Shiny Tranny

6-10-09

Ok….the MBA is vetty vetty laborious. Now that it’s summer time I’ve jumped back into the Bug. I cleaned up the transaxle spending most of my time just trying to get the aluminum to shine. I scraped what looked like Tammy Fae Baker make-up off with a screwdriver and 4-in-1 tool. Then I brought my corded drill with a metal brush on the end to it to get it all shiny. Steve next door brought over the “purple power” and I borrowed his pressure washer to give a real good clean. It worked great for the oily bell from the leaky seal but it didn’t do much for the outside. That took me by surprise. I took off the old nasty axle boots and wiped down and brushed up the axles too. Steve came over and helped me mount the transmission. To my complete astonishment, my wife participated! She came out to guide the nose cone through the chassis……what a dame…..nice stems too. I also replaced the front 4 bolts with 10.9 bolts. SMART MOVE. The difference was night and day. I can’t imagine driving along and watching the front end drop to the ground. I shudder as I type.

Now that I got the transmission back on I realized that I’m missing the rubber gasket that goes there. Crap. That’s ok. I ordered a bunch of parts from birthday money I had stashed. Bought chassis parts mostly. Once they came in I replaced the bearings and seals in the rear axles, and fixed that boot. I had the “moment” though. I had a rough day and decided to work on the car to cheer me up. Bad choice. As Steve and I readjusted the transaxle to put the nose to chassis boot on I ripped one of the new axle boots. Steve laughed of course as I proceeded to physically abuse my garbage can with a push broom. I couldn’t help but get medieval venting my frustrations……..I called it a day.

Now I’m ready to get back in the game. Another long Saturday and I could have the chassis done except for the brakes. I’m saving that since I’m going with the front disc brake conversion. I think it’s a small investment to protect this car. Everyone love driving but I sure love being able to stop. I need to go back to my buddy Pete’s shop and sandblast some more. I’m getting ready to reinstall the pedal assembly and other do dads on the chassis. Feels better going downhill as I’m now assembling things.