[Vwdiesel] Pickup and heater-Will

[travis gottschalk]

The VW pickup could be classified as a 1/2 ton if you really get technical. The truck is designed to haul 1000 lbs (1/2 ton). But that includes the passengers. So if you have two 200 lb people and a 200 pound topper that will only allow for 400 of cargo. The weak spots are the same as the car rabbit. RUST. Seen many with shocks through the hood and seat tracks that were hanging lower then the rest of the car cause of falling out due to rust. The shock towers are the most common rust area. Can't say I have seen many that were messed up from overloading other then the bed is sagged between the bracing. My truck had some rust holes in the bed where the tire must have been but some rino lining covered the holes enough where I haven't had to worry about it. Door bottoms rust from getting plugged drains. Sliding window holders rust out. Also VW did a bad job on the tail gate latching. You could tell this was their first and only truck at the time (till the Amrok recently). The latch has tabs that are suppose to keep the sliding locks tight. If they bend or break it is much harder to open the tailgate and let me tell you they do bend and break easily. Mine takes a special trick to get it to open. You may find depending on how big you are that the truck is really small in the cab. There was an optional bubble window to allow the seat to slide further back. If you are larger but really want a truck get a 1980 as it has a much smaller dash-more so on the passenger side. The issue is getting the old style fuses and other dash parts. Also the grill and fenders are different in that year along with the engine. If you find a gas truck it isn't hard to swap to a diesel. There is 4 styles of rear windows. OEM split, OEM solid, OEM bubble (plexiglass) and aftermarket split. I have two after market splits and would part with one if needed. Toppers are hard to find but there has been one on ebay for a while now. There was SEVERAL styles of toppers. I have a larger one that sticks up above the cab and is fiber glass. Brothers is aluminum and flush with the cab. Rogers on here is home-aid and VERY tall. That should be enough to get you started. The OEM 4 spd tranny in those are very low geared as a heads up. Parts aren't too hard to find for the cab forward. There isn't many replaceable parts behind there anyways. Just look for a 4 door rabbit for parts. I have seen one on ebay that was turned into a crew cab. I would LOVE to have that but it was showing a lot of rust. Too long for me to have to worry about rusting in half. 


Will,

I forget which VW you are putting the block heater and oil pan heater on but I have the frostheater on all 3 of my VW's  (81 rabbits and 04 golf). He designed the ones for the rabbits off of my car rabbit so he pretty much has the design for all the hoses for all the diesel cars. Well worth the money ($150). If I leave the heater lever on in my rabbits it can actually defrost the windows while plugged in. The engine is hot enough to burn your hand if you touch it. I find the happy medium is 4 hours of plugging in and I use a X-mas light timer for it. Granted, once you start the car the coolant temp drops some because of the oil cooler in my rabbit car but the oil temp rises faster. Same with the golf. 

Travis G