(2014-10-25) New Beetle, old Beetle and more cleaning...

Friday and Saturday were busy days around the shop.  Flash and I worked on the new Beetle some more, and it's nearly ready to go.  I think we're going to lower it and put some different wheels and tires on it, along with various other small fixes to make it a more comfortable car to drive.

I also put the old Beetle on jack stands and welded up any weak spots in the floor pans. 

Then I used POR-15 to protect the floor pans from rust in the future.  I still need to put on another coat, but they should be protected from rust from now on.

We also cleaned out a lot of things in the shop that didn't really need to be in the shop.  Old motors, various bit of cars that aren't needed at the moment and moved those things into storage until they are needed.  The shop still needs a lot of cleaning, but it's getting back to where it needs to be.

(10-21-2014) The Silver Beetle Lives!

Last night we finished up the engine install for the silver beetle and got it running.  It was running rough at first, but after clearing the codes on the ECU and letting it run for a while it actually sounds really good now.  There are a handful of small things to look into - O2 sensors, coolant leak, plugs and wires and general reassembly and clean up.  It's great to see one of these cars brought back to life.

Oh, and yesterday I got a thank you note from the post carrier for putting up a new mailbox.  I thought that was cool.  I'm glad they like the new mailbox.

(2014-10-19) The Silver Beetle and other things

This past weekend Flash and I, with a little help from Jody, have been working on doing an engine swap in a '99 Beetle.  It's went fairly well so far, and Jody was awesome at getting those pesky bolts loose that no one else seemed to be able to move.  The new engine is now in the car, and it's down to hooking everything back up.  If all goes well it should be back up and running this week.

Other than that, my son and I worked cleaning up the pump house a little before winterizing it and we put together a new mailbox this weekend as well.  All of that and a lot of shuffleboard and bowling being played made for a great weekend that ended too soon.