......to get the shell into the trailer and delivered to our paint guys was a lot more work than we thought but last week we did it. It feels like a huge milestone for the project as next time we see it, the car will be in pristine fresh white paint and we can start bolting shiny things to it. When we left you it was the most car it's been in over 20 years. At the end of this update, it will be the least. That's progress! Here's what we had to do to get it to this stage:

First, we took all the bodywork off the front and then started taking everything out of the engine bay in as many large subassemblies as possible. We dropped the engine and transmission as one but we had to take off some ancillaries.



Most of the engine harness came out as one, thanks to bulkhead connectors.



With the engine out, that gave us access to the brakes master cylinders and lines as well as the fuel system plus the steering rack.



Next, we removed all four strut assemblies and both subframes. Of course, we left the rear diff attached. This also allowed the exhaust to be removed.







Then we directed our attention to the cabin. Dash was first then the heater, seats, wiring harness, pedals footrests etc.





Of course, we organized everything very professionally............ as a diorama on the floor!





At some point we remembered that we hadn't mocked up the rear skid plate and fuel pump cover. Our next thought was "DOH! we have to put the rear subframe and diff back in."





With the shell basically stripped we set about filling unwanted holes and removing unwanted brackets. There were a lot more than we anticipated. We also tidied up some previous welds and finish welded some things we'd previously tack-welded. Fortunately, while taking parts off we remembered to mark the holes for either rivnuts, welded nuts or through holes. Again, there were way more than we imagined.







With the shell as naked as it has ever been and our engineering brains engaged, we took the opportunity to weigh it. Wouldn't you? It turned out to weigh 374lb in the front and 573lb in the rear which is 40% front and 60% rear. Coincidentally this is the same as our assembled 911 rally car and the exact opposite of a fully assembled Quattro! Isn't engineering fun?

We knew we'd have to move the shell around the workshop and paint shop and also transport it in the trailer so devised two different systems to do so. Rather than build a cart to move it around we thought we'd see if we could attach some wheels to our pin stands and make them mobile. Sounds crazy but we figured if we could just add a brace to stop them rotating it might be very stable. We were pleasantly surprised by the result. You wouldn't want to push it down the street like this but it is quite happy to trundle around the workshop.





So, what about getting it into the trailer and securely dragging it the three hours each way to the paint shop? Clearly it had to be lower than the pin stands on dollies. We came up with simply bolting wheels to the subframe mounts. After all, that's kind of what they are for, right.





Finally, the day came to trundle it into the trailer. load the van with other parts and drag it to our friends at Courtade Body Shop (www.courtadebodyshop.com) for the transformation.







Can't wait to show it off to you in a few weeks!