1956 VW work day: Thinking of a master plan...
On my way back from the Fall Finnon Fest last weekend, I stopped by the place I purchased a 1956 VW bug from last week. The bug was covered in boxes and hard to get to when I purchased it, and many of the parts were under the bug itself. I wanted to clear a path and take as many of the lose parts as I could fit in Big Blue. Also, once clean, I wanted to see what I could do to come up with a plan to move a car with no engine, but more importantly, no transaxle. Without the axle, there is no place to attach wheels - something I figure I need for getting the bug out and on a trailer.
Here's what it looked like after the owner "moved some things" to make it easier to get to. Can you see the potential?
Slowly, in the highest heat of a hot day, I peeled away layers of boxes of odds & ends from around the bug. Occasionally I found parts - the hub cabs surfaced. I found the muffler. I found things I couldn't really identify.
Ah, yes. There was a bug under there!
From the backside, you can see the engine on the ground and the cut in the body that the PO made to remove the engine. The whole time I was hoping to find the engine tin and the piece that was cut from the body...
So, below is what I am left with in the rear end of the car. In order to mount wheels, I am going to have to put something resembling axles.
And, the engine. Now, I've heard stories about how someone decided to rebuild their VW engine on their kitchen table so they just picked it up and carried it inside. I call bullshit. I tried about 3 times to get this engine off the ground and it was way too heavy. Another thing to figure out...
Driver's side rear:
And, finally, I got to see the inside:
I'm not too sure what should be there. But there was a cool Volkswagen radio...
And, I didn't get a picture, but what did I find in the back seat? That's right, the engine tin and the piece of metal that had been out of the rear end of the body. I'm pretty confident I have everything (though I do need to get the original wheels out of a huge stack of wheels in the back corner of the garage).
Big Blue as Parts Hauler:
Note - the plastic tinted visor above.
Fast forward to Monday night. Upon taking a look at the books I have (need to get the Type 1 Bentley book now). I also went out and took Little Blue's rear wheel off to compare parts I pulled out of the garage with parts on an actual, running VW bug. Thanks, Little Blue.
Here's what the workshop is looking like after the unload:
So, here's my master plan (feel free to offer suggestions/corrections). I've assembled a temporary axle. I seem to have enough parts to make 2 of these, so I'm guessing one is bad and that's what he was trying to replace?? Anyway, I figure I hook this up to the body mounts and hook up the shocks. I'm hoping this is enough structure to attach the wheels (I'll use the spares from Little Blue and Big Blue). Think this will work?
Wish me luck. I plan on working all day Saturday to get this home!
