ excited about really starting on this project. Lula’s been acting a little expectant, so I made sure she knew she wasn’t about to get somethin’ for nothin’. A few trips to the dump with these hot tub parts oughta set her straight.

 

[cripplecreek]

Hi y’all, been gone for a minute working on unrelated things, finally had time to get started on Lula this past week. Here’s where she’s at now:

I’m working with pretty minimal tools here so work is coming along slowly. Got the whole body stripped down, interior stripped, doors and windows removed, back glass out. Waiting for a nice warm day to pull the windshield.

I took the passenger fender off to have a better go at the rust on the opposite side of the door mount and discovered a pretty significant rust hole - much larger than what was originally my main concern on the floor pan. You can see daylight pretty clearly through there now! You can also see a slop of bondo from a previous repair to this area. Any thoughts on the cause of so much rust in this area? Leak between the fenders? It doesn’t seem like somewhere water could sit for very long but y’all know a good deal more than I do.

Just gonna keep chipping away at this tar n interior paint for now, still probably a week or so away from starting any repairs, but im feeling excited to be making progress finally!

 

[ToddA1]

Any thoughts on the cause of so much rust in this area? Leak between the fenders?

Bingo…. those 2x walled areas sent many of these to the scrapyards.

-Todd

 

[Mannywhan]

Bingo…. those 2x walled areas sent many of these to the scrapyards.

-Todd

There was a Sportwagon I went to purchase and it look clean for it's age from the top of the engine bay. That was until I moved the wheels to the left. The rust deep under was so bad, it would've dropped it's suspension while I was towing it.

Worst part was that as soon as I found the problem, the seller and his son was like "let's just scrap it now". Like in a "we tried to sell a deathtrap but it's apparent to everyone who comes here where the rust lay in these cars.

The kid had another one in his garage that he was doing single sheet metal replacement on the fenders, and even mentioned the two walled areas.

Scumbags.

 

[fastinradford]

Yup I just fixed a hole just like that.

Cut the outer layer off the inner fender and have a looksie.

Mine was just like that. And the rust had spread.

The rust seems inevitable once you see inside that pannel. Just a cutoff wheel of sorts is all it takes.

So what happened to me was the rust caused the firewall, the rain tray and front ‘frame horn’ to all begin disconnecting and they all intersect at that same place.


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[fastinradford]

Also for the injector. If you replaced ONE and the engine runs better I would at least do nozzles on the rest or put them on a tester.
I almost guarantee that stumbling is fuel dribbling from the remaining injectors.

It’s always best to test all 4 because ‘stock’ is not always mean equal to your injectors.


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[ToddA1]

I’d think if you’re actually looking for one of these, you’ve done your research about the pitfalls of ownership. It’s been heavily documented.

When I was first getting into VWs, there was one JY I’d always frequent… always a ton of Rabbits. They had many trucks and opening the hoods, I always saw tons of rot, and this was 25+ years ago.

-Todd

 

[mokoosh]

I always saw tons of rot, and this was 25+ years ago.

That's the Northeast for yah. Constant high humidity eating cars away from between the panels. I bet the interiors weren't all baked to dust, though.

 

[cripplecreek]

Thanks for all of the info and suggestions guys!

I’m not necessarily surprised to find rust here - this is my third rabbit and I did go thru the main rust areas pretty thoroughly on first examination; the shock towers are solid, the floorboards are decent, and the frame looked straight, and that was mainly what I was immediately concerned about. But this is also by the furthest I’ve been into a vehicle before, so I guess it should be expected to find some surprises. I’m gonna try and get into the other fender today and make sure I can shore up those areas, reapply some fresh undercoating and patch whatever needs work. I did some painting, powdercoating and light bodywork for a small shop in Seattle at the start of the pandemic, but it’s a different thing working on cars for people who can pay for that sort of work to be done for them; they tended to be starting with vehicles that were in somewhat better condition than what I could afford generally speaking.

It’s funny having this truck out in New Mexico; people stop me all the time to ask about it, a few people offered to buy it from me right there, lol. mk1s seem to be really rare out here, compared to the dozens I used to see around in the northwest. Ive seen one gas 4dr rabbit downtown, but I think that’s it. So it’s lucky the body of this truck is pretty solid, as I’m not sure I’d have any luck finding other mk1s to pull parts off of in the area.

That said, I did destroy both my side vents pulling them out of the dash - I was using Briano’s coat hanger wire method to pull them straight out, but they were so brittle theyre both in a dozen pieces now anyway. It’s going to be tricky figuring out a solution for getting them back together.