[chris_flies]

Looks like a cool and interesting project!

This is my first car (in my signature), and it's kinda become the father and son project (mostly son, he's got a GTI to fiddle with). Right now we're building a 3.73:1 (stock is 3.23:1) diff with an LSD, it's been stressful but educational, so far (broke a near-irreplaceable bearing shim).

Picked it up with 159k miles for $7000. Thing runs like a champ, though, it's going on 174k miles now! Track days and everything at this age, too!

Once you guys get it fixed up, it's going to be a phenomenal first car. Enough power to move but not enough to get into really bad situations, very forgiving chassis, reliable (when maintained and looked after), decently efficient (30mpg highway is easy, but I'm struggling to break 20mpg in the city) and a car that can be modded to accommodate improved driving skills pretty easily.

Welcome to the forums, good luck with the rebuild, can't wait to see it running and driving again!