New Cabby (new to me)

[tinygiant]

I just bought my first VW yesterday from user 59Microbus. The wife and I are mostly self employed (landscapers) and decided to sell our 08 yaris this winter to remove the financial drain from making payments during a winter with no snow to plow. lol


So we were left driving our 2000 f250 as a DD for a couple months. really sucked on gas and to make things worst the front differential blew out in the last storm.

So we were left without a car for a couple weeks until a friend let us borrow his jeep. I knew I needed a DD car.

we found this car and really like the look. the wife thought it was ugly at first but she really likes it now after driving it around yesterday user etrnityiswithin was a huge help coming with us to check the car out and drive it home.


i'm stoked to have this car. Its going to get a lot of TLC this summer

i ordered a new speedometer cable today since the speedo doesn't work. and Josh is going to help me swap it out

next i need to bring it up a little for inspection and grab a bumper set for it

if anyone has a set of bumpers i could borrow just for inspection it would be greatly appreciated

(or sell really cheap)

[Sean A]

Good Luck!

[tinygiant]

I have some old metal chainlink fence with some piping.. I was thinking it would look sweet to make a short tube frame style bumper. Wouldn't be all that functional.. but it would look the part.. Would add to the rat look of it too

[tinygiant]

also i hate that i need to put a plate on the front of it.. completely takes away from the look of the car

[tinygiant]

Made a rear bumper today. Cut up an old chainlink fence gate. Bolted it through bumper holes and paimted it. Pretty tight too I can shake the car with it

Will do the front tomorrow. She should inspect after that

Sent from my VM670

[tinygiant]

Sent from my VM670

[Sean A]

bumper

I can't wait to see peoples reaction to this haha. Although it shouldn't matter as long as you like it. I think it is pretty cool. Definitely unique.

[tinygiant]

the front bumper is going to be the exact same thing.

right now the blinkers on the front are mounted in the bottom round holes next to the grills.. its like a blinker the size of a quater..

I have some LED blinkers I purchased to use as flashers for my plow truck that i might put in place of the original ones. I was thinking maybe of putting them in either the two lower grills or behind the upper grill next to the headlights. any thoughts on placement? The front bumper is going to block the blinkers where they are now.. so i need to find another solution.. I thought about possibly mounting/wiring some LEDS into the pipe I am using as a front bumper.. would be different

[tinygiant]

i guess NH measures car height from the bottom of the bumper.. 16" is the minimum.. even though my oil pan is like 5" from the ground.. if that lol i should still be street legal

[tinygiant]

our yaris didnt have windows that you could open in the back.. neither did our jeep at the time when we first bought our dog.

yesterday we took our dog for a very short ride to see what he thought of the convertible..

today when we left he ran out the door and sat next to the car.. then stood up with his paws on the door..

I think he likes riding in the cabby too

[tinygiant]

So you decided to get a bigger car?

i think the yaris was actually wider. the car has better pep though . bigger engine and its a 5spd.. i'm really enjoying driving a stick... should have bought a standard car a while ago

[hyperlightboards48]

I think If you grease your top it will lay flatter

http://www.cabby-info.com/images/Top/OilPoints.jpg

[CajunSpike]

The rear trunk cover(carpeted board) needs to be below the top of the rear seat...instead of sitting on top of the back seat.

Thats probably preventing the top from folding down as far as it can.

[hyperlightboards48]

The rear trunk cover(carpeted board) needs to be below the top of the rear seat...instead of sitting on top of the back seat.

Thats probably preventing the top from folding down as far as it can.

Ahh good eye cajun. I greased my top last week and was amazed at how easy it is to put down now.

[tinygiant]

thanks guys! i'll mess with that tomorrow. its been nice so i actually havent driven the car with the top up yet to fix that trunk cover. lol i'll do that in the morning.

what should i use for grease? does it have actual grease fittings? or do i just get some mystery oil and hit the pivot points?

[tinygiant]

Fixed the hatch cover.. i havent put the top down though . I spent 7 hours mulching a strip mall in the sun and didnt feel like sitting in the sun for 30min on the way home. i'll see if she goes down further tomorrow and I'll oil it ..

again what oil should i use?


Thanks!

[hyperlightboards48]

I used white lithium grease. But its up to you and what you got laying around.

[tinygiant]

okay i finished the front bumper..

i made some changes..

I decided that i wanted more visible blinkers.. So i bought some tiny little marker lights and wired them to the existing blinkers so that they would blink when the marker lights do. I ran the wires through the tube that I used for the bumper.. so its really clean looking. I will get a picture in the morning. I'm really digging these tube bumpers




It was dark when i finished so i will snap some pics for you guys when i get a chance tomorrow!


speedometer cable came in today.. anyone know where i can get instructions on how to install it?





I'm torn on keeping it silver.. or painting it black like the back one.. I kind of like the silver.. which would mean taking the paint off the rear one to match it.. so idk lol

[tinygiant]

Sent from my VM670

[tinygiant]

ordered a rear emblem (cabriolet one) and the knobs for the heater and fan selction on the dash. Starting to come together .

the tail light fuses were blown , didnt realize it and got pulled over tonight. Too bad too it was nice driving with the top down. had to go home and swap cars.

i'm really digging this car.. probably the funnest car i've owned.

[oh_hai]

hahha its nice seeing someone put work into this car. i sold it to micro a few weeks back. it was time for a new daily for me. had a lot of fun in it though. never broke down once. and the looks people gave me were priceless. take it to the beach and you will get asked a million questions. have fun with it im glad it found a good home.

[tinygiant]

yeah its fun.

having issues with the tail/side light circuits

here is a thread with my issue/findings
http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthrea...8#post76557688


maybe you'll have some insight.


we've been getting alot of attention in it.. vw's reving all the time past us, beeping, cops pulling us over.. been pulled over twice in 2 days and neither cop mentioned the ride height


I think after i get all the annoying little things done for inspection i'm going to get a shifter rebuild kit. its pretty sloppy.

i do need to figure out the heat/fan situation too lol. have the knobs coming for it but it seems the vent selection guts are missing..


all this stuff is cheap little time consuming fixes.. that honestly i really dont mind doing. I love to tinker.. so this keeps me from making changes in the house that the wife isnt always on board with lol

[tinygiant]

hahha its nice seeing someone put work into this car. i sold it to micro a few weeks back. it was time for a new daily for me. had a lot of fun in it though. never broke down once. and the looks people gave me were priceless. take it to the beach and you will get asked a million questions. have fun with it im glad it found a good home.

lol this is why the rear drivers side is all bondo


http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthrea...wbie-questions.


did you end up pulling out the dent yourself and then just using bondo to smooth it out?

[tinygiant]

engine bay:



i cleaned the front and top off the engine off a little with a cloth and a little carb cleaner. also cleaned off the body to the left on the picture.. eventually i would like to get things looking a lot cleaner.. but i already spent too much time today on the wiring situation.

[tinygiant]

hahha its nice seeing someone put work into this car. i sold it to micro a few weeks back. it was time for a new daily for me. had a lot of fun in it though. never broke down once. and the looks people gave me were priceless. take it to the beach and you will get asked a million questions. have fun with it im glad it found a good home.

did the AC ever work for you? i've discovered the hoses are cut.. and there is a 30amp inline fuse fix for the ac on the fuse box

[oh_hai]

yep that happend like 5 days after i bought it. i made a sloppy attempt at pulling it and then bondo. i was going to cut the metal off of a parts car and do an actual repair but then i figured i would just run it ratty. as for the ac i never had the control levers for it. idk if micro put some in. im not sure if it ever worked i never tried.
and i used to get pulled over atleast 4 times a week. got one ticket in my life. but i didnt have it inspected so they allways grabbed me. never got questioned about ride height and i was lower than it is now.

[tinygiant]

with the bumpers, new blinkers and all working lights i should be good for inspection.

I have control knobs coming for the heater control, We'll need heat in the winter.. so i want to make sure to get that working before the time comes where we will need it.


I have to lengthen the amount that inserts into the bumper mounts so that i can put both bolts through it.. or make some sort of plate insert that keeps it from being able to move up and down


i think i'll be good.. the cop last night asked me where my bumper was.. I replied its on the rear of the car.. its black.. he replied.. thats not a bumper.. lol i guess he thinks the plastic crap that covers a bumper is what makes the care safe lol

[oh_hai]

hahaha cops never knew what to say to me. they just looked at me like lost puppies "uhmmm im pretty sure there is something wrong here... have a good day." they just wanted to get a close up look at my hoodrat.
i had that car registered for a year and shortly before i sold it i got pulled over in haverhill and the cop told me my play had been run nearly 600 times. it sure can catch an eye but if you have it inspected they cant really do anything. as for ride height it seems like not many cops notice. my oil pan was less than an inch off the ground and no one ever said a word.

[KnuckleUp2]

thats a dope cabby

[FOXER]

Is this an 89 Wolfsburg Cabriolet?!? It has the interior!

[tinygiant]

thats a dope cabby

thanks!

Is this an 89 Wolfsburg Cabriolet?!? It has the interior!

how would i confirm that?

and is there any difference other than the interior ?

[tinygiant]

Is this an 89 Wolfsburg Cabriolet?!? It has the interior!

looks like it probably is

http://www.cabby-info.com/wolfsburg.htm


originally was that color on the outside too

whats the benefit of that edition? lol i'm a vw noob

[tinygiant]

I have a question.

there is a Bar meter on the center console. I notice when I am running the car in gear i am at about 2bar and when i am in neutral or idling its at 1ish and sometimes the needle pulses with the car engine.. is that normal?

today my oil light flicked a couple time I check my oil and it was halfway up the stick.. so i added about 3/4 quarts and it seemed fine after that.. sill drops pressure when i am at idle or neutral but doesnt really drop below 1bar. and no more dash oil light


Thanks!

[KnuckleUp2]

im not sure mines been pinned at 5 since i bought mine i need to replace my sender
this is my baby

[tinygiant]

grabbed a steel wool and sanded all the paint flakes off the bottom of the hood. Eventually I want to paint it up. So i had a few minutes to burn. also noticed a ton of really thick black grease on top of what i think is the transmission? its right above the drivers side control arm? probably never been wiped down before. I've been slowly finding areas caked with stuff to lightly brush off and wipe down. That way eventually i can find leaks and such that will need attention.

I've been keeping an eye on my coolant level since the car spells like maple syrup when we drive it.. i know its burning coolant. Doesnt look like its leaking anywhere.

I also have a slow leak from the oil plug that i will be replacing when i do an oil change.

i was curious where the transmission fluid stick is? or is there one? i like to keep an eye on my fluids as much as possible.

i'd love to get my hands on an old owners manual