After stripping all the paint off of this plate, I re-primed it with epoxy primer.

I painted it on Friday; VW Reflex Silver.  It came out much better this time!

I also painted two transmission end caps.  I painted teal first, then masked one with a little VW sticker.

Then I sprayed them silver and removed the masking.

After burying everything in clear coat, I'm pretty happy with it!  This is my first time painting with stencils.

I installed the teal clutch arm and end cap on the trans after replacing all of the seals.

Racecars!  We had a lot of visitors and temporary roommates this week.

Humans may sit in Kage's chair at their own risk.

Speaking of Kage's chair, I stole his ottoman for my transmission.  I needed a padded table to protect the paint while I was changing the seals.

I used this little trick to remove the clutch actuator shaft bushing, thanks to www.brokevw.com for the tip!  I tapped it 3/8-24 and pulled it out with a slide hammer.  They used M10 I believe, 3/8-16 coarse thread should work too.  I also replaced all the other seals in the trans.

Even with grease packed in the threads of the tap, there is still a lot of stuff to clean out of the seal/bushing bore.

New tools!  Snap-on straight prybar.  It's basically a big screwdriver, but it was designed specifically to beat the fuck out of.

Saturday I helped my buddy Chris install new windows in his house.  I left my place at about 8:00am and returned a little before 3:00am... it was a loooong day. 

Wescott came to help.  JJ was busy working on his own house, it was almost a complete Camelot apartments college roommate reunion!

Deep in thought.

Caulk jokes were flying all day.

We stopped for lunch at Giant Eagle, and they served beer!  They have a bar right there; I couldn't pass up the opportunity to have one.  I got an East End Monkey Boy; they had a really good selection.  I wasn't really thinking about the fact that we were in a hurry, I didn't have time to sip it.

Chris rented a Van Mark MarkII Trimmaster brake from the Home Depot; this thing is totally badass.  It's really well designed and built, it made the job so much easier.  It came with a rolling shear cutter that rode along the length of the brake, it made the long cuts a breeze.

2:00am; finished!   A special thank you goes out to Van Mark, halogen lights, and understanding neighbors. 

More VW parts!  Mostly seals and gaskets, plus a new waterpump that I need to paint black.

I got my new head unpacked and mounted to the spare block I bought.  This will make a nice setup for prep and paint.

New rear main seal.