Luv A Dub Update Mk1 VR6 Cabriolet
It is time for a Cabby update. For those of you that may be new to the blog, let me do a little recap about this Cabby. In April 2012 my dealer purchased a 1988 VW Cabriolet. The purchased it and donated it for a local charity event. They painted it with chalk paint, and put stickers all over the interior. After the event, I bought the car. I really wish I could have got the car before the event, but it was for charity.
Once I purchased it, my goal was to get everything back to stock. I started with the interior. Hours of laboring trying to get all the stickers off. It didn’t take long to realize most of those stickers were not coming off. I turned my focus to rust treatment, and sound dampening. At first I had no intention of doing an engine swap. The plan was to get the 1.8 running better and just rock that. Well, I stumbled across a 1998 Jetta with a VR6. The bad part is the engine had a blown head gasket. I stripped the car, sold much of the parts, and send it to the scrap yard. The poor Jetta had a rough life. I actually picked up another VR6 with a manual trans. I rebuilt that engine, and now the MK1 Cabby has a 6 cylinder engine in it.
Where we are now
The cabby is slowly coming back together. Last weekend I spent some time putting the interior back together. I also attempted to crank the engine. It turns out that the wire on the starter was broken. I was able to fix that. So right now I am waiting on the following:
- Header
Actually I need a whole exhaust. This is the thing that is preventing me from starting the car. - Radiator
I found mounts that will work great for the radiator. I need to clean them up and paint them. I need the header done before I mount up the radiator - Finish wiring
I need to get the car running to be sure all the wiring is right. Once that is confirmed I can cut the rest of the wiring from the Cabby. - Fluids
I do need to fill all the fluids, oil, coolant, power steering. - Suspension
This is not something I need to start and drive the car. But I will be modifying the suspension. - Wheels and Tire
I was hoping that I could use the factory wheels and tires. The tires are very dry rotted, and not safe. If I have to buy tires, I am getting wheels too. Man wheels are expensive. :/ - Interior
This is just a matter of getting everything installed and cleaned. I will be redoing a lot of the interior parts, but I want this car on the road. 🙂
There are some odds and ends that I am sure I need to wrap up. I will cross those bridges when I get there. Here is a quick video so you can see the Luv A Dub process.
I am pretty pleased with the progress. I hope you all have enjoyed watching the build. If you have any questions please feel free to post them in the comments. Also, if you are doing a build similar share your progress. If you want to see more, check out the pictures on the Facebook page.
I am excited to hear it run, and see it move under it’s own power. Although probably not as much as you are. It is always nice when a project starts to enter the home stretch.
Thanks Pat, I am pretty excited too.
Looking good. What kind of header are u going to use ?
@Aaron it will be a custom header. We bought a mk3 OBX header and my good buddy Paul is reworking it to fit the Cabby. It should be awesome.
I do trust all the ideas you’ve offered in your post.
They’re really convincing and can certainly work. Nonetheless, the posts are too short for beginners.
May just you please lengthen them a bit from subsequent
time? Thanks for the post.
Thanks for the feedback!