Chassis Black
Yep thats right folks the chassis if finally done! I got to spend some time with the 71 over the weekend and me and her had a great time.
From the beginning I could tell that Sat. was going to be a great day. It was beautiful around the Pope's household and the weather was perfect. The arrival of Mr. Paul Renyolds capped it off that Sat. was going to be a mighty progressive day for working on the cars.
And work on them we did.
The first order of business was to finish up the work we had already started on the chassis. The set-up consisted of our 71 on its side with the pans welded in, the seam sealer applied and the rust converter converted. With the addition of a few tore-up trash bags, to protect the wheels and the transmission, we were ready to paint.
The new paint-gun set-up from Eastwood that Paul had recently purchased was a great addition to the learning experience. What better way to learn the ins and outs of painting than with the under belly of the car.
After applying a few coats of chassis black paint we moved over to pulling the engine from the 72 parts VW. Upon inspection we determined that only 4 simple bolts stood in our way. One - two - three bolts down. We were good to go. But the Pope's have a rule that always seems to apply. "Nothing is ever simple." This was ever so true when it came to the fourth and final bolt.
We applied heat, degreaser, WD40, a crowbar, a wedge, some rebar and even a little help from my Uncle David: all to no avail. After a quick re-group paul and I decided that a little elbow grease and plain brute force was needed. But before we hooked up the tractor, we simply tried a little rocker motion. Presto engine removed.
Now my farther, at one time or another, said that he lifted a VW engine by himself. I have to call him out on this one cause the VW engine that we had was a little heaver than Paul or I expected. However we lifted the engine up and placed in on the back of the Unicorn Truck and drove it around to the shed.
Now it all up to Heidi to take it all apart and rebuild it to pristine condition. :)
