Latest Projects From the Rabbit Laboratories
Updated 8/17/06
Power Steering Addition
I have wished for many years that power steering was available on the A1 GTIs, but alas it seems that only LS models and some Jettas came from the factory with such an option. Although most would consider power steering a downgrade on a GTI (much like adding an automatic transmission), the older VW power steering system actually has fewer turns lock-to-lock, so adding such a system would make the steering quicker. While the car steers fine when in motion, parallel parking or moving in tight confines requires a good deal of muscle, most likely because of my larger wheels and tires.
Problem is, nobody seems to think that it's possible to add power steering to a vehicle with a York A/C compressor, and up to this point I believed them, since the Bentley and Haynes manuals only show power steering with a rotary compressor. Since I live in the south, removing the air conditioner is not something I'm willing to do, and I didn't want to swap out the entire front bracketry from a car with a rotary compressor, so I had dropped the plans for performing this upgrade.
Then I started looking carefully at some of the Rabbits for sale on eBay. Here's a picture of the engine compartment of one vehicle that was sold recently.
Take a look at the bottom left - that's a power steering reservoir on a car with a York air conditioning compressor. With a little more study, and finding more cars with an identical configuration, I finally realized that this was an option available on Westmoreland cars that had automatic transmissions. So, in theory, the parts are available to perform such a swap. I would need the bracket that secures the pump, the pump, the bolts, pulleys, etc. I believe the steering rack from a Scirocco 16v will work with a manual transmission. Problem is, I've been unable to find all the parts so far...just the steering rack. So, if you know of someone with a junk car and such a power steering setup, let me know!
Recovering Seats
After 22 years, the fabric on my driver's seat finally began to disintegrate. Not tear, disintegrate. The fabric inside the car has dried out to the point that it would almost turn to dust if you manhandled it. I has searched eBay for several months for a seat matching my interior to show up, but those that were available were in worse shape than what I already had. I eventually made the decision to redo all the fabric inside the vehicle, because there was no way I was going to find cloth to match the factory original.
So, after checking with a few local trim shops, I found a shop that did good work for a reasonable price. The initial trick was finding a color that matches the rest of the interior, since the "maroon" color that came with the car originally is a difficult color to match. In addition, the colors in my car have changed slightly over the years, so just about everthing is a slightly different shade based on the type of material and how much sunlight has hit it over the years. In keeping with the theme of the remainder of the car, I did not want to go with anything "wild," meaning I did not ask the trim shop to sew in any patterns or different colors into the fabric. I just asked them to make it monotone, and to keep the stitching in the same pattern as the original.
I'll let you judge by the pictures below, but I was very pleased with the trim shop's work (although they did manage to lose the seat track bushings, which needed replacement anyway), and fairly happy with the color selection,
The slight color difference only shows up in bright sunlight. You can notice it by looking at the difference in color between the seat trim pieces and the seat fabric. It's not bad, but I wish I had erred on the slightly darker side rather than slightly lighter.
