1980 VW Rabbit Pickup (Caddy) Rebuild

Hello everyone,

 Thanks for inviting me to share my rebuild here, I'm excited to get going on it! But first, a little about me. I am 29, I am a part time student online, but will return to campus full-time during autumn studying English. I work full time in a production facility. My mechanical experience is low, but I can easily follow along service manuals and do know more than your average person, but less than your average mechanic. I drove my 1980 VW Rabbit Pickup / Caddy (from here on out I'll refer to it as a Rabbit) for a little over a year… ten years ago. It was sold away from me through a series of unfortunate incidents, and I have had nothing but fond memories of driving it, despite all the issues it had (for instance a fuel gauge that wouldn't work).

Recently, I have been reunited with my Rabbit, and I am excited to get to work on it! I want to get it running reliably, and clean it up with whatever it needs to look smooth again: engine and transmission repairs, minimal body work, fresh paint, new interior, wheels, whatever else it needs. I also plan to go hands-on in as much of the work as possible, I don't want to drop her off at a body shop, then drop her off at a mechanic, and so on… it's a learning experience for me, and sentimental as well. I received the vehicle from my father, who will also be helping me with it's rebuild, and my brother operates a body shop, who will also be my guide in fixing it up. Hopefully some of you ladies and gentlemen can help me out with tricks, ideas, information as well. Ideally, this vehicle will be my daily driver when it's all through.

I have a pseudo-deadline, and that is the start of college in autumn. I would like all major work to be completed by then so that I can return to my studies, school comes first. Today I will take my final exam for the semester in my online courses and then I am free to begin the work. As Elmer Fudd said so many times "It's Wabbit Season!" - But first I got to get her home! she's sitting in an outdoor car lot right now, so I haven't been able to get a good look at her. from what I can tell she needs: a new battery, a steering wheel, a muffler, either new tires or air for hopefully a slow leak. I plan to get her towed home this or next week, the snow has been awful lately.

If you folks are interested in following along, I will keep this forum as up to date as possible, but there are also other social connections as well I will list them here if you are interested, I either didn't see that this was against forum rules, or I made a mistake and looked the rule over, if it's not allowed I will take the links down, but for now:

Webpage: http://rebuildtherabbit.webs.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/RabbitRebuild
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100009305790323

And if anyone wants to help out with the project here is the campaign link, if you could spread it around fellow Mk1 Caddy / Rabbit / Golf lovers it would help me meet that deadline so much faster, thanks a bunch!
GoFunMe: http://www.gofundme.com/rebuildtherabbit

I also have a Pinterest board of Rabbits / Caddys I like, it may give you some ideas of what I would like to achieve:
VW Rabbit & Friends: https://www.pinterest.com/anton1444/vw-rabbit-friends/

Thank you everyone, please follow along, it should be fun! I look forward to sharing with you all!
 - Anton and his Rabbit