This morning I put on the new steering damper, (the last piece of the mechanical build) and went cruising at 65 mph up and down the California Mountain roads.
The rebuilt engine is fast and responsive and sounds great, it steers like a go cart and stops on a dime. I couldn't ask for anything more!
I turned every nut and bolt myself from the chassis to the carb. so it is a huge relief to be done and on the road.
New everything, Stainless steel brake lines and 90k mile rubber. The body was in storage for 26 years and never saw sunlight. I got it for $1000 off TheSamba.com
I got the chassis from a scrapyard for $250 with a clean title and just started buying parts as I could afford them. Took just over 3 years total. About half of that it just sat waiting for parts.
I laid the Candy Apple and Black Lacquer down myself in a tent with a dirt floor lol.
I'll finish breaking the engine in and give it one more valve job before I tow with it, but the combined weight of the Teardrop and the Gazelle should be about 150 pounds LESS than the original VW was by itself.
Next step is a long cruise, maybe a trip to Julian for an Apple Pie this weekend.
