The first job was to get the body out and in prep for making hole / recesses for where the bolts are on the frame for the battery box and the newly installed rear brake proportioning valve.
So it was a matter of lifting the body on, hitting it with a rubber hammer so that the bolt heads marked the wooden floor so I knew where to drill.
After getting the body on, and off. No easy feat by myself as its pretty darn heavy now with the new wood and ribbing. Below you can see the bolt head mark made. I now know where to drill.
This is a shot of the holes drilled and also the hole for the hand brake cables. I think the body was on and off over 10 time during the day.
After those holes were drilled it was time to make the firewall hole for the steering the right size. This turned out to be a drama.
It took about 4 goes to get it the right size. its now much bigger that I though it would be so I have to come up with some way to stop the rain from getting in.
That wasn't the drama. The drama was that the carrier bearing and the steering shaft and surfaced rusted themselves together. The only way I was able to get it free was to take out the steering box so I could whack it with the hammer. I was a real pain and it took about an hour all said and done.
After discovering that I need to take out the steering box it was time for a break and what better way than to have cold Hells pizza...... yummmy ......
Steering box out and steering shaft freed up, I could focus on what I wanted to do
Body off again, then on, The hand brake and the steering hole all done and finished.
Hand brake location and the cables up through the floor.
Gave the area around the carrier bearing given a quick paint after welding in the nut.
Saturday was also a very sad day. I was the day that the VWRatty project was sold to a good home. I was never going to get it finished or find time to do it. Hell I cant even find time to do this project. And this project has a lot more $$ invested in it.
The empty space that used to be Montys home. :(
Right back to matters at hand. Fitting the radiator. Since the installing the steering box I have had to push the radiator 30 over to the right. I was worried that it would be really noticeable. Once I got it on there... naaa its not really. The plan is once its done I can find time to made a surround.
Interior shot of all the bits in place so I could have a wee sit and make broom broom noises teasing myself that it wont be long before in driving it for real.
Sunday
Another gloomy day. Started out by mounting the radiator, Not that you can see the holes in the picture but there are now 4 bolt holes to mount the radiator. I had to do some mucking about to get it to fit with the electric fan and still have clearance for the bottom hose that's really close to the new cross member.
Next job for the day was to tidy up the .. I don't what you call it, complete stuff up of a fix it job on the right hand side header pipes. Not sure what had happened but the fix was bloody horrible.
It took a lot of time on the end of the angle grinder with a cutting blade to get rid of the offended fix-it job. My neighbors must hate me. It took about 3 blades and an hour.
Now my plan was to get rid of the front facing plates, and tidy up the front. As my plan is that I will be wrapping the headers in black exhaust wrap. Cleaning this up was to make sure that the wrap would look the same as the other side with a big bump where the hash job was.
After grinding and welding, and 3 hours later the head was to a point I was happy with since I was going to be wrapping them. Phew ... one more job off the list.
Weekend work done...
Never enough hours in the day. But progress none the less.
