hi yall im new owner of a young from virginia beach
its pretty ruff lots of rust brakes frozen runs but wont idle .. air leak i think. purchased it from a farmer in texas last inspection sticker was 87. it has 49k showing on the odometer. between me my aircraft mechanic buddy and the family owned body shop i know, should be able rebuild car over the next year or so.
wanted to say hi to everyone

ok here it is in all its rustyness

pictures are worth a thousand words...

let's see this project so we can feel your pain... (: sounds like you have the resources... good luck finding the time...

hi and welcome!

post pics when you can, we love pics!

what yall think i should do.. talked to the body shop they prefer to have the engine in the car so everything llines up
and the mechanic wants to do the mechanicals before body .. so doenst have to worry aboyt new paint.
does that should good? or should i drop the engine first and send it to the body guys empty?

I'd do the mechanical work first, then you could drive it to the body shop. But do what you can yourself, nobody else will do as careful a job, and most auto mechanics seem lost when they encounter an engine they have never worked on before. Your 360 is a very simple machine and if you don't want to do the work yourself a mechanic familiar with motorcycle or even snowmobile engines would recognize more things than a Detroit Iron repair shop. Your engine is a very close relative of POLARIS snowmobile engines, also made by Fuji Heavy Industries.

But if you read the articles in the Book of Reprints that are indexed for the system you need to inspect or rebuild you can probably do it yourself. On the 360s I have restored I started with the brakes, because there's no point driving if you can't stop it. Once that is done, inspect the steering connector disc (P. 29 & 271) and replace it if necessary. Then adjust the ride height and toe-in, the only 2 adjustments needed for wheel alignment. Then check all the lights to be sure they work. Then get it running right and you can drive it anywhere.

Ed

how can you tell if the connecter disk is bad?

Oops, I did a typo It's P. 371, not 271 - shows where to find it, read the short article.

Have someone move the steering wheel back and forth about 1/4 turn while you watch the disc, if it moves the rack & pinion smoothly and without slack it is good. If it has slack or if pieces of it are missing you need to replace it. Very easy to do, 4 little bolts.

You can probably get the VW part (P. 29) locally, if not e-mail me, I probabably have some good originals left.

Ed

that looks like a good base project... not too much rust, that we can see... (:

ed, that's some great advice on where to start and progress in the beginning...