Another yellow Mk1 (1981 Westmoreland Rabbit)

 Been lurking and trying to get motivated with the restoration work on my daughters 81 Golf (Rabbit).  She has a 2016 Golf so no hurry getting this one done. Would like to be done around September. You know how that goes. Hopefully it will turn out half as good as some of the MK1 projects I have seen lately on this site, even with the Westmoreland rectangular headlamps. Wish me luck! I will try to make some progress every week. I am an International Harvester guy, so this will be new for me.

I have decided to use the first post of this project to also document the plan. I will update this post as I figure out what needs to be done and what I also want to do to the car. Text in blue are items I am tying to figure out. Any advice/comments would be appreciated.

The good:

No rust. Gotta love California
Interior is pretty decent
Paint is ok

The bad:
1.6L diesel has a bent valve. Motor froze up.
Head is really worn.


The Plan (will update as I figure it out):


1.  Drive train:
     - Upgrade to a diesel with a little more HP (1.9L AAZ TD?). Appreciate any thoughts with the motor upgrade. Want to stay with a diesel. Turbo will help with the HP increase. The fewer the modifications required, the better. Need to figure out if the K03 or K14 is the better turbo for a MK1. Exhaust down pipe mods are required. These are available and I can also weld.
           * Option 1: Quality German Auto Parts. Low mileage used German engines. 119 Miles (191 km) away. With warranty about $2,400 + tax = $2,640
           * Option 2: Pick Your Part. Engine condition/mileage unknown. Only 10 miles (16 km) away. Probably around $500 with a useless warranty. May need a total rebuild. I will need to research the rebuild cost. If you have any idea, let me know. Potential donor vehicles (from internet research) are Audi 80  09/91 -07/95, Golf 11/91 - 02/99 & Passat 03/91 - 12/96. **Searched the yards today (5/27/2016). No luck finding a 1.9L.**
           * Option 3. Rebuild or find  a head for the 1.6L. Cheapest option and probably the easiest. However I will be stuck with the 50 HP.


     - Maybe brake upgrades? Suggestions?


2.  Exterior:
     - Paint the car original Sunbright Yellow.
     - Clean and paint engine compartment.
     - Original striping
     - Add a cool Rabbit decal
     - Luggage rack. The one it currently has is probably a little too big. Stock type rack is what I am looking for.
     - Undercoating/sound deadening material.
     - New tires
     - Wheels/hubcaps. If the ones on the car are original then I will stay with them.

3. Interior improvements
     - New Carpet
     - Decent sound system
     - Sound  deadening material for the floor and roof.

TBD…Sure to be more on the list

Some Pics from the start:

From the pictures it doesn't look in bad shape at all.
With a bit of time and TLC it should be a little gem!  

How's the interior looking and what mileage has it done?  

From the pictures it looks in decent condition. Nice to see you got a build thread started and good luck with getting it back on the road.

Thanks. Took your advice. Need to stay motivated. Four day weekend coming up. Should make some progress and map out a plan.

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Good to see someone else with another yellow. Looking forward to seeing some progress updates.