Gas Tank, Master Cylinder and Bumper Brackets

The body is still on the frame, but I found what I think/hope are the last two body bolts and removed them yesterday.  These were underneath the gas tank in the front of the car, so I removed the four bolts holding down the tank.  Part of this process involved removing about five feet of black canvas hose that was folded up underneath the dash.  This hose comes out of the gas tank and is attached to some kind of moisture condenser mounted up to the left of the gas tank, but why it is so long, I do not know.  It looks to me like one of those 'innovations' that was required for emissions systems sold in the U.S. market in the mid-seventies, but then again, I suppose it could have a genuine function.  I never saw a hose that long on a Beetle though.

One thing I did see on my Beetles that I had not discovered on my Ghia until I pulled out the gas tank was the brake master cylinder.  I might not have seen it on my Ghia at first because it was so completely covered with dirt that it was only the protruding brake lines and wires that marked its existence.  In spite of being so buried, once cleaned off, it looked like the actual thing was in pretty good shape.  It's made of cast iron, but it really hadn't gotten much rust.  Whew!

The brake lines, though thankfully nearly empty of fluid, appeared to be in pretty good shape as well.  These will have to be replaced, along with the master cylinder, but it's nice to see that the car didn't suffer from too much mechanical neglect prior to being laid up.  The condition of the master cylinder is indicative of the overall mechanical condition of the car: dirty but functional.  Up under the hood, where I removed the brake fluid reservoir, years of spilt fluid had caused the paint to come off, but overall this area is relatively rust-free.  

Not so the lower edges of the body, of course, but at least the nose and headlight buckets are in good shape.  In the interest of lightening the load for the body removal, I took off the front bumper brackets but even though they weighed a lot, I don't think that will make much of a difference.  Though it supposedly only weighs a few hundred pounds, that body is still a heavy thing, and it doesn't help that it is stuck to the frame.  It's not actually welded in place, but the combined forces of thirty-five years have bonded the two halves together pretty good.  Once all the bolts were out, with some wiggling, I managed to 'crack' the body at the frame so I can see it is moving, but even Valery and I lifting together couldn't make it budge more than a millimeter or so.  

It looks like it will take at least four people, maybe six to lift it up and off the frame.  I am still considering removing the hood and trunk lid to reduce the weight, but I don't want to take things off that I will just have to store somewhere.

My thought is to keep as much as possible where it belongs just so I don't have to keep track of it or remember where and how it goes on the car.  That includes the doors, which I really do not want to take off until it is absolutely necessary because once they are off, it is hard to get them back on just perfectly.  The same is true of the trunk and hood.  If I do have to remove the doors, I will also have to weld in some supports so that the body doesn't twist and get distorted when it is moved.  Since I haven't bought a welder yet, that bit is still in the realm of the abstract, not the real.

Next: Body off!