Another word for roadblock
You have to be superhuman (not to be confused with Übermensch) to get the bigger set of clamps on. I bought all new rubber and clamps to go on the original bar, but with new parts come new problems. Strangely enough, I think the most difficult job all weekend was reinstalling the sway bar. Pretty soon, it will be on the road again. My father and I were joking that after 8 years of removing undercoating, the car was going to all come together in one day. We mounted the rear drum brakes, new front axle, new brake lines and master cylinder (with the original push rod), original steering box and linkage, universal joint, shocks, and sway bar. My father and I worked side-by-side all of Sunday and the car is really starting to come together. This weekend, I was able to make it back to my parents’ house. With the undercoating finally conquered, my enthusiasm is renewed. It looks absolutely fantastic and I really wish I could have been there with him, but I now live a prohibitive distance away and have to be on call for my job on several weekends. All of this being done in my absence, for which I cannot begin to thank my father enough. It looks like a brand new car up front now. In the last couple months, my father spent several weekends removing the remainder of the undercoating in the front compartment, wire brushed the rust, pop riveted a couple trouble spots on the firewall, bondo-ed, sanded, and painted the entire interior in flat black. Now that I have my own house, with a spacious garage, my parents’ would like their space back, after 8 years of German occupation. ‘Taking up a parking spot’ is the major reason that the project has resumed. It was very tedious work that was difficult to get excited about, so the poor car sat on jack stands for another 4 years, taking up a parking spot in my parents’ garage. It goes on thick, sits there for awhile doing its work, then the whole mess can be scraped off with a putty knife. I was able to find some solvent specifically designed for the task, but it dissolves paint as well. Before I move away, I would venture out to the garage a couple times a year and work on the undercoating.
I got my Master’s Degree, bought a house 11 months ago, and got married 3 months ago. A lot of things have changed in the past 4 years. After a long hiatus, work has again resumed on my Karmann Ghia.