CLICK
Page 1: Engine removal, stripping, turbo and accessory fitment.
Page 2: Transmission work, wiring work, steering rack work.
Page 3: Mounts, brakes, belt/pullies, manifold spacer, throttle.
Page 4: Spacer, test fit, new stuff, injector cleaning, starter.
Page 5: EGT, final assembly, turbo flange, install engine, downpipe construction
Page 6: Intercooler/ engine & trans coolers/ radiator/ chargepipe/ intake install.
Page 7: Mostly mindless blathering, fuel system install, engine management & rad fan wiring, fwd exhaust section.
Page 8: First start up. IT'S ALIVE!!!!

Update:

I started applying brainpressure to the problem of how to install all these damned coolers. I'm a firm believer in maximum engine cooling, and wanted to put the biggest rad in I could fit, at least without going way overboard. The rad out of the syncro passat looked like it would fit nicely. It'll end up sitting upside down, so that the in/outlets are on the passenger side. I'm using an intercooler from an early 90's Toyota Supra. I believe they're effective up to 14 psi on the supra, close to 300 hp. It should do the trick for now! I found a nice spot for it on the passenger side of the rad suppport tight up against the inside of the grille. I had to cut one of it's pipes down to make it work. To prevent any boost tubes from blowing off, I whipped up a quickie beading tool.
I didn't waste any time making it look nice, but it effectively beads pipes!
I spent the last available hour of the evening making mounting brackets for the intercooler. Here's how it sits. You can see the yet unmounted engine oil cooler on the lower right.

Update:
Just a little time after work today. I welded a 3 bolt flange onto the outlet of the downpipe and turned the whole piece with header wrap. I was going to use hose clamps to hold the wrap in place, but suddenly remembered the cool little CV boot banding tool. I tried it and again, it worked like a charm. Smaller bands, and they can't come loose.

Yup, that's the monkey-hating, hackjob-harness yanker in the background. The wrap job passed his thorough inspection.

Today, I snuck away from work at lunch and dropped my oil cooler off at the machine shop. He welded a pair of aluminum fittings onto it. I was somewhat annoyed that 10 minutes of his time was worth $40. I really REALLY need a TIG welder.
After work, I went and visited the local MPP at his work. I brought with me a HUGE stack of Canadian Tire money, and held up a cashier line for about 8 minutes while she counted it all. Between this, and his discount, mypalPaul hooked me up with a new, large transmission cooler for about half price! This one is of a more square shaped than the Caravan cooler SmokeyJeff gave me. I simply couldn't find a good place for that unit. This new one should fit perfectly. A quick trip to Princess Auto proved that they have all the fittings, hose, and hose making/testing services I'll need to do up the oil cooler lines. My neighbour, uh.. Novamike, said he'd score me some fittings from his stash, maybe save me a few bucks. I'm looking forward to shaking his V8 foundations in the near future. I doubt he'd ever change to a vehicle that runs on sourkraut, but it's fun to imagine him scramming down the street in an old scirocco or something!
Speaking of Sciroccos, I had another chance meeting with a Scirocco dude on the way to work. I'd seen him once before, but this time, I ended up immediately behind him. We had fun blasting down the backroads. It turns out he works at the same airport I do, at the weather office, and I've met hime before at a mutual circle-track racer friend's shop.
Stan, the circle-track guy, is amazing. He builds and races tube chassis 4 cyl cars. He uses a VW 2.0L ABA engine, ported, custom (to his specs) camshaft, open 4-1 header and a single, two barrel carb. It turns 9000 rpm and makes just shy of 200 hp. Just imagine what he could do with 16 or 20 valves, and a pair of sidedrafts! Who needs Vtec?! Oh. Wussies who insist on a smooth, less-than-2000-rpm idle. I remember seeing one of his old Rabbit heads (before the ABA came out. It had larger diameter BMW lifters to allow a massive lift camshaft, and valves from some American V8! Cut down to fit, I'm sure. Absolute wizard. He's trying to break the 200hp mark on his next engine. Should be cool. As if he needs it, he's usually at the head of the pack anyway.

Full day of garagellation tomorrow!

Update:
Sorry, readers! I've been a little slack in updating lately. I have made some good progress though. I made brackets and mounted all four coolers. This actually took quite a lot of time. Intercooler piping is done, and I managed to do it all with junk from the pile, excluding one piece. This I had made by a local exhaust shop. I welded the CO pot (engine's air temp/pressure sensor) bung into it, and am currently making a blowoff valve mount flange for it. I modified a turbodiesel popoff valve to do the trick. It actually works better than the factory blowoff valve I yanked from a Supra Turbo in the wrecking yard. After disassembly and inspection, I think most Supra turbos with stock BOV's are experiencing boost leak. It's a crappy design!
During the installation of the coolers, I accidentally knocked the rad over and it landed hard on the corner of a vice. Looks like it might leak. I grudgingly shelled out for a new rad, and went with a 16v Passat unit instead. It'll actually work better, I think.
So there's quite a bit more to do. I'm actually unsure if I'll be finished in time for the race this coming saturday. We'll see. It'll be tight timewise. For sure I won't be able to finish the mystery exhaust, but I can mickeymouse on a glasspack to avoid jail time. Wish me luck! I'll have some pictures soon. The rad support is now a very crowded area indeed. Everything just barely fits though, thankfully.

Update:
Okay. I've been working like a slave on this. It's all coming down to the nitpicking details, and there are a number of them.
I finished that last charge pipe. It has the CO potentiometer fitting and the blowoff valve fitting on it.
It's a turbodiesel safety valve (popoff valve) with a fitting installed in the upper chamber. It works exactly like a regular blowoff valve, and it was free! I'm considering putting a whoopee cushion or duck call on it out of total mockery. I hate listening to blowoff valves wheezing on other cars everywhere. I have yet to acquire the right sized clamps to secure the charge pipes, so nylon zipties will have to suffice for now.
Next I tackled the rad fan. There's not much room for it. I found that a third generation golf/jetta fan with the shroud cut in half fit rather nicely. It has three speeds, and the top speed is VERY strong. It took a lot of work, I had to actually remove and relocate mounting tabs that were crimped onto the top and bottom of the radiator. then cut the shroud in half (remove the belt-driven slave fan) and weld new metal on to reshroud the fan. Otherwise, it'd just draw air in from the side, rather than through the rad.

Next I routed the tranny cooler and oil cooler lines. Unfortunately, the hydraulic shop put the wrong fittings on, so I altered my original plan slightly. I'll have to put different fittings into the thermostat plate, cuz I don't want to waste time going back there.

Some of the smaller items included hooking up the vacuum booster hose. This 16v throttle body doesn't have an idle screw. I had to make one. I tapped into one of the ports on the booster line and used a pneumatic speed controller, routed to upwind of the throttle body. I also had to relocate the fuel pressure switch as it's hose was interfering with the throttle body inlet boot. I also tee'd into the manifold pressure line going to the fuel pressure regulator and used it as a vacuum source for the blowoff valve. Before running out of time I also installed the crank vent hose. For now, I'll run it overboard. If it's messy, I'll run it into the intake somewhere, but I'd rather avoid putting oil into the inlet tubes.

Update:
Decent progress in the few hours before work. I finished making the rad hoses. Yes, making. Modifying, more accurately. There are no factory hoses to match this combination, so I had to improvise.

I guess this means I'm officially equipped to weld stainless steel now. It takes a slightly different hand and I need a bit more time to totally get used to it. I think the airbleed tube in the upper rad hose will probably stay together despite my limp-wristed technique.
Next I tackled the turbo inlet system. System, heh! Collection of random pipes and hoses cobled together, more like. I found a beaded metal coupler with a fitting on it that not only joined two of the rubber hoses together, but provided the perfect solution as to where to dump the blowoff valve's output. Despite the attraction of a mocking duck-call blowoff sound, I went with my normal approach of low-key and stealth wherever possible. So dumping the BOV into the turbo's inlet fits the bill nicely. I also heatwrapped that chargepipe as it's located directly behind the radiator.
Due to it's close proximity to the downpipe (or, Anaconda as Retro_Mike called it. {did I sense a little fear in his words? haha. I hope that stage 5 G60 Scirocco of his is in tiptop shape! hehehe}) I used some aircraft hose fireshield to insulate the turbo inlet pipe. I mounted the air filter in the raintray for a few reasons. First of all, it's guaranteed to inhale only ambient temperature air. (it blows me away to see turbo or high compression normally aspirated cars with open air filters under the hood. What a fantastic way to shoot yourself in the foot!) Secondly, it's much cleaner. Air scoops from under the front bumper or airdam are like vacuum cleaners. So much crap gets kicked up from the road, it's like a junkyard in the airbox. Plus, K&N filters don't actually filter anything and aren't worth two sniffs of a vulture's crotch. So why am I using an even cheaper knock-off of a K&N? I had it lying around and because of it's comparatively dust-free location, I'm not worried about intake contamination, and finally, to avoid having to answer questions of why I don't have an airfilter. I base my opinion on K&N performance on actual proof. I had a K&N panel filter installed in a factory airbox and found that the pipe leading from the box to the turbo (on a diesel) felt like it had a coating of sand on the inside. I had been following K&N's recommended wash/oil intervals. I replaced the filter with a stock paper filter and cleaned the pipe. I was unable to measure any difference in power (on the Gtech), and even after 4 months, that airpipe was still clean as a whistle. Paper is way better. Ford windstars use a paper cone filter. I think it's a little big for this location. I'll look into it later.
And thirdly, The raintray actually sees positive pressure at higher speeds. It's part of the reason why you get airflow out the vents without the fan on.
Fourthly, when I mat the pedal, it'll sound like a screaming demon! I had the same setup on an unintercooled turbodiesel about 4 years ago. Worked great, but it was so loud I got a headache driving it. Not the turbo inhaling, but the roar of the intake valves opening. The intercooler muffles the engine's inlet sound. Suprisingly, the turbo doesn't reduce engine inlet noise much.
Remember folks, you saw it here first!

Thanks to NovaMike for dropping off a box of fittings and pointing out a neater way to secure the idlespeed hose than I was working on.
I suddenly noticed this on the floor.

The idle stabilizer valve. Oops. I forgot about that. Off came the metal charge pipe, welded on another fitting and plumbed the valve in. I still need to make a mount bracket for it.
Thanks to SmokeyJeff for helping me out last night. He modified my fan shroud to clear the throttle cable, permanently installed the downpipe and installed the left driveshaft. I mounted the fuel filter and started running the lines to their new locations.

I'm beginning to think that maybe I just might make it to the race on Saturday. Either in this wabbit or.....

Update:
Well, I'm now the proud owner of an 81 diesel rabbit. Actually, it's my old rabbit, sold back to me. It's kinda special! I've been modifying it for the previous owner over the last year.
Anyway, I made an executive decision and implemented a small change to the plan. I'll race this saturday in this diesel rabbit. I can for sure have it ready in time. I'm not sure I could finish this page's featured car in time.
With this new plan, SmokeyJeff and I started gangraping the diesel. He started pulling the final drive flanges off my race tranny, and I yanked the transmission out of the rabbit. The race tranny has better gear ratios and a limited slip diff. I'm going to run SmokeyJeff's modified pump for a little while, from his car featured in the video posted a few pages back. I'll install some strut braces and make a few other tweaks, and she'll be good to go.
Work will continue on this turbo rabbit project in the next couple days.
Seeya at the races!!

Update:
Spent another full, very very full day on the new rabbit. I should probably start a new, separate page for it, but for now I'll comment on it here. SmokeyJeff and Nathan showed up and we worked until 4:30am getting the old honey ready. It already had a bunch of stuff accomplished, as the previous owner had hired me to modify it. On top of the suspension, exhaust and mild intake work, I added (stole) the 16v Scirocco rear swaybar, SmokeyJeff's Performance Diesel Injection modified injection pump, front upper and lower chassis braces, the fancy transmission, new thermostat and rad fan switch, tossed the rear and front passenger seats AND mananged to drop a nut down the downpipe. It got blown out on the first test drive.
WOW! This car has a whackload of power for a diesel! The modded pump made the difference.
After 1.5hrs of sleep, I dragged myself out of bed and loaded up the car with race tires, tools, jack, airpig etc. etc.
Upon arriving at the event, I installed the race tires and registered.
Well, after 3 years' abscence from autocross racing, it became very apparent that it's not quite like riding a bike. It took 4 runs for me to start making good times. After that, I managed to beat an AWD Talon turbo, a bigblock corvette, an oldschool Austin Mini Cooper S, and a Lotus Elise Turbo. (twice, actually!) This lead to the elimination round, where I was promptly eliminated by a very fast Miata. It was very close. I almost had him in the second round to bring it to a tie breaker.
"The most fun you can have with your clothes on!", a phrase circulating around the autocross forums, is not far from the truth! It was a total blast. I'll post video soon.
I was really pleased with the results, especially considering I'd bought the car 2 days before and was racing on basically no sleep. I finished 16th out of somewhere around 30 cars. Doesn't sound very good, does it? Well, the other cars included things like that Lotus Elise, a turbo miata, a supercharged miata, a 500 hp Datsun 280Z, Type R Integra etc. So when you compare my 1970's technology diesel Rabbit to them, it IS impressive! The good thing is that this car's handling and braking are sufficient. I need more time behind the wheel and MORE POWER!! The power is easy. Intercooler, cool air induction and more boost. I'll do much better next time. Anyway, it was an absolute hoot, and I can't wait for the next one, which I'll probably take this page's gas rabbit to.
Speaking of which, work on the turbo rabbit will continue tomorrow.

**VIDEO OF THE DIESEL RABBIT IN THE AUTOCROSS**