Just the Baja and a Hippie Girl.

I have made lots of progress on the baja. I cleaned out the fuel tank, metal fuel lines, and replaced all the rubber lines. I also repacked the wheel bearings on all 4 axles and installed the engine. I am about ready to start it and see if it runs. I have to rewire the  voltage regulator because the new engine has an alternator instead of a generator. With the alternator it has an internal voltage regulator so you have to by pass the original one that is under the back seat. I also have to mount the coil on the firewall and finish wiring the engine up. It went together pretty well, but I had high hopes of driving it this weekend. I guess that won't happen. Maybe this week I can get it going. I don't have many pictures of the work done. I lost track of taking pictures but I have a few. As you can see Dixie got booted out of the garage once again. It has been threatening rain and someone already tried to steal my roof rack so in the garage it goes.

 I removed all the wheels on the baja so I could strip and powdercoat them but then I decided to make sure it will run and drive good before I remove the tires and go through all that work. It still gave me the time to repack the wheel bearings and they needed it.

This is on Friday. It was raining pretty good throughout the day. It's a perfect day to spend in the garage!

 Here is the new seal for the trans. This seal can be a real pain in the butt to get out unless you have a good seal puller. It's worth buying one if you don't have one and need to pull this particular seal.

 Here is the seal puller I am talking about. Make sure you get a good one and that the head is movable. It helps to get the right angle and pull it out. This one is a Matco brand one.

 Thanks to my friend Dee, I had a new throwout bearing in my stack of parts and it works perfect for my clutch set up.

Got the engine in and bolted up. Almost ready to start. I am so hoping it runs as good as Ed does. If it does I am in phat city!

 It's amazing how easy it was get this engine in, especially with the body cut out around the engine. It went in without a hitch. I just need to get the wiring finished up and hopefully Wednesday or Thursday I can take it for a test drive.

 At the end of the day I decided to get a picture of Ellie in the bug. One day Dixie was shopping with Ellie and Ellie started laughing and making noise when Dixie held up this outfit. I told Dixie it looked like a hippy outfit so I got a picture of Ellie in the bug with it.

 This is the first time Ellie has ever been in the bug. She loved it and threw a fit when I took her out. She did not want to get out!

 Here is the aftermath of the tantrum she threw. She was an unhappy camper for awhile. Hopefully Ellie will have more time to spend in the bug in the future. Who knows, she may be driving it to school someday!