LENNON GOT SHOT #ProgressReport 1

Now I've captured your attention with a lovely and bold headline, I'll inform you of a progress report for Lennon, the new arrival.

As with any project, you need to start by getting your slobbery steed in the car and take photo's of him rolling around and jumping. Here's my dog Archie in his first snaps with Caught The VW Bug in the opening ceremony before the work takes place with my new car!

"Go on Archie, smile for the camera."

Man of the hour, Archie

After Archie had his fun rolling around, jumping on the seats and looking more excited than ever, I proceeded to start working on the car... RIGHT AFTER I hoovered the floor out for half an hour with all the hair. Hindsight really is a wonderful thing these days but I couldn't deny the chance of my dog riding shotgun like Smokey & The Bandit.

Apologies.

The interior that was in the car, before it was stripped out. (Horrible)

Firstly, I had to work on treating the rust. This involved removing the seats from their bases to have space to maneuver around the car, then cleaning the car with yet more vacuuming to clean up the cabin from any small pieces of loose, rusty metal which original formed part of the chassis before being eaten away by the elements over time.

Then it's time to paint the rusty spots with rust eater! This is a remarkable tool because after 24 hours, you're essentially ready to chip away at the rusty spots and fix'er'up! Painting in the heat on Sunday while your mates are sunning themselves, nursing a hangover was a necessity sadly as I am running a quick turnaround to get this car on the road. The quote of the weekend is best practice here, as I was painting in what felt like the "stlifling heat of Manaus".

The cum-my looking stuff is the rust eater after being painted. Rusty around that area could have meant a fire?

As soon as I had done that with several water breaks and a minute out to sell the PARTS WAGON, I was ready to rest for lunch. Smashing out a cheese toasty and a rather dull Austrian GP later (as they all are), I worked with my dad to rip out the engine. Why? The engine is making an awful popping sound, like a motocross bike so it wasn't running right at all and needed a once over. It was more than a once over when the 4 bolts holding the engine together were loosened and the Bug's heart was RIPPED OUT OF HIM with blood SPEWING EVERYWHERE AND NUMEROUS BYSTANDERS STOOD, SHOCKED AND STUNNED, CONSOLIDATING THEIR THOUGHTS ON THE EVENT THAT PROCEEDED THEM... and then voila, the engine was out.

HE'S OUT!

"Go on Christian, smile for the camera." Myself buoyant after ripping out the engine.

I have absolutely no idea which bolt goes where. Well Jeremy Clarkson built a car with no washers, what can possibly go wrong?

Hard at work in the sick bay.

 

From there, my dad spotted the problem.What happened was the cylinder head has been melted, thus warped in shape and from there letting air into the cylinders and valves, producing a misfire.

Note the wear on the right hand side, that's the issue at hand.

We later spotted that Lennon had a FIRE WITH PEOPLE TRAPPED, BEGGING FOR HELP from something as loose as a spark plug when he endured a torrid time with his previous, neanderthal of an owner. That then sparked, causing the engine to melt and sending a spark through to the battery which too caught light, thus melting the rear seat and kickplates and potentially smashing the windscreen in the rear, leading to a later replacement... I don't know, I might just be surmising.

Melted spark plug

See where the seat as been melted all along the back.

How the hell it still runs and looks good on the outside, I really don't know. But the problem has been sourced!

Overall, pretty pleased with the effort over the weekend! Thanks to handyman Dad!

Join me next time for a sick wicked road trip down south and the hunt for food that followed.