It took me all day, but the engine is now in the basement. Used Tom
Wilson's trick with the plywood board, but badly misjudged the engine's
gravity center and it almost fell backwards. It took a *lot* of strength
to hold it back and reposition on the jack. 

For future reference, I'll remember to look from *underneath* to check
whether all bolts have cleared the bellhousing, before lowering the
engine. I *almost* broke them off. :-(

And I also badly underestimated the weight of this baby and even with a
friend's help, we could barely lift it. So we just set it on the lawn and
that's where I stripped it of all accessories, including the crossbar and
the (type 4) fan housing, but not the heater boxes and headers. The friend
came back later this evening and helped me carry the somewhat lightened
beast onto a table in the basement.

Tomorrow, I'll remove the heat exchangers. Bought a grinder and hope it
will let me zap off those old rusty bolts. Then I'll remove the heads and
take them to the shop. The cylinder liners are rusty and I intend to give
them the Thom Fitzpatrick Special, i.e. sink them in acid to derust them
and then paint them with heat resistant black. If anyone thinks the acid
bath is a bad idea, please speak up now.

And now for something completely different: yesterday was a warm day and I
finally got to wear my new Netvergnuegen T-shirt. It sure got some
attention, not just from people in the know ("so not only are you a freak,
but also have to advertize it"), but also the doctor, the salesclerk at
Sears, the clerk at the Mall's information desk: they all wanted to know
what this was about. Two of them thought that the idea of an internet
group about VW busses was the funniest thing... 

-- 
Sami ('75 Westf.)
dakhlia@wuecona.wustl.edu
http://wuecon.wustl.edu/~samid/