The saga nearly over... (long)

[Cheapass Ron <rapieper@yahoo.com>]

Well, It's been a long month, and I'm glad to report
that Victor The Famous Cheap Scirocco is back on the
road.

My wife took our little guys over to the UK for a
month to see Granny, that was on April 1.  This gave
me a solid month of car heaven...I had a bit of jump
start by collecting parts, and the list of to-do’s was
long…new clutch, lightened flywheel, 4K install, with
rebuild including bolt kit, new diff bearings,
synchros, seals, etc.  All new mounts, plus full brake
job including rebuilding calipers, slotted rotors and
SS lines.  And the poly bushings...control arms, rear
axle beam, and steering rack.  All queued up and ready
to go!

Once home alone, I started with Daun, we (incl. Ben
Harder) got his 4K into his gorgeous white ‘roc, no
trouble.  We then got my AGB out, that was as far as
we could go.  I continued to work on my 4K, getting
the last few parts in.

The following weekend, at Daun’s tearing apart my GTI
at his place, I destroyed my back - bad this time
(have had ongoing problems).  Uh-oh...this time it
hurt bad...I couldn’t even roll over in bed.  Scary,
that, when you’re home alone...

Well, soon after, the doc said “surgery, no doubt”,
the MRI showed that my lower back was pretty much
toast, and that was *before* the last incident at
Daun’s.  Bedrest for over a week...no work on the
car...my plans for travel to the UK cancelled, surgery
scheduled, momma and da boyz rescheduled to come home
early (arriving Thursday eve.).  Shit.  With the car
half apart.

Ben Harder pitched in where he could, esp. in
reassembling the tranny (thanks Ben!).  I put the
external bits on since I can walk OK and was smart
enough to make my toolbench nearly chest-high…no
bending, thank God.  The real credit goes to my old
Pop, who came to the rescue yesterday and
today...basically he installed the tranny and wrapped
everything up under my direction.  Dad wouldn’t even
let me bend over to look under the car.  I only got my
hands dirty from cleaning the last few nuts and bolts.
 I hadn’t wrenched with him for years, and had
forgotten how much he taught me (but not how much I
had taught him!).  Not bad for a 63 year old
fart...still, it sucks seeing someone else do all the
work on my car...that’s *my* province.

Anyhoo, got ‘er fired up today, quick trip around the
block with the front end horribly misaligned (new hub
carrier and tie rod end), but the 4K and light
flywheel made themselves felt right away.  Really a
lot more peppy now!  Good signs...perfect shifting, no
grinding, not one leak, no rattles, clunks, nothing. 
I have to admit - a job well done (so far, knock
wood).  The 0.80 5th (from the DFQ I scored for free)
is great, just a tad taller than the AGB.

Didn’t get to do the pass motor mount, nor anything in
the rear of the car, but hopefully after surgery (May
11) I’ll recuperate enough in 3 weeks time and get it
wrapped up once and for all...then, Solo II, watch
out!  

Thanks for reading this far, needed a break and a sigh
of relief!  

Ron
PS Please don't pat me on the back at Daun's!!


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