My Dad bought one new. '81 2 door. 1.6 NA There was an issue with
block early on (~ 30K km's) . Dealership ended up doing some major
work. That said, it ran great until I, "ahem", ran it low on coolant.
Cracked the head. Replaced head. Ran fine. It had at least 400K km's
on it and I'm certain it would have run for much longer had purchaser
not written it off.

That engine, with 5 speed, is just great. If you drive it right, you
can get around just fine.

I did not do extensive work on that car beyond rear wheel bearings and
head, but it seemed pretty easy to work on.

Closely inspect for any water leaks damaging fuse box. This was a
problem area on mine and IIRC, was not uncommon.

Neil.

On Fri, Jun 17, 2011 at 2:04 PM, Anthony Egeln <regnsuzanne@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Today I was thinking about the old diesel rabbits from the early '80's.
> Does anyone recall which engine came stock in the car; was it a 1.6 NA or 1.6 TD?
> Would it be difficult to convert to a 1.9 TD?
> Are they a headache to maintain? �My gut reaction is�it would be a trouble free�vehicle, IF set-up properly at the start.
> I had a couple of gas rabbits back in the day, that I enjoyed very much, and thought a well maintained diesel version might be an economical car for teenagers to drive, with little means of driving too fast or otherwise dangerously.
> Appreciate any opinions and experiences rendered.
> Cheers, Anthony'89 Syncro GL (Hidalgo)
>

-- 
Neil n

65 kb image Myford Ready For Assembly �http://tinyurl.com/64sx4rp

'81 VanaJetta 2.0 "Jaco" �http://tubaneil.googlepages.com/

Vanagon VAG Gas I4/VR Swap Google Group:

http://groups.google.com/group/vanagons-with-vw-inline-4-cylinder-gas-engines