It was at this VW Show that Scott had learned about my Beetle oil cooler leak. Sure enough, around early October, Scott got in touch and said he’d like to help me out. I I had just had the Ghia delivered and I said c’mon over and we can talk. That weekend he stopped by on a Saturday mornig, quickly ascertained that the oil cooler was probably leaking. Scott mentioned it would be just as easy to remove the engine of the Beetle to get at the shroud.
At this point, the conversation got interesting. We moved over to the Ghia to take a closer look and Scott agreed that it looked very nice and straight and solid. He took a quick peek at the pan and thought it looked really good.
As the other Scott (Mendeola suspension on Speedster post) mentioned how he became enamored with Kevin Zagar’s Mendeola kits, so had I. And I had strarted to imagine how these kits could transform my new Ghia. It was money and the skills to do it. I hinted to Scott that maybe he could be my savior for such a project and he hardly flinched. “Yes,” he said, “I’d be willing if I can convince my wife.”
Within a week or so we were off to the races. I contacted Kevin to question him on the scope and availability of his kits. He was positive about the project and soon kevin, Scott and I had nice conversation. Kevin and Scott talked the same language while I was thinking about financing (my function).
Long story short, The engine came out of the Ghia and installed into my bug in about 4 hours a week or so later.This was done in hopes of attracting a quick sale of my Beetle that would help in the financing department. Regardless, no quick sale emerged, it’s still in there for now.
The engineless Ghia was tralered over to Scott’s shopfor the preliminary work. The engine bay was one of the shortcomings of the Ghia. It just hadn’t been cleaned up properly compared to the rest of the car.
Trying to keep himself on task, Scott started to attack that project while he waited for me to get the big parts ordered from Zagar. That stuff is now on order, should be here within a week I hope.
Meanwhile, Scott sends me these photos yesterday to show me his excellent progress. He had already discovered a rust patch under where the battery used to sit. I got him a new replacement and new sheet metal for the rear fender void that was covered in a stock cardboard material. You can see some of Scott’s metal work already now that it is all shined up. I am impressed!