Another quick one between all the other things that I have going on. I wanted to see what shape the engine compartment is in, so I started removing all the noise insulation around the engine compartment. Yup! Most of it is dry rotted, so it pretty much all went in the trash. After moving the tabs out of the way to remove the sound insulation, I was able to see the rest of the wiring in the rear. So I disconnected the rear headlight wiring, including the one wire that passed between the two rear headlights.
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| Dry rotting sound insulation |
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| Insulation removed, and wires disconnected. |
Behind the insulation, the metal was in pretty good shape. One little rust spot near the bottom of the luggage rack, but I already knew that was a bad spot and will have to get replaced. I was then able to pass the main wire bus through the firewall, and in doing so, the wooden strips that stapled the convertible in place got in the way of pulling wire. With popping a few rusted nails, and unscrewing a few rusted flatheads, I got the wooden striping out. Now what was interesting here, is this is the first sign of a previous restoration project that I've seen. The wood strips were all labelled "V-Dub Restoration Parts 7821 Broad St Complex Richmond VA". Quick google search, and I cant find this company, and the closest address I can find is clearly not a bug shop. I knew that the previous owner had done some work with the engine and exhaust, but I never heard about it being this disassembled.
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Wooden stripping and wiring pulled out
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Restoration Label
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Lastly, I removed the bus wire as much as possible, but in the driver footwell, it disappeared into a compartment I couldn't access easily, and it looks like it split up and went into the engine compartment in multiple smaller bunches, so I want to wait to pull this wire until more unwiring is done at the fuse box.
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| Main bus sitting in the driver side footwell. There the little window showing the bus going through the sidewall and into the trunk. |