I've adopted my son's 82 VW Cabriolet while he is in Germany going to school. It seriously meets my needs to have a restoration car to work on. Even better than working on a car you don't need to drive to work on Monday is working on a car you don't even own.

I have a couple of questions. It seems like the VW forums I've found don't have a lot of traffic. Does anyone have a favorite VW forum? I also don't know where to buy VW parts online. The sites I've found so far have a poor selection of parts for this car.

I appreciate any help any of you can provide.

 

Check out www.VWVORTEX.com

 

Thanks Clo

 

Places to buy VW parts...

www.parts4vws.com - OEM and aftermarket parts. Also referred to as "Potterman's" on the vwvortex forums.

www.techtonicstuning.com - Performance parts vendor in Oregon.

www.1stvwparts.com - VW dealer in WA state that has the best prices on OEM parts.

Those will get you started. You'll want to look for A1 chassis parts.

Also are a couple of vendors in CA that specialize in performance.

www.newdimensions.com

www.neuspeed.com

I had an '80 Scirocco and '89 Cabriolet and I've used all of these vendors at one time or another. Good luck!

 

try to avoid neuspeed, very pricey and not that aggresive of parts. dealers i have had good luck with are:

www.tmtuning.com great site, good prices, authentic german parts, long time to ship (they are in Germany)

www.germanautoparts.com some of the best prices you will find on stock parts, great people to deal with.

www.techtonicstuning.com full exhaust systems, cams, chips, great quality parts and good prices. also very helpful

if you can find one, buy a Bentley manual. this will be your bible. read it, learn it, live it.

as far as websites, www.vwvortex.com is a good one with alot of info, the people can suck at life though. the cabriolet forums move somewhat slowly but the MK1 forum is pretty quick and that is the base of the car. try that forum along with the 8valve techincal forum. like all forums, do search your questions first in both the recent and archived posts. there is a rediculous amount of information. if you want better people to deal with but slightly slower moving, try some club sites. www.oceanstatedubs.com/forums , www.baystatedubs.com , www.southfloridadubs.com , www.brokestatus.com all local clubs with good people. i can speak for ocean state dubs, good people willing to help. best of luck with the car, they are a blast to drive. if you have other questions, feel free to send me a message.

 

Thanks folks! This is plenty of information.

I do enjoy driving the VW. Even though it is a lot slower than my MINI I can drive it at about the same speed I normally cruise the MINI while driving it as fast as it can go!

My son and I drove from Alaska to California to New Mexico in it this summer. He's in Germany now, by the way, so I guess I should investigate what additional resources that can give us (even though I'm doing the work on it he is involved with the decision making and has the local knowledge on the car's problems).

I do have the Bently Manual which covers the car. The engine is from an 86 Golf and I only have a Chilton manual which covers it.

 

if it is the 1.8 liter 8valve motor, the bentley might cover it, i dont think there were many changes to the motor. best of luck, rabbits are a blast to drive. my brother in law has an 82 convertible, slow as hell but insanely fun. put a nice stiff set of springs in that thing and it might out handle the MINI

 

so hows this project going?

 

Little by little. My son is planning to be away for two years.

There was a bearing rumble in the left rear on our drive down from Alaska. When I took off the drum I decided to do the rear brakes so have one wheel done and one to go. I'm also replacing the parking brake cables as one was broken and the second has a cracked housing. May finish that job today although the brake bleeding will wait until next week.

But this is just scratching the surface. It has the 8 valve engine. I think that is my last priority and I'll leave that to my son. I think priorities are:
Brakes;
Front Struts (we'll have to decide what to do with the suspension in general before this);
Myriad body electrical problem;
Engine electrical/vacume issues;
Body dings and paint restoration;
Exhaust system (doesn't hang right).

Maybe. It will be a long process and I'm just doing it for my old car fix. Since we've got his car in the yard my wife isn't too open to my getting any other project car.

 

sounds like a fun project. all those problems sound like basic VW problems. as far as suspension goes, lower it. i know a guy who's wife almost lost it in an old Cabby over the winter. she got passed by a delivery truck and it unsettled the car enough to get her into a spin (she tried to correct it but it was a tank slapper) and into the median. air got under the car and just tossed it. also, a scricco K-brace works wonders for the cowl shake in that car.

 

I'm not sure what the K brace is. My son built himself an upper strut brace in a welding class . . . it seems to make a positive difference.

I think lowering too. He has a tendency to go off on trails in it though. Time to make up his mind soon. One of the problems with the brakes is he's gone underwater with them.

Meanwhile I couldn't get the right drum on before dark today. It doesn't seem to be hanging up on the shoes but on the bearing. It almost seems like the machine shop put in the wrong bearing . . . it looks small. Next work session I'll look at it afresh and see if there is something obvious (like the hub is still plastic wrapped) and otherwise take the left off and compare. These days pride in workmanship is so low I wouldn't be surprised if one size bearing is in one drum, and a smaller in the other. Of course, in my experience, it is often some absurdity on my part.

 

if you can find a full rear beam off of an old GTI you can do a rear disc conversion and get rid of the drums. literally have to unbolt one beam and bolt in the new one.

the K-brace is similar to the strut tower bar but goes under the motor, strengthens the whole front subframe. as far as i know, its called a K brace due to its shape.

also for a little more pep, see if the 16V head will bolt to that motor. help that little motor breath a little bit

 

would also recommend www.autotech.com