Lot of knowledge in this man's head and I'm loving every minute of it.👍

Merlin is The KZfaq Wizard of actually finishing projects!

After watching the cross-country trip in the Model A, I feel like Merlin is an old friend, teaching me his trade. Love all of his videos. Uncle Merlin, you are the absolute best!

I worked in an automotive repair shop for 25 years and I learn something new on every video you make! Absolutely Awesome!

Old school garage is the man, nothing Merlin can't build love this guy!

Seeing Merlin opening the door from the outside made me chuckle. Its not a VW if it don't have a broken door handle or latch.

I worked at a shop specializing in these for 6 years. The tapered camshaft sprocket works a a great clutch alignment tool. You should also break the camshaft sprocket loose when installing the timing belt. Adjust the shifter with the trans. in reverse for good results.

The operative word here with MERLIN is "School" because you learn so much from him.....somehow you wanna watch over and over again....

Natie is hilarious!! I love watching you all! I always liked watching FabRats more for Ben and Shawn than for Paul truthfully. I wholeheartedly support your decision to be home with your family and your channel is thriving already! Keep up the great work!!

Merlin, you never fail to amaze me with your mechanical skills and knowledge! (Well, perhaps with an exception for an occasional erratic jet ski?) Anyway, you tackled a project most folks would not even have a clue on where to start! And your choice of a substitute 'engine' for the stranded jet ski was priceless!

The very fact that Merlin knew about the self-defeating problem of early version VW-engine is impressive. Small 4-cylinder foreign built, just did not expected this depth. Way back, driving back home from university i experienced just that, the engine started this cycle of sucking in engine oil. There was nothing I could do other than waiting for my brother to tow me home.

20 years ago my best friend had on of these trucks. Imagine a hard core biker type with a mini long haired Datsun dog as his running buddy and a copy of the rules of law book on the dash. We used that 4 cylinder diesel truck to pull a full size tractor trailer into my shop up an 8% grade. Tons of fun. Thanks for the video, brings back lots of memories.

Merlin is amazing. Doesn't treat the engine like a "magic box" that you just swap out and hope for the best. First step is, let's pull the engine, go through it and modify it as he sees fit. Great job, Merlin! Really wish he could figure out his to charge the camera battery before it dies...😂😂😂

Nice find. You certainly were named right as you are a magician. Great channel. Thank you.

Great 👍 find. Thanks for sharing 😊.

Merlin, with the Vdub up on the rack, looking at the front roll pan under the bumper, looks like the bow of a boat... A real man might make it amphibious... Oooooo...😝😝😝

I had a 81 Rabbitt ... bought cheap after it had been overheated. I did an in-frame rebuild, new oversized pistons, bearings, replaced the head. Getting it to hold a head gasket was my biggest problem, by the 4th round I could do the job in 4 hours, minus the re-torque procedure. On the 4th round, I changed it up. First, I bought a new S-K torque wrench. Then I took an entire day, starting it, warming it up to operating temperature, re-torque each bolt by backing it up slightly and tighten to spec, let it cool down to ambient. Then do it all again. On the 5th cycle, at the end of the day, the head bolts clocked to the same position when torqued them, so I left it there. That gasket lasted for eight years, up to the last day I used the car for drive-away work. By then, I'd worn out the rebuild I'd done. I still have that engine, though the rest of the car is gone. I don't miss the ratted out interior, or the fact that it leaked like a sieve and the heater blower was cost prohibitive to replace, or the need to coast for a quarter mile to shift gears ... but I do miss the 40+ MPG. Keep an eye on the temp gauge until you get it broke in. If it climbs above normal, slow down. I had to do that for a little while.

As a side note, I want to live out west so bad. Lived on est side of ESA all my life but when i left Marine Corp basic I took a bus from San Diego to Georgia with tons of stops along the way and just had a blast. I pray I get a chance to atleast visit through some day. I'm disabled with degenerative disc disease. The dry warm air helps me a lot. lightens the pain. Cold and humid days make me hurt bad.

I love that lil truck, I WANT IT! Merlin, you ROCK🤘😎🤘

Nice find for a flip!!!!! More lunch money or a battery for jet ski!!!!! Desiree hope he took you out for supper!!!!

Had one of those VW pickups on the farm. Was a great parts runner vehicle. Nice to see one up running again. Thanks for the memory refresher. 😊

Old Merlin can fix anything from a broken heart to the crack of dawn. Rory needs a spare 454. He blew his up in Mater

Good morning all from Siesta Key Florida

Gets out of the recliner now and heads outside to do a couple oil changes.... Thanks for the motivational videos. 😊

Wow uncle Merlin that is a straight shooter!!!cool find! Love ya!~

The little tricks that you create to make it possible to work alone are fantastic to watch.

So full of knowledge. Love watching you.

Wow--a perfect rust free arizona body--great find !!!!

I don't like to comment, BUT I LOST IT WHEN YOU SAID YALL WERE OUT OF BEER! Couldn't have been better!!! My kinda folks. Much love from Tennessee

Awesome as always.Thanks for sharing and taking us along

Mark your calendar! There will be a car show, Ford Model A/T club. September 23 2023. "First for the town". Gregory Street Plaza, 135 Gregory St, Black Hawk, CO 80422 We look forward to seeing you there! Drew

Thanks for sharing 👍😀

Dang Merlin, I haven't seen a Big Johnson shirt in years. Good stuff.

Merlin you are an absolute genius. I don’t anyone else including myself who could have figured out how to use 2 floor jacks and a ratchet strap to install a motor and trans by themselves. You sir are a rock star.

Still love your cross country in the 31 FORD model A . Probably on 20 some teen times. It was so beautiful, peaceful & enjoyed the backroads.

15:24 Merlin's wearing the 90s "Big Johnson" tshirt 😂 love it!!

Whelp, as always - your video made me laugh out loud! The "Big Johnson" T-shirt at 15:20 is hysterical! Thank you for your video's!

Thanx for sharing your experience with the VW motor Great Content 💯👍 Have a Great Day 👍

Hi Merlin, morning from Portugal 😁 I wish you many happy moments and good health to see you many videos and good projects 🙏

Good looking propulsion unit, Merlin...

Always loved those old rabbit pickups, nice project ✅

Best way to start my Sunday MOSG. Dr Frankenstein brings back another dead one to life. Your knowledge mind blowing . Love your videos very entertaining

Oh man i love those so much. Cant believe you got it for trade of an ATC. Here in Oregon everyone wants your first born for anything that clean.

Literally Jimmy's OFF ROAD recovery. Lol

Merlin, I look forward to Sunday to watch what you're building or creating. Love your knowledge and your willingness to work on camera to share it with us.

Merlin, you are the all things mechanical whisperer. Love watching someone that is head and shoulders above. I never was exposed to fixin, but I love watchin and learnin at age 71. Thanks for your hard work both in mechanicing and videoing. John here, from the back-roads of Northeastern Tennessee.

Enjoy your videos. Thanks for posting

Very cool little truck. You are a master putting that thing back together

👍🏽🇺🇸👍🏽. Always loved these vw trucks. Can’t find them in central Illinois. Nothing but rust here.. awesome job

A great site to listen to and learn.

It's good to have good friends and Mr Merlin has plenty because he seems generous with his time, knowledge & skill. I'm sure he's helped plenty of folks out over the years.

Plenty caddys around in South Afica, They were sold up until the last 2000's. Stuff like the rear lights etc are widely available, The later models had a redesigned dash and one piece door windows that did away with the vent window.

Rory just blew up the big block in TrailMater, got a junk pullout which sorta runs ok, he might want your found motor

I LOVE FB Market!!!!!!Best deals around. I have found that people wasted their money and I get things very cheap. I have purchased a ECO Flow solar generator for 350 buck less. Only 2 charges put on it, since purchased. These last for 10+ years. My second solar generator.

You are just amazing...where did you get all of your knowledge to do what you do...just curious. I loved your trip across America that was beyond fantastic. Enjoyed your river trip with Paul and his family, which is your family as well. Your ability to take scrap and make it run is mind boggling. Just love the way your mind works...thanks for all that you do.

Love the junk and it will love u. Really love how you bring it back to life. Thanks merlin

Always great content Mr. Johnson. Love the diesel rabbits myself.

I drove a gas powered Rabbit Pickup all over North Carolina, Virginia and South Carolina for years repairing copiers and printers. Great little truck if you liked the near constant maintenance. Never did let me down. Guess the maintenance was worth it...................Jay

Great to see the little “El Rabbito”, as I used to call mine in the early 80’s. I also put a turbo in mine, but I was always blowing head gaskets. I liked the little truck, but it had so little power that it could hardly get out of it’s own way. 😊

That 454 sounds like another one in a tow truck owned by Rory.

Merlin, you are a mechanical genius!!!

I worked with a guy with a VW pickup years ago. It had a bunch of miles on it and the top speed was 50 MPH. Great mileage but took him forever to go to work. I think the drive home gave him extra beer time though.

When the Rabbit diesel first came out we had a few issues with blowing oil past the gasket on a new oil filter. They seemed to have a lot of oil pressure..

This is a nice little project, again. I like the explanations that Merlin gives along the way. Time laps music is nice too.

VW coco has one in England, little more rust than that one 😢 looks like a decent run around, thanks for sharing, all the best to you and your loved ones

Goodmorning Merlin from the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia Canada 🇨🇦 just to the Northwest of you,, great find on the VW,if anyone can fix this Black Widow you can!!! 😉

l had the first edition Rabbit GTI in the early 80s. l miss that car. Love the channel.

miss my old little VW pickup was even the same color primer white. every time you touched the truck you had white paint on you. was my first lowrider back in the late 90's.

This is tĥe best channel on KZfaq! Hands down.

Wow Merlin. I couldn’t carry your lunchbox. You are a craftsman

Thank you again from Berea Kentucky ✌️😎

Thanks for your vid 😇💟💟💟 Love and bless you guys.

It's a win win an no Black widow spiders dropping out of the head liner, lol !!!! That could have been a scary drive. Me I think I would have sprayed the inside with killer bomb, an maybe ripped head liner down..

I have owned 3 1972 VW diesel PUs and enjoyed them very much. Used to take it hunting were any 4 X 4s could not go.

I think that Merlin, in all of his magical mastery, is a Tom Waits music fan

I love that restaurant! Bummed we won't be out as planned next month.

Man I wish I had a little truck like that. I just got a cabinet installer job and that'd be my savior

I had a 1980 rabbit, 4 door, diesel, 4 speed manual. It was a good little car., passed every fuel station almost, 40 miles a gallon. If you were on the highway and needed to pass someone, you dropped back a ways and timed it so the oncomming traffic passed you just before you rearended the car ahead of you. You sling shoted around them. If you waited till it was clear, you could never get enough power/rpms to pass the car ahead of you. I was driving from Texas to Missouri in vacation in that car, tryed running with the truckers, didnt work, the car maxed out at 80 mph. 😂

My favorite type of content! I enjoy seeing vehicles/equipment fixed up, made better and put back to work!

I had an old rabbit diesel that would run on when I got off the offramp going to work, I directed the hose into a oil bottle and would pour it back into the engine. great mileage on that beast.

I had a '81 VW Rabbit car that was a diesel. It used to get 50+ mpg and nobody would believe me. Great car... sorry I ever sold it.

This video took me back in time about 35 years. Thanks Marlin, I like watching your videos, they are full of knowledge.

Nice little shop truck. Interesting mods.

My friend now owns this truck. The block has that same green paint on it. Cool video, very informative. Awesome to see the history of this bad boy

Here's a bit of trivia, there have been three front wheel drive pickup trucks sold in the United States. They are: the VW Rabbit pickup, the Subaru Brat (which also came in 4WD) and the Dodge Rampage.

I believe those were called Sport Rucks, Sportrucks, the Scirocco motors were the ones that you could hot rod , I had a scirocco some kid who owned it before me had melted the springs to lower it, I commuted from Big Bear lake to Chino hills and had a great time driving while I beat the crap out of my kidneys. With that lowered suspension.

What a fun little build! Its hard to believe that it needs the glow plugs in the 🏜.

DNR - HEY THATS ILLEGAL THOSE SPIDERS ARE PROTECTED 😂😂😂

As soon as saw that toy truck, it instantly took me back to the late 70's. My best friend use to own a 1976 VW Rabbit. What was so significant about it, was that he put side pipes on it! It sounded like a lawn mower engine on steroids! If I remember correctly, he put a set of custom wheels (Cragers) and tires on it.

Great video ,Merlin this brought back allot of memories , back in 1979 i worked for Versatile farm equipment and a handful of farmers i worked with there bought these new , they were cheap and got almost 60 mpg most often 50-55 mpg Canadian gallon, one farmer drove a 100 miles a day to and from work right at the Manitoba , North Dakota border and this thing would only use 2 gallons a day and the best part for him he just filled it up from the farm tanks in his yard, back then there were no laws saying you couldn't use farm diesel , all he had to do for winter was run a diesel additive to it, it had a 500 watt block heater and it always started for him without issue and if so he always had a can of ether behind the seat, and it would always go and just remembered him saying he finally sold it with almost 600k kilometres on it, he never drove more than the speed limit, i think he sold it for a $1000 and bought a diesel rabbit in 1986 or 87 , said it was more comfortable and only got 45mpg, they were certainly neat little vehicles ,Pepsi here had a fleet of them as service vehicles and were really well looked after, I have only seen one local in the last handful of years, great video 👍

Merlin spoils us with these instant-gratification video's,👍, you really are da-man Merlin,🤟😝👍, poor Paul never finishes anything, you'd think he'd pickup more pointers from his much wiser cousin, but he don't, he holds-fast working at the speed of smell, lol, these VW's aren't really my cup-of-tea, but I can still appreciate a good project, super awesome video Merlin, thanks for sharing.

Love it ! Friends mom a four door diesel rabbit when we were kids! Took us everywhere in that thing! Brings back memories! Love what you do Merlin!

There's a guy near me, who has one lifted with a stack in the bed. Rolls Coal everywhere he goes. It's hilariously awesome.

The spiders are just a VW emissions compliance thing from that era.

What a cool little truck!

I haven't seen a "Big Johnson shirt" since senior week at the beach circa 1990!

Cool project. Thanks for sharing. Remember everyone Remember Sunday Jesus Christ is the answer ✝️🙏

I had a diesel Rabbit years ago when I was going to school. I got it with over 200k on the clock and drove it every day for 3 or 4 years. It stunk of diesel, was uncomfortable and made almost no power, but it got 55 miles per gallon. I wish I had it back, but after one long ride in it would probably remember why I sold it.

For some reason part of me was hoping for a 5.0 swap in that thing haha 😊

My best friend in high school, his dad bought one of those new in maybe 1982. I thought it ran pretty good and it really went through the snow! I was in the process that winter of rebuilding my Cobra Jet Torino. It ran a little better! lol