The Unpimping has begun!
In another moment of weakness I could not resist getting started on the VW. I was supposed to drain some water off the pool and bring in firewood, etc etc in anticipation of being out of commission for a few weeks. Nope - I unpimped our new VW.
The PO had pimped out the poor car in the latest California style, lowered with tiny tires - stupid looking and undrivable.
He had lowered the front end in the redneck method of taking out 8 of the torsion bars. It lowered the car, and raised the steering rod right into the gas tank. A few more miles of grinding against the bottom of the tank and he would have been driving a Molotov Cocktail. That assumes he didn't crash into something first due to the car's horrible handling characteristics.
I still had a set of torsion bars from a 1962 356 that I parted out many, many moons ago. The dimensions were exactly like the VW's but the indents for the locating set screws were on the wrong side. I drilled some new indents and they fit fine.
Got to use some tools I haven't used in many, many years. It's a miracle i still have them.
After I raise the back end to its normal height and put the other 5 1/2 inch 356 wheels on the back, it will look like a real car again.
I gotta say, after all the years that have passed since I worked on VWs on a daily basis, this is so much fun. My memory is so exact, I find don't need to see what I'm doing. I know every nook and cranny of these cars like I knew the backside of my 20 year old girlfriend (make something of that Dr. Freud).