I have been reading though this sight for some time now ( I did post this on TheSamba but I did read here also ) and I got a lot of good information and guidance to help me in this long build. I say long build because I had this 356 for years ( 12 to 15, I really can't remember ) with out working on it. I really didn't want it but acquired it when my only option to sell my circle track car was to take it on trade. ( It's really hard to sell a race car ! My car was a never wrecked , race ready asphalt late model that I drove out of my garage and in to his trailer. I then pushed a unfinished 356 replica with many boxes into my garage. Promised that "it is all there" with an engine that was " built " .And you know how that go's. But I digress ! )
Over the last few years I started working on the speedster . It has always been stored indoors but when I started working on it I found that the pan was butchered I was on a search for a replacement . I bought a nice 1963 pan .
I then became enamored , interested , obsessed with the Mendeola suspension kit. From my wasted youth of banging cars around the tracks of western Pa I thought now that looks like a race car. A suspension truly worthy of a wide body 356 Speedster !
After many phone calls to Kevin Zagar , then manager at Mendeola now proprietor of Coolrydes Customs , I purchased a front and rear suspension.
Then after taking a head off my engine I found that it was indeed a rebuilt engine, but it was a 1641cc. Now this was all the further that I dismantled this engine. I wanted a little more giddy up ! So again a call to Kevin and I bought a 2110cc engine that he had built himself and a freeway flyer with a solid spool 4 speed.
Many, many other projects have gotten in the way of finishing this 356. Remodeling my kitchen and bathroom, ( happy wife , happy life ). Remodeling my parents bathroom . Then since I did such a great job on my tile work my mother inlaw had me do their back splash and that lead to my parents back splash. ( those did come out great , if I say so myself ) .
Then there were the cars and trucks I redid for friends and family .
On a side note , don't let anybody know you can do bodywork and paint !
Over the last 20 years my wife has not driven a car that was not wrecked and I brought back to life, and she loves those vehicles. Bless her heart.
So that's my story and thank you for staying with me this far. I hope to add pictures and up dates to this build . Please don't get upset if I don't reply quickly or at all. This is my first post ever on any social media of any type, Really ! lol
I had the pan shorted and the Mendeola bulkhead installed at Ed Fish Machine Shop. They do multi million dollar projects for major corporations and Ed has been building race cars and Hot Rods for many, many years so I figured they could handle my job ! I did have a manual made by the VW engineers on how to shorten a pan .
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