1981 Volkswagen Rabbit

diesel Hatchback

4 - Cyl.

Manual

1vwfg0176bv202331

Diesel

Up for auction is my 81 vw diesel rabbit. It has 225k on it--the speedometer says less than that because the original speedo quit on me and I replaced it with one from another car. It is a 5 speed and shifts nicely through all the gears. It starts and runs, but runs rough. It smokes on start up. Everything (lights, turn signals, heater fan) works, except I'm not sure about the rear defroster. It was supposed to be an eventual veggie-powered car, but my wife decided it was too smelly. It has numerous new parts and parts with less than 5000 miles on them, including the following: front wheel bearings alternator starter battery Injectors glow plugs brakes and lines from the proportioning valve back (front brakes have plenty of life in them, too) carpet door panels and dash reupholstered in black--this is a low grade professional job underside rust-proofed with POR-15 The car has lipstick red seats front and rear, with the driver's seat having a seam splitting. The car needs the following to be complete: 1 plastic bumper end matching locks for doors headliner recovered (there is a cardboard backing included) Overall, the car looks really good from 20 feet away at 20 mph, but the respray (by previous owner) and paint done on the interior is not so great. There are 2 spots of rust on the windshield pillar and fender (in the one pic) that I treated with POR-15, essentially freezing it from spreading. the body is SOLID with no rot underneath anywhere. the strut towers are clean. There is a leak at the one tail light which lets a little water in the hatch compartment. There are a few dents and dings and the rusty original hatch was replaced with a black one that doesn't stick out too badly. The car sits on coilovers that can be adjusted according to wheel size you may want to use (the adjustment tool for the suspension is in the glovebox). The car has snow tires with about 90% tread on steelies in front, and beater tires in the back. PA INSPECTED through 7/12. I don't know that the car runs well enough to drive it too far-- this is my first diesel and I've never got it running perfectly. It is very noisy and there is smoke from where the head and exhaust manifold meet, so it probably needs a new gasket there. There is also some leaking at the valve cover gasket. Hopefully someone out there can take this very solid car and make it run perfectly. I expect a non-refundable $200.00 deposit within 24 hours of the end of auction, and I expect the balance of the total within one week. On Dec-06-11 at 06:42:53 PST, seller added the following information: > the exhaust leak was due to a cracked exhaust manifold. I will have a non-leaking replacement installed by the end of the auction. I believe I have a valve cover gasket I will include with the car, as well.On Dec-07-11 at 08:37:47 PST, seller added the following information: Today, I put a replacement exhaust manifold on and the car is quiet (for a diesel) again. I PROPERLY TIMED THE INJECTION PUMP AND RESET THE IDLE SPEED AND THE CAR RUNS GREAT AFTER A 5 MINUTE WARMUP!!! great throttle response with no smoke after initial warmup! bid with confidence.