Minor Rust Problem

[ford500]

About three days after installing a TDI in my 81 rabbit, my fuel tank started leaking. When I went to look and see what was leaking I discovered the floor has come apart from the body from the seat mounts back. When I removed the carpet and dash I also found that the passenger side door pillar has mostly rusted away. Not sure what the best plan of action is yet as I can't afford another car right now. So if anyone has the lower right half of a 4 door rabbit let me know. I will try to post photos soon. One more thing anyone contemplating a TDI swap I would recommend it, it was a blast before I had to tear it apart.

[worldwide73]

Buy welder, grinder, good pair of gloves and get to work...

[rabbitnothopper]

pictures of said rust and splitting in half

would be more entertaining if you said

"then one day while driving on the highway my rear end just fell off"

[ford500]

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In the first photo I can see the tire through the hole. The door drops about two inches when it is opened. The passenger floor is only held in by the brace by the door pillar.
I have all of the tools to do it just trying to plan out the best method.

[worldwide73]

Thats almost as bad as the one I repaired. Note: remove all glue prior to welding or grinding because it is nasty. Just buy some sheet metal and get tacking, cut out as much rust as possible, soundd like for the door you may have to tack some support in place first, then button up.

[worldwide73]

Probably tack up the rear first, them you should remove the fuel tank, because right now you fuel tank straps are holdiing your floor together. should weld on both sides of it.

[ford500]

Probably tack up the rear first, them you should remove the fuel tank, because right now you fuel tank straps are holdiing your floor together. should weld on both sides of it.

Actually the straps fell off and it looks like the brake and fuel lines are holding it up. The mounts for the rear axle are in tough shape so more fun there.

[worldwide73]

ouch, my rear axle mounts were okay, I had to mend one side just a tiny bit. Its gonna be a ton of work!! If I had to do it all over again, I would put the car on a rotisserie for sure. But I will say the end result is rewarding

[rabbitnothopper]

why not buy a less rusty shell and start over?
thats too much cutting.....

can be done

have fun and post progress pics!

[Mtl-Marc]

why not buy a less rusty shell and start over?
thats too much cutting.....

can be done

have fun and post progress pics!

This.

[Jacob Matthew]

Yikes. I'm not sure that's worth the effort that I'd imagine it would take to fix it.

You probably are best off finding the cleanest shell you can and swapping everything over.

[Maggiolone]

Save it

[86coupeman]

Yikes. I'm not sure that's worth the effort that I'd imagine it would take to fix it.

You probably are best off finding the cleanest shell you can and swapping everything over.

That's cheating!

Just keep repairing the rust until you accidently rip the bottom of the car off on an unlabeled raised manhole cover!

[BerryB]

Literally my face when i saw the second photo.

I wish you strong hands for all the welding that is in your future

[ford500]

I would love to by a new shell but that is not going to happen any time soon with my finances. This weekend I am removing the rear axle to asses the mounts and get the fuel tank out. Probably cut most of the passenger floor out too. I plan on posting photos of the engine swap soon as that worked out pretty well.

[kustomizingkid]

I have driven that car... so hard that the rear view mirror broke off

I gotta say I was expecting worse from how the car just looked overall. I gotta come up and see it in person. I love doing floors and general sheet metal work. I am surprised you didn't post up the pictures of the engine swap first... and didn't tell them where you got the engine from and how many "miles" are on it.

[foxygrandpa]

Literally my face when i saw the second photo.

I wish you strong hands for all the welding that is in your future

I laughed so hard when I scrolled down and saw this.

And more pictures without shadows and such would probably be better so everyone can see what you're working with. The new shell idea would be ideal but I hear ya on the finances part. Not everyone's pockets are fat and mine included.

http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthrea...appy-paint-job

This thread might offer some help. I couldn't believe what he fixed/bandaged and it was much worse than yours. So there is hope but it will take time and it's worth fixing. I'll quit complaining about mine now

[ford500]

Well I thought I would post an update. I replaced the passenger rocker panel, the front half of the passenger floor , and about half of the rear passenger floor. Had to remove the front seat support to replace the metal underneath. Now on to the driver's side.










The bucket is what was left of the passenger floor after removal. The last photo is the drivers floor which is in much better shape so I think I can get away with just patching it.

[rabbitnothopper]

yeah man thats pretty good

doesnt matter if its not form fit to factory standards
its fixed
make sure you rust treat and POR-15 over all of that

looks good to me bro

great job

[86coupeman]

Totally
Most importantly just keep it on the road and safe.

[foxygrandpa]

Great work, glad to see you were able to fix it!

[ford500]

Figured I could post a few pictures of the engine swap. The transmission was repaired at some point as the bearing support has been welded and there is evidence of metal floating around in the bell housing. The engine is an ALH that came from an engine research facility that has very few hours on it. The price was very very low and the computer was setup from VW with no security so just hooked up power and was ready to go. I was able to get rid of the new fuse block and use the old solenoid wire from the 1.6L to power the relay for engine power.












The exhaust gasket was from the old engine and someone had installed it backwards which explained why the car was fairly loud. The Cadillac is a 63 and is a another future project.

[rabbitnothopper]

wow nice engine

sounds like a good swap


this is concerning of course....good idea but...the seal is supposed to seal the shaft, not the flange

[ford500]

this is concerning of course....good idea but...the seal is supposed to seal the shaft, not the flange

That is how it came out of the car and it didn't leak so I didn't mess with it. I was more concerned with why it was welded and how fifty horsepower caused it to break in the first place.

[8v-of-fury]

That is how it came out of the car and it didn't leak so I didn't mess with it. I was more concerned with why it was welded and how fifty horsepower caused it to break in the first place.

Clutch disk probably flew apart and took a chunk out of the case. It was most certainly not a power related failure.

[ford500]

It still had the original fly wheel which would have contained the clutch if that had happened. I think the bearing must have exploded which was why the case was welded. Finally got the fender off.





Explains why it seemed the door was falling off when it was opened. Any one in Minnesota have an extra fender laying around?

[kustomizingkid]

Nice... only a little bit of rust. What are you driving to work right now?

[ford500]

Well finished all of the metal work a few months ago. Been driving it daily and with that TDI it has been a lot of fun. Only issue so far has been a hose clamp failing on an intake hose. The door works a lot better and the passenger side stays pretty dry now.