More progress and had time to hit the Autorama!

Well, the bug is ready for the alignment shop tomorrow morning. I got the trans filled with fluid, installed the sway bar, adjusted the height four times, and removed the sway bar because I pretty much ripped it off due to hitting the ground. Oh boy, always lots of fun when you drive a lowered bug. Here are some photos.

The easiest way I have found to put gear lube into something is by using a fluid sucker. It works like a huge syringe, so you suck up the fluid and push it into whatever your feeling. Works like a champ. I used redline MTL in the transaxle because Jay Leno says it works great. He was right! My trans shifts smooth and feels good again.

I greased the front beam while I was under it. There are 4 grease Zerk's and you just pump it full of grease until you see new grease coming out. A pneumatic grease gun really comes in handy here.

So here Ed is back on the ground. I had to keep adjusting the adjusters trying to get it to ride safely and not tear up the roads too bad. When all was said and done, I am only 3/8 of an inch lower then I was before the lowered spindles. My ball joints are at a very good angle unlike before, so I am hoping that they will last a little longer this time.

I also had some time to work on my front fender and try to smooth out some of the dents. This picture shows it just after I roughed it out. I used some body dollies on it and it looks better now. I figure it adds character to it. I will keep it like this until I buy new fenders when I get it painted.

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Ellie was my little helper all weekend. She loves to be out in the garage with me and doesn't mind getting dirty if she needs to. She also went on all my test drives when I was fine tuning the suspension. When we bottomed out really hard she would get a surprised look on her face and then laugh. She's so cool!

 I used some wax to get off the black marks from where Ed was hit. Ellie helped me wax it.

 Here she's showing how good she did. Her pink boots got a little dirty out in the garage but she didn't seem to mind.

 So after I decided on the height I was going to leave it, Ellie, Isaac and myself took it for a spin to airport number 2. We hit some train tracks really hard and here was the result. It was then that I decided to get rid of the sway bar and raise it up some more. I now think I have it at a good height and so I filled it with gas, aired up the tires to the correct pressure and tomorrow I will take it down to the alignment shop.

So here are the final pictures of how Ed sits. The lowered spindles helped move the front wheel back to where it is suppose to be. When I only had adjusters, the wheel was pushed really far forward. I like the look of it and even though I would like it lower, I am going to leave it here because it's funner to drive at this height then when it was lower. If this was only going to be driven on the weekend, I might of left it low but since I drive it every day when it's good weather, I need it to be safe and fun to drive.

 Here is the other side. Tugger is in the background. He needs to have some work done next. He has a broken clutch cable mount which requires me to cut open the tunnel and repair it. That has to wait until after I get back from St. George. It will be nice having Ed back up and running. It figures that when gas prices go so high, both my bugs are down. We should be good now.

So Friday, me and Isaac went to the Autorama. He was the only one that would go with me so we went and had a good time. I am sure Ellie would of gone but she stayed with her Mom. Isaac is imitating Bumble Bee. He was in the Autorama. I would of rather seen the old Bumble Bee before he changed to the new version.

 Isaac had plenty of poses for the cars. Here is a land speed record holder. It races at the Bonneville salt flats.

 Not quite sure what Isaac is doing here but the car is super cool. I think he's doing his best James Dean impersonation.

See, can you see the resemblance?

 Here's my style. I love the old 50's hot rods and the flames are too die for. My first car had these discs on the wheels. I love the looks.

Another super cool car. I wish I had the talent to build something like this woody.

Isaac is showing his impersonation of "ghost" flames. I took lots of pictures of the ghost flames I saw because I am going to put some on Ed when I get him painted. These ones were really nice.

 This 32 had some ghost flames that looked realistic. It's hard to see in this picture but they are there. I am going to go with a more old school style of flames.

 This F-100 had EXACTLY the kind of flames that I am going to put on Ed. They are very subtle and you have to look really close to see them. I love subtle things like this on a car. Ed will be full of things that are not stock but hard to notice unless you really know what you are looking at. He will also have flames like this that are going to come over his front fenders and hood.

This weekend was a blast and lots got done. I think I am on schedule to get everything done before the big trip to St. George. The list is getting smaller but at the same time some things get added on to it also. Here is how it looks now:

1. Get an alignment (which is set up for Monday)
2. Replace the passenger side wheel cylinder. (It has a leak that I just noticed.)
3. Adjust the valves
4. Change the oil
5. Check the timing and adjust the carburetor.
6. Wash and vacuum