i woke up the other day with a feeling of acute inspiration to bring my old car back from the dead, (poorly) stored for the last 5 years in an assortment of driveways, streets, and warehouses. my goal is to have it back on the road by the end of this summer...
before i do anything else, i need to do two things: fix the brakes and try to start it. ideally, i would have it running/driving before i tear into it, but i guess i would settle for just a steady idle...
i was curious what would happen if all i did was charge the battery and forget about the stale, 5-year-old gas in the tank or the pooled oil in the cylinders, so i cranked it over a few times. after a couple false starts i started to smell gasoline...lots of it. thats when i remembered the fuel leaks that had developed right when i stopped driving it, only now they were many times worse. underneath the car there was an ocean of gas and steady drips coming from the entire underside:
thats all 411/412 parts. i was sick once. i'm better now.
my assortment of manuals...i think i have at least 1 of every one thats ever been published, including the genuine VW Factory Service Manual & Parts List:
last year i installed the new master cylinder, rebuilt the pedal assembly, installed new wheel cylinders, bought remanufactured calipers, and drained the fluid. its been sitting since then and doesnt even have a functional e-brake. Always VW had brake shoes, and today i installed them. the only thing left now is to fill and bleed the system...
