[wabit]

I just drove my '76 rabbit for the first time and damn thats fun (10 miles of country roads in a few minutes). Over the 4 day weekend I decided to swap shells with my '78
swapped:
engine 1.8 16v
tranny 2h
GTI 9.4" disks/ferrodo pads
fuel tank/pump/lines
bilstiens/rabbit hutch springs
hella h4's/and custom wiring
various stress/sway bars
all poly bushings
did everything in as big a pieces as possible
didn't do interior yet
started thursday at noon was done on sunday at 7pm didn't drive it until today after an alignment. I will have pictures tomorrow of before and after

I did this because the shell of the '78 was reconstructed and not straight, bad vibratoin above 55mph. The '76 has a straight shell and minimal rust(2 spots, one was fixed today). They felt different even with all the same equipment, probalbly the straight chassis and the solid mount steering(even though the other had poly steering bushings). This is the best the best driving vw I have ever driven(smooth as butter at all speeds including redline

). I can't wait to go drive

 

[Lunitixx]

Re: WOOOHOOOO!!! first drive (wabit)

That sounds like a lot of friggen work....I hope it was worth it.
I sometimes ponder doing the same thing with my cabby. Get a sweet 76 shell, send it to the shop to get an awesome paint job then put everything from the cabby on it. I would have a lightweight with the uber nice black cabby interior, and all the go fast goodies.
Man I hate convertables.

 

[wabit]

Re: WOOOHOOOO!!! first drive (Lunitixx)

it was for sure worth it and a lot of work, but I know every inch of that car

 

[Steve H]

Re: WOOOHOOOO!!! first drive (wabit)

wabit, that sounds awesome. sure wish i had the room and tools to do that. how bout some pics? i guess the next question is, how's a 1.8 16v compared to the 8v?

 

[Yellow Rabbit]

Re: WOOOHOOOO!!! first drive (Steve H)

Cant wait for the pics. http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif

 

[83Caddy16v]

Re: WOOOHOOOO!!! first drive (wabit)

Conrgrats man! That's awesome!. I remember the first time I drove my first 16v Rabbit. man I had a grin from ear to ear for three days. it ran like a raped ape, so much fun.

 

[wabit]

Re: WOOOHOOOO!!! first drive (wabit)

wbeshots wouldn't let me load all the pictures so heres a few I will have more later today, gotta go get wisdom teeth pulled

these are the '76 at 2 pm 11/23/01 it took 2 hours to check wiring and take
suspension and fuel tank out

 

[Dutchman]

Re: WOOOHOOOO!!! first drive (wabit)

quote:[HR][/HR]gotta go get wisdom teeth pulled

[HR][/HR]​

don't do it man

you'll lose your wisdom........
kinda like taking of yellow stickers of your car, you'll loose HP

 

[wabit]

Re: WOOOHOOOO!!! first drive (Dutchman)

hahahaha

heres some more

thats my '78

thats the '76
I'm poor so that is why the '76 wasn't painted first(the '78 was my daily driver, now the '76 is), it is also just a temporary home for the engine then I will disasemble the car again and do a complete resto on the shell. Oh the car should be painted sparkly flat black in a few weeks at my work(cheap less than a $100, they have all the equipment and paint)