Restoration Update - 67 S3 SE

[Tmac897]

Over the past few weeks I've made some big strides in my restoration project. Here's the update:

A couple of weeks ago, I got the body back on the chassis. The body has been off for quite a number of years, so when I reinstalled it the bolt holes in the chassis did not line up with the bobbins. Everything was 1/16th to an 1/8th off. I started with the 6 bolts that run from under the chassis, up through the bobbins mounted in the passnger compartment floor. I jacked up the body a few inches off the frame, installed longer bolts, and then let the body down slowly, installing shorter bolts as it lowered, until it was once again resting on the chassis and I could install the proper length bolts. The front and rear bolts then went in without too much trouble.

The most troublesome ones were the bolts that screwed into the suspension uprights, and the two behind the dash. For the former, I had to jack up the car at different points until the holes lined up. Just a little trial and error. For the latter, it just took a little coaxing to get them lined up. A bit of work, but accomplished over a couple of days.

Next on the list was reinstallation of the half shafts and couplings. Not something I was looking forward to, so I took a detour to the handbrake cable installation, and the master cylinders. The pistons were frozen in both MCs. I tried soaking them in solvent, and then using compressed air to blow the pistons out. No dice. I opted to buy new ones, and will install when they get here.

So on to the couplings. I was lucky to never have to replace one when the car was on the road, but maybe if I had gone through that exercise once before, I would have opted for installation of CV Joints when I started the suspension rebuild. What a pain the butt! I took me about 2 full days of work, over a four-day period to get them installed. If I knew then what I know now, I definitely would have gone the CV route.

All's well that ends well, I guess.