"Hope is tomorrow's veneer over today's disappointment."

 I pulled the axles off of the 'rebuilt' transmission from the local shop that took 6 months to rebuild the transmission.  I tilted it up on its side and this nice dirty gear oil came out.

Turns out my 'hunch' that they didn't actually rebuilt the transmission might have been correct.

Both transmissions are ready for packaging and shipment to California for a rebuild.  I'm sending two and will receive one in return-rebuilt correctly and completely all the way to the backing plates.  When I get it back, I'll add the new brake parts and roller wheels.  I'm hoping to have the rear suspension triangle back together by then so I can pop it back in its final resting place with the engine.

The pan should follow about a month after the transmission returns from its visit in California.

"If there is light it will find you"

The "little ball of momentum in restoration" I'm attempting to keep rolling has found some resistance lately...I gained a lot of momentum by finding some hard to locate parts recently but haven't found much real progress with the actual project of the car.  The body is off being worked on at a decent pace but that's where things seem to have stalled.  As mentioned before, I picked up the transmission this past Saturday but have found so many things wrong with it that I can't trust that anything was actually done correctly.  The more I look at it, the more I find wrong with it-and this is just the outside...who knows what actually happened inside?  I guess disappointment takes a lot longer in some cases.  At some point, I'm either going to pull it apart myself or send it to another trusted shop to pull it apart and have a look inside.  I'll never understand why some people spend more time intentionally doing things the wrong way vs. doing them the right way...especially when time is on their side.

So to keep this little ball rolling, I've enlisted the help of a local VW guy to clean up the 1500 S motor.  It was pulled off the transmission last night and looks really nice.  There's a little end play but it's otherwise very clean.  The flywheel is clean and has very minor wear.  I didn't get any photos before it was loaded but it was a nice surprise.  The heads will be rebuilt using new valves, the cylinders will be honed (it's been sitting for 25 years), tins will be straightened and powder coated, everything else will be installed per the original specs way back when...

The 'fits and starts' of parts purchasing is in a lull...I've spent enough for now and found enough to keep me going for quite some time and unless something super rare pops up, I'll focus on working on what I have and thinning the parts pile.

I also found a new powder coating shop...cheaper and faster than the previous place that's caused me a ton of money in extra work.  I will have to put together a pile of parts to meet the minimums and get it all done at once.  It'll hurt, but only once!

There's a local VW show in August.  I don't think I have enough to get a swap space but I might have enough to share one.  I'm still thinking about it...

...meanwhile, I'm focused on trying to finish up the 20 projects going on around the house.

"A lost battle is a battle one thinks one has lost."

Early yesterday morning (okay, it wasn't *early*...but 'early enough') I drove up to Milwaukee to pick up the transmission I dropped off in December 2012 for a rebuild.  We arranged a 'trade' agreement to minimize cost on both sides and we both thought we were getting a decent deal.

I wasn't in a huge hurry and didn't put a deadline on the work so I have no complaint about the length of time it took to complete.

As soon as I arrived and looked at the transmission, I knew I'd drawn the short straw...the axle tubes were to have been powder coated and I sent up NOS early pinch clamps for the boots.  The axles were spray painted (poorly) and the pinch clamps were replaced with cheap worm clamps.  Not the end of the world, I can get more pinch clamps and strip and re-paint the axle tubes.  It's the principal of the matter...and it makes me wonder if they actually did anything with the transmission-other than replace the nose cone.  

Paint that's chipped off from being moved around where the axle tubes contacted the transmission body.

I'm on the fence about this job...the pessimist side of me suspects that they took 5 months to tear down a transmission, paint it and put it back together with a new gasket set (supplied by me) and nothing more was done-meaning that I shouldn't use it until it's torn down and checked.  The realist in me knows I don't have time to do much of anything other than stick it on a shelf (where it'll likely sit for the next couple of years until I get back to it).  Either way, I'm seriously disappointed that I didn't just send this off for a rebuild and pay the money to have it done.  Expensive?  Yes...but it would have had a better chance of being done correctly.

I was going to take a motor up to them for an overhaul but I think I'm going to send the work elsewhere if I can't get to it myself.  It's very aggravating when you 'contract' out work to receive it back either incomplete or incorrect.  I have a decent amount of work that could have been farmed out to these guys-saving me time and providing them with business-but I don't trust the results based on what I've received back.

Working in operations and supply chain, I have a lot of knowledge about what customers expect and why they do/do not return to a supplier for services.  I've also grown to know that most businesses don't understand how failing to deliver the agreement forged in the beginning of a new arrangement is far more damaging than the results-unless the results are substandard.  Then the whole thing comes apart.  It's so simple:  Deliver what you promise.  Just do what you said you were going to do and future business will come your way.  Successful companies know this-those that struggle will continue to do so until they figure it out or until they go under.

So to my now former supplier:  "Good for you, you saved yourself $50 by not powder coating my axle tubes" and you've also saved yourself the hassle of getting any of my money in the future.

"You cannot create experience. You must undergo it."

Transmission is ready to be picked up.  I have a few parts to get powder coated before I can put the rear suspension assembly together.  I've also decided to have one set of wheels powder coated black-as stock.  Not sure what I'm going to do with the second set.  I may just leave them as 'rollers' for now with the old tires since they still hold air.

All in all, I should be able to get the rear end put together by the end of May.

Depending on how well the house projects go, I might get the front end rebuilt as well but I'm not going to hold my breath for that just yet.

Carburetors are the only hold out for the 1500S since I attempted to disintegrate the right side carb in Berryman's.  I'm on the hunt for an early replacement for now.

I pulled most of my ads on The Samba because I'm tired of people asking for a price for shipping and then not buying the parts.  So, for now they're going in a tote that will be placed on a shelf with a 'for sale' label to be opened at a later date.

On the verge of something...

Finished stripping out the doors and hatch-put them out for scrap and within 20 minutes, a guy came by and picked it all up.  Sure, I could have made a few bucks selling the scrap myself but it's not worth it to me in the end.  Having it out of the garage is far more of a benefit.

This weekend is one of the last local shows in the area-I'm going to attempt to sell as much as possible at the show-whatever doesn't sell will either get scrapped or traded for other stuff.  I wound up deciding that I'm going to have the transmission rebuilt locally versus shipping it off to the West Coast because the cost of shipping adds over $400 to the cost-not worth it in the long run.  I can get it completely rebuilt locally for $600 with the axles installed and that's already $100 cheaper than the West coast price-not including shipping.  I'll have to figure out what to do with the other three transmissions since I don't want them hanging around in the garage once the car is built.

Nothing new until I get the pan done...