Day 17

Today I made some good progress.  An improvement in mood over yesterday too!

First, I started by removing the jack post.  I tried bending it after heating it up and it wouldn't budge.  Without much weight on the pan and the awkward bend, it was difficult to get any leverage.

I drilled out the four spot welds and 3 beads and it was off, all cleaned up.  I used a grinder for the first time and a hammer and dolly, I'm a regular old body guy now (NOT!!!!!!)

Then I moved onto the fuel line which from reading online was supposed to be the "most frustrating" thing to do in a bug.  It wasn't as big of deal as I had anticipated.  I cut the gas line from the front near the pedal cluster and removed the 2ft section forward of that.

Then I went to the back of the car and attached a vise grip and started tapping on the vise grip with a 1lb framer's hammer.  It didn't budge.  I figured, here we go!

I then tried a 4lb mini-sledge and it slowly started to creep back!  Initially as the tension was high, I would only get about 2-3 inches out and then the copper/steel pipe would snap.  I kept at it though and got it all out.

The front part, all the little pieces, and then the last long piece.

It went back in and I managed to get it secured on the front tab and zip tied the rest to existing tubes in the tunnel.  It's done!  Not a huge deal.

I'm about to finish my parts order for the pan.  I am hoping for a used pan that I can cut the battery section and jack post from.  It is used, so the parts are period correct and they fit!

To fix "Napoleon's hat" I'm going to order two replacement pieces instead of the entire frame head.  The hat itself and the bottom plate.  The funny thing is, it's $100 in parts and I will use a very small amount of the actual sheet metal, but have to buy it because most used ones are rotten.  Also, the steel is full of complex curves and can't easily use sheet metal stock to do it.

Paint got here today.  So I am literally ready, going to see if maybe I can hold off on the paint a few more days until I can get the pan taken care of so I'm not working twice for no reason.  Dry climate, keeping the pan clean, and if some surface rust does form I can wire brush it before I paint.

Tomorrow, I hope to have some parts on the way!