I have had Rabbit alternators fail to charge due to a bad ground strap
on the alternator. I have also had brushes wear out.

A torque wrench setting the lug bolts to the correct torque has never
failed me but I only have maybe a million miles of driving on my
vehicles and practically no repairs done by anyone else.

I have brought back to life a few vehicles from junkyards. You are
having good luck bringing the car back to life. Carry on.

thanks for the update!
Keep those tires on the ground and enjoy your ride!  :-)
 Hello to all,
 I am writing to say thanks again to everyone who helped me out with my
 water pump pulley (see hard to find parts), as well as give a bit of
 an update on my 83 rabbit.  I did manage to find the pulley, cost me
 around 45.00 and installed perfectly.  I also managed to get the
 timing belt on correctly, with the help of my local mechanic!
 Unfortunately it was dented by the tow truck in the process:(  I guess
 I will have to add that to my list of things to do.  After all that
 the car worked fine for a few days.  That is untill earlier this
 evening when my tire almost fell off (I just tightened all the lug
 nuts a few days ago), and my alternator went out causing my battery to
 die.  I guess I am just lucky.  This car has is definately helping me
 learn the how to's on many, many things.   It is a good thing I like
 it so much or I would have probrably gone mad by now.

 Thanks again to everyone who helped out.
 -chris