I've soaked the rear shift rod/coupleing and have removed the pin, however, still can not remove the darn thing. I have tried to punch it out using a cooper punch, but this thing is not budging - any suggestions?

Can you spin the shift rod inside the coupling? I mean grab that shift bar where it makes it's bend halfway to the coupler at the firewall and pull down, which will twist the shift rod in the rear coupler. Maybe doing that a couple times might make it start to loosen up and break free.

are you talking about the coupling at the firewall? i've seen a few that were bears to remove.

Brother, believe me when I say I KNOW your pain - - - I ended up destroying my original on my '71 car. Thankfully I had another one available from ymparts car. It took about three days of soaking and continued light raps with a punch and hammer. It did eventually come loose...

No - it's from the tranny end. I would attach a photo, but I can't save my pix to 640X480.

JWalters - how do I save this pix so I can give some visuals?

You will have to soak it and soak it. If you use any heat you'll melt the bushing that goes over the ball. You can't hit things too hard or you could break the cast bushing support and those are hard to come by. Soaking and twisting are the answer.

Dude, I only barely know how to surf the net - I use the programming which came with my camera - I have a Fuji - what kind you got??

Still at it - and it hasn't budged!

It sounds like you are going to have to twist it, I know it sounds crude, but have you tried 2 pipe wrenches??

as for the pictures, snap them in any size/resolution you want...use Irfanview to edit them, fairly simple to use, I bet even Walters could figure it out, hahahaha

FINALLY - went down the Auto Zone and rented a gear pulley and it slipped out with minimal effort.

Actually, I am trying to re-attache my front shit rod to into the short shift rod that exits the car. Having a devil of a time getting it in there at all. Is there a trick, ior is this just another cruel feature that is due to cause much suffering and cursing of german engineers?

Good one - I'll grant ya - -

Glad to hear it dude! Hows the hell hole, making any progress??

I got under the hood and tried to drill out the support tray, however, my drill couldn't keep up w/ the task.

So I turned to cleaning out all the tin - degreased them and painted them in a flat black 1200 degree paint.

They look great! I am swapping out the rear shocks this weekend and doing some other small stuff on the car.

How's the progress on the cylinder heads, case splitting, etc?

Here are some pictures of the progress of the tin:

Just got home a little while ago - havent looked at the heads yet. One is still soaking. My acid mix is on the weak side, so I will pull it in the am and get the other one started. So far it all looks good -

Gonna split the case on Sunday - Just not enough time in the day going into work at 8am and getting home at 8 - 9 pm --

Dude, you have been some kind of crazy busy with your tins and fan housing -

That is all looking really, really good dude

J.