Need to put another diesel engine in it. This is officially my favorite project you got now, apart from the Porsche. Lift it a few inches, and put some all terrains on it. Need to clean it and polish it, but be careful.
If it's a $200 engine, I'd say buy another one for $200. In my younger years, I used to always want everything completely custom. Now I love to see old cars and trucks that are completely stock.
Dear Budget Buildz guys. 👍👌👏 Yes, please build it. But only if the bobcat driver at the junk yard didn't do too much damage with the forks (it seems they are never aware of the fact, that foreign cars do not have a ladder frame). 2) One of the best, reliable and sturdy VW/Rabbit gasoline engines of all times is the 2.0l 100 hp. It's strong enough and it is easy and relatively cheap to get (at least in Germany). On the other hand: Only 200 bucks for a good running 1.6l Diesel has to be beaten. Especially because nothing has to be changed (electronics, speedometer, gearbox etc.). I guess that I would put in such a replacement engine at first to get the car running. After the other modifications, you can still decide to do different. Thanks a lot for making teaching explaining recording editing uploading and sharing. Best regards luck and health to all of you.
In 1991 I bought a 1981 diesel VW Caddy from the original owner.He told me it had no compression,but if he coast down the hill from his driveway,it would start right up.It had 180,000 miles.5 speed with A/C.I paid $275 and drove it home.It ran great and tracked down the highway perfectly.Ended up putting new glow plus and a new battery. No more problems
My dad worked at the vw dealership in Juneau,AK for many yesrs b4 I was born. He aquired 16 volkvagen's (correctly pronounced.) My grandpa had the 1982 desial pick up from brand new lasted for well over 30 yesrs. My mom had the vw rabbit for over 25 years!! They are worth every penny ,for saving them!!
My departed father had a Mk1 Polo estate , he loved it and really looked after it , because he knew a good vehicle when he saw it therefore being biased i say that the old pick up truck really deserves saving .
I remembering seeing one of these at a car show in Myrtle Beach years ago. Someone had customized it into a GTI version. Engine, transmission, wheels, plaid seats, Teutonic Grey paint and GTI logos with Red accents, round headlight conversion. Pretty cool, looked factory, too. Wish I took photos.
I’ve always loved my diesel rabbit pickup, had it for several years, always a bugger to start in the winter, and the shift linkage was a pain but loved it none the less
I think the consensus is to go with your build plans - I wholly agree. Another very cool catch from the boneyard. I especially enjoy the extra effort you make in all your videos to "autopsy" why a mill will or will not make it. Another great video, with hopefully more to follow on this cool ride.
I used to have a 2005 Passat with a 1.8T. It wasn't the fastest car I had ever owned, but it sure was fast. I think one of those motors in this truck will make it A LOT faster than VW ever intended it to be.
Great you saved it! I drive an ‘86 Caddy myself, with a slide-in camper on the bed😁. Made me change the motor into an 1.9 TD (of a 1993 Golf 3), for the 1.6d lacked the power I needed. My thing is to keep it as time-correct possible. So no TDI for me. Good luck and save it! (Maybe try to make it Syncro??? Would be great to see that happening) Good luck!!
Great video and thanks for saving a cool little truck. My .02 is sure raise it a touch and make it more back road worthy but don't go crazy. Another 1.6 and keep it close to the original vision of the VW designers.
A really nice find, amazing that its not in worse condition after all! My vote on what you should do with it: Go gently with the liftup idea (with new rims/tires) for the looks without any welding, bars etc. Then a newer fuel efficient diesel engine and some cleanup of the interior and you´re sorted. It does not need to be 4WD. If someone one day want to being it back to totally stock you haven't really done anything harm to it. But your car, your decision! Greetings from Sweden
What A Great Scrapyard Save!! I’d Say Put A 1.9TDI In It, 5-Speed Manual, Lower It With Some Bags, Address That Body With Some Reconditioning, Fix The Rust, Floor Pans, It’d Make A Cool Shop Truck Or A Good Flip.. Keep Up The Amazing Work Guys..
I say keep it stock - not a fan of lifted anything, and besides, if you swap the motor for a gasoline one you'd have to lose those fantastically 70s 'Diesel' door decals, haha. I'm just envious that you live somewhere that you can leave a car sitting outside under trees, on its floor pan and with busted windows, for 25 years and still be able to move it using a forklift rather than a dustpan and brush. Here in rainy England the bodyshell usually goes long before the mechanicals - you need to be good at welding and body repairs if you live here and are into 70s and 80s cars especially.
hi there, i'm from germany and really enjoyed watching this episode. i totally forgot how tight and short the cab on these where🤣 in the early 90s(minitruck times) we had a shop,that did cut the short cabs off from the 4door models (short doors) and swapped the longer 2 door version frontend back to the original bed,wich extended the vehicle in its self, so you had more room and wasnt all cramped up in that tight box. you can imagine how that looked when guys lowered the extended versions down 4 inches and assembled 8x13s with 175/50/13 on these things😄 (talking about streched tires&stance) in the back you even had to work with lowering blocks...haha😆 there was even a company that sold slide open rear windows like on the fullsize trucks... nice to see someone took care👍🏾 please excuse my grammar,my english kinda went bad after the troops left my area in germany and i have not too many american friends left to talk to....🤷🏾♂️ it is what it is,but i'm sure you get what i was trying to express..lol. thank you for reading sir🤝🏾
I drove a rental "Gol" in Brazil for a few weeks (many years ago). It was a transition car for VW Brasil at the time, and had a A/C Beetle motor in the front, driving the front wheels. Kinda cool. Here's my pitch: Put a fully built Scat dual port big bore A/C motor in it, w/a bus trans & flipped ring gear (and do burnouts). You might be able to source knuckles from a Gol with help from the Internet...
Aww, I was so hoping that you would be able to save the Little VW P/U! I just love watching your videos because of the quirky little cars and trucks that you try and rescue! If it were up to me, I think I'd change the engine to a gas engine instead of a Diesel! Then I'd clean it up and try and bring it back to almost original condition! I too, loved the little VW Rabbit's. Never owned one, but my brother had an 81 and it was all black! It was an awesome car. I had a 71 Super Beetle convertible at the time, and was a bit envious of that Rabbit! lol
Love the Caddy. Definitely an off-road build but unsure how you’d get a 4x4 out of it. A TDI swap is great or the 1.8 turbo would be nice too. But it’s a keeper and build. Maybe a chassis swap onto a AWD or 4x4?
As many Caddy's as you have probably messed with, you probably already know... But since you didn't mention it in the video; be Sure to look carefully at the strut housings. Trucks and Convertibles have a double-skinned strut housing to reinforce the body since neither could really count on the roof to help keep the body square. Convertibles rarely had a problem with the sealant in the rain tray area cracking, and allowing water to go in-between the two skins at the strut area since they were made in Germany, however all the trucks are American-made, and quality control wasn't as sharp. Looking at the video when you were messing with the crank, I noticed one horizontal crack in the sealant that Could indicate that rust is at work. I'd verify this before you do ANYTHING else, especially a TDI or 1.8T swap... Good Luck!
@@roccit What he means is that first and second Gen Rabit/Golf are prone to their strut towers rusting out, both front and rear. On the Hatchbacks you can see it happening because its a single layer of steel on those but with the Convertibles and Caddys/Truck variants they have two layers of steel over another for reenforcement of the chassis and the lower layer can rust out from the wheelwell without it beeing visible from up top. The first sign of this happening is usually the seam sealer starting to crack/seperate and if you notice that the best thing to do would be to grind back the seam sealer, reweld/repair the metal and then reseal it before it gets worse.
HI B/B ,, MY SON AND I ARE WATCHING THE BEGINNING AGAIN AND REMEMBERING NOW WHAT ITS LIKE ITS RUNNING GREAT AND SAVED ,,.. THANKS..
Need to put another diesel engine in it. This is officially my favorite project you got now, apart from the Porsche. Lift it a few inches, and put some all terrains on it. Need to clean it and polish it, but be careful.
Put a TDI in it Lifted with mud and snows white lettering out brush guard be great thank you retired US Army Sergeant Major Gamsby
Thank you for your service!
Thank you for your service Sergeant Major Gamsby!
Build it up, they are worth a fortune here in the UK if you can get one, well worth saving.
If it's a $200 engine, I'd say buy another one for $200. In my younger years, I used to always want everything completely custom. Now I love to see old cars and trucks that are completely stock.
This thing is super cool. I'd love to see you return to the scrapyard and grab that Saab 9000 that was parked in front of it too!
I'd like to see something wild like a VR6 and Syncro AWD. But 1.8T would be fine too.
I had 2002 GTI 337 with a 1.8 tubro it was the quickest little car i have ever owned.
Yes, VR6!!!!
Po.nll.
A gas motor would look pretty dumb in a pickup boldly emblazoned with the word "DIESEL"...
Thank you for rescuing this neat truck!
Dear Budget Buildz guys.
👍👌👏 Yes, please build it. But only if the bobcat driver at the junk yard didn't do too much damage with the forks (it seems they are never aware of the fact, that foreign cars do not have a ladder frame). 2) One of the best, reliable and sturdy VW/Rabbit gasoline engines of all times is the 2.0l 100 hp. It's strong enough and it is easy and relatively cheap to get (at least in Germany). On the other hand: Only 200 bucks for a good running 1.6l Diesel has to be beaten. Especially because nothing has to be changed (electronics, speedometer, gearbox etc.). I guess that I would put in such a replacement engine at first to get the car running. After the other modifications, you can still decide to do different.
Thanks a lot for making teaching explaining recording editing uploading and sharing.
Best regards luck and health to all of you.
Lifted and TDI Swap for sure! (Also, that Saab 9000 Needs saving!)
If it isn't one my favorite youtubers! Heck yeah man another vw truck!! Save em!!
I want to thank you for sticking to your format. I subscribe to several automotive channels and you are one of very few that hasn't changed the style.
In 1991 I bought a 1981 diesel VW Caddy from the original owner.He told me it had no compression,but if he coast down the hill from his driveway,it would start right up.It had 180,000 miles.5 speed with A/C.I paid $275 and drove it home.It ran great and tracked down the highway perfectly.Ended up putting new glow plus and a new battery.
No more problems
Id put an air cooled bug engine and trans in the back.....yetti cooler under the hood.......just because.😉👍
With the diesel graphics it needs a diesel engine.
TDI sounds good but maybe an old school TDI so you don't have to mess with electronic and ECUs
My dad worked at the vw dealership in Juneau,AK for many yesrs b4 I was born. He aquired 16 volkvagen's (correctly pronounced.) My grandpa had the 1982 desial pick up from brand new lasted for well over 30 yesrs. My mom had the vw rabbit for over 25 years!! They are worth every penny ,for saving them!!
Put a 2.0 ABA in it from a mark 3,
Probably the best motor VW made definitely on par with the TDI motors
Top Kontent! Gruß aus Deutschland!
That decal package is so rad
Definitely wacky! Can’t wait to build around it!
@@BudgetBuildz I think it would be cool to try and restore the decals if possible, it would look sick all new and shiny looking
@@Karmy. Most definitely! I’ll either have them replicated or possibly clear over them!
I say put another 1.6L in it. I think it would be cool to keep it mostly stock. I love that you rescued it!
Man, nice drop in another desiel engine, and a 3 inch body lift, some white letter all terrain tires, and have some fun with it !
Another Caddy! Can't wait for this one...best car rescue channel on YT!
That has to be a complete labor of love because that thing is R-U-F-F !!!!!
1.9 tdi swap, 4x4, and the drive train of a golf (rabbit) 4x4 syncro! (Frankrenstein caddy, but will be cool!)
I love this truck! this swap lift mud tires and 4x4 conversion nothing crazy but trail ready! definitely one of my favorite rescues if yours!👍🏼😁
That would be a cool idea to build a Baja desert runner truck out of it! Put a shell on the back and set it up for some all-terrain camping.
My departed father had a Mk1 Polo estate , he loved it and really looked after it , because he knew a good vehicle when he saw it therefore being biased i say that the old pick up truck really deserves saving .
I remembering seeing one of these at a car show in Myrtle Beach years ago. Someone had customized it into a GTI version. Engine, transmission, wheels, plaid seats, Teutonic Grey paint and GTI logos with Red accents, round headlight conversion. Pretty cool, looked factory, too. Wish I took photos.
I’ve always loved my diesel rabbit pickup, had it for several years, always a bugger to start in the winter, and the shift linkage was a pain but loved it none the less
Hi Mike and his Pop nice video 📹 and workmanship
Man I just found your channel. Absolutely love you it. Better than any car repair show ever and can’t get enough of it. Keep them coming.
My vote is to restore it to factory original appearance!
Definitely deserves to be saved, if it was me I would put a 1.9 ALH in it
27x8.50-14 's - period correct oversized A/T's...they're still out there! Cool project btw!
TDI swap, lift, all terrains, clean it up, send it!! Man I wish I was your neighbor! love the videos it's always exciting to see what's next.
TDI! Lift!! Roll bar with KC's across the top!! 😁😁👍👍
Caddy’s like that are worth a fortune in UK/Europe on the VW scene 👍😃😃
Yep. Off road build.
Be glad I didn't find those fenders for my rear engine pickup/caddy. Maybe some day I will get back to work on it.
Cheers
Terry
VR6 swap. Glad to see this truck rescued. I love these little trucks. Keep the content coming. Can’t wait for the next video on this and the 911
I think you needed a different style blade for that sawzall. I could be wrong, but you still did an amazing job getting it out of there.
no gas engine !!! has to be a diesel to keep the coolness factor !
Great paint job ! Please don’t change that !
1.9 TDI alh swap. Lift , bigger tires, light bar or whatever. Cool project. I like it.
The stripes on the side say diesel. Going to have to stick with that. TDI will be needed with the big setup. I like the lifted idea.
Engine swap. Your plan is genius. Will look great 😀
80s diesel vws are the slowest vehicles ever. You found 2 of these, I'm surprised haven't found a dodge rampage. Bigger inside, more comfortable
I think the consensus is to go with your build plans - I wholly agree. Another very cool catch from the boneyard. I especially enjoy the extra effort you make in all your videos to "autopsy" why a mill will or will not make it. Another great video, with hopefully more to follow on this cool ride.
Definitely a TDI swap, lift, off-road setup and keep the patina.
I used to have a 2005 Passat with a 1.8T. It wasn't the fastest car I had ever owned, but it sure was fast. I think one of those motors in this truck will make it A LOT faster than VW ever intended it to be.
“Throw an LS in there!!” - That Guy🙄
Throw two LS's in, it's a small truck
Ahhh finally great content on UA-cam
😊😊 Thanks Matt! I hope you enjoy!
@@BudgetBuildz I always do
Agreed, probably my favourite resto channel. Shows that you don't need big bucks to save and enjoy older cars.
Great you saved it! I drive an ‘86 Caddy myself, with a slide-in camper on the bed😁. Made me change the motor into an 1.9 TD (of a 1993 Golf 3), for the 1.6d lacked the power I needed.
My thing is to keep it as time-correct possible. So no TDI for me. Good luck and save it! (Maybe try to make it Syncro??? Would be great to see that happening)
Good luck!!
I love the stripes. VR6 swap? You've already done a TDI swap,
yes off road safari style build would be awesome
I would look for another of the same engine 😁
Cool Little Truck.
Mazda 13B would be cool.
I would like to the little truck built. Those VW trucks are so cool and neat they should be preserved.
I like the lifted idea and a TDI
Glenn Campbell
It says, "DIESEL" on the side. Keep it diesel and lift it like you suggested.
Absolutely love to see these trucks coming back to life! I daily drive one and it’s definitely something to get one started after so many years!
Saab looks intresting too!😎
Great video and thanks for saving a cool little truck. My .02 is sure raise it a touch and make it more back road worthy but don't go crazy. Another 1.6 and keep it close to the original vision of the VW designers.
A really nice find, amazing that its not in worse condition after all! My vote on what you should do with it: Go gently with the liftup idea (with new rims/tires) for the looks without any welding, bars etc. Then a newer fuel efficient diesel engine and some cleanup of the interior and you´re sorted. It does not need to be 4WD. If someone one day want to being it back to totally stock you haven't really done anything harm to it. But your car, your decision! Greetings from Sweden
What A Great Scrapyard Save!! I’d Say Put A 1.9TDI In It, 5-Speed Manual, Lower It With Some Bags, Address That Body With Some Reconditioning, Fix The Rust, Floor Pans, It’d Make A Cool Shop Truck Or A Good Flip.. Keep Up The Amazing Work Guys..
I think you should put another diesel on it! It’s worth saving the cool little truckster!👌😎👍
Subaru Brat style! Looking forward to this one!
I would put another diesel in it. This thing is pretty cool
I think you should TDI swap it and find a ALL Wheel Drive system to go in it as a little off-road monster.
That thing is cool. keep it on the road.
I’m loving this! I can’t believe the tree growing through the front. That’s mad
My neighbour has two of these Caddy's they are awesome 👍😎
How the heck is the body in such good shape after sitting in the woods for 20 years!
Ikr? *cries in UK*
They were built to last back then...
Judging by his accent I don't think this spent it's life in the rust belt.. low moisture and no salt on the winter roads means things last.
Man, the bird's must of been constapated !
Nice video, thank you! Remove and tear down diesel and repair or replace with rebuilt or used diesel. Other repairs will also be needed. Ron PTL USA
i like that and your brave enough to restore something like that
I say keep it stock - not a fan of lifted anything, and besides, if you swap the motor for a gasoline one you'd have to lose those fantastically 70s 'Diesel' door decals, haha.
I'm just envious that you live somewhere that you can leave a car sitting outside under trees, on its floor pan and with busted windows, for 25 years and still be able to move it using a forklift rather than a dustpan and brush.
Here in rainy England the bodyshell usually goes long before the mechanicals - you need to be good at welding and body repairs if you live here and are into 70s and 80s cars especially.
hi there,
i'm from germany and really enjoyed watching this episode.
i totally forgot how tight and short the cab on these where🤣
in the early 90s(minitruck times) we had a shop,that did cut the short cabs off from the 4door models (short doors) and
swapped the longer 2 door version frontend back to the original bed,wich extended the vehicle in its self,
so you had more room and wasnt all cramped up in that tight box.
you can imagine how that looked when guys lowered the extended versions down 4 inches and assembled 8x13s with 175/50/13 on these things😄
(talking about streched tires&stance)
in the back you even had to work with lowering blocks...haha😆
there was even a company that sold slide open rear windows like on the fullsize trucks...
nice to see someone took care👍🏾
please excuse my grammar,my english kinda went bad after the troops left my area in germany and i have not too many american friends left to talk to....🤷🏾♂️
it is what it is,but i'm sure you get what i was trying to express..lol.
thank you for reading sir🤝🏾
I drove a rental "Gol" in Brazil for a few weeks (many years ago). It was a transition car for VW Brasil at the time, and had a A/C Beetle motor in the front, driving the front wheels. Kinda cool.
Here's my pitch: Put a fully built Scat dual port big bore A/C motor in it, w/a bus trans & flipped ring gear (and do burnouts). You might be able to source knuckles from a Gol with help from the Internet...
I know those are rare but I'll watch to see it run.
Aww, I was so hoping that you would be able to save the Little VW P/U! I just love watching your videos because of the quirky little cars and trucks that you try and rescue! If it were up to me, I think I'd change the engine to a gas engine instead of a Diesel! Then I'd clean it up and try and bring it back to almost original condition! I too, loved the little VW Rabbit's. Never owned one, but my brother had an 81 and it was all black! It was an awesome car. I had a 71 Super Beetle convertible at the time, and was a bit envious of that Rabbit! lol
Definitely build it! Can't wait to watch this project develope!
Very cool you found that caddy mostly complete nice find happy you saved it!😁
You have to build it! Don’t do it stock! I think it deserves more than that like you were saying! More power and lift it!😁
You REALLY should get the Saab too!
Love the Caddy. Definitely an off-road build but unsure how you’d get a 4x4 out of it. A TDI swap is great or the 1.8 turbo would be nice too. But it’s a keeper and build. Maybe a chassis swap onto a AWD or 4x4?
Love the off road idea! Keep it a diesel!
Hi! Very good caddy! Perfect old vw!! ❤❤❤❤
GREAT GRILL AND 70S BODY STRIPS!!! FIX THE BODY NEW ENGINE..
You should be saving those 2 white short bed 70s f150s that are sitting there, those are worth so much now.
Another great caddy pickup. .lucky guy...
Glad you saved it but I hate TDI swaps because I hate TDI. The 1.6D is the perfect engine.
Thanks! Good thing we didn’t put a TDI in this one.
That is awesome! I love it, kinda make it a Mcfly type of truck, like the Toyotoa.
All those trees would make nice yamadori bonsai☹️... nice bug pickup
I'm a big truck guy, but I think a rebuild would be fun.
I like your plan of possibly swapping the engine and building it up . Great work and thanks for sharing this with us take care
As many Caddy's as you have probably messed with, you probably already know... But since you didn't mention it in the video; be Sure to look carefully at the strut housings. Trucks and Convertibles have a double-skinned strut housing to reinforce the body since neither could really count on the roof to help keep the body square. Convertibles rarely had a problem with the sealant in the rain tray area cracking, and allowing water to go in-between the two skins at the strut area since they were made in Germany, however all the trucks are American-made, and quality control wasn't as sharp. Looking at the video when you were messing with the crank, I noticed one horizontal crack in the sealant that Could indicate that rust is at work. I'd verify this before you do ANYTHING else, especially a TDI or 1.8T swap... Good Luck!
Can you elaborate on checking the strut towers? I have an ‘81 and would love to be able to reassure myself
@@roccit What he means is that first and second Gen Rabit/Golf are prone to their strut towers rusting out, both front and rear. On the Hatchbacks you can see it happening because its a single layer of steel on those but with the Convertibles and Caddys/Truck variants they have two layers of steel over another for reenforcement of the chassis and the lower layer can rust out from the wheelwell without it beeing visible from up top. The first sign of this happening is usually the seam sealer starting to crack/seperate and if you notice that the best thing to do would be to grind back the seam sealer, reweld/repair the metal and then reseal it before it gets worse.
i like those rabbit trucks. i usually like rear engine volkswagens but i do like rabbits and phaetons.
*Fantastic My Friend 🙋🏻♂️🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻*
Thank you! 😊
nice job man, I was just given a 1970's Mercury outboard motor
Well done saving it ,tdi swop lift kit and rear bed cage.
Nice score, those VW pickups are rare.