And there it is. The requisite "standing in the engine bay" photo. It's some kind of law among people with black fingernails that if/when you remove the engine from your car, you must pose for a picture standing where the engine once was. It's just the way it is. Not wanting to flout such an honored tradition, we did it. Twice.

The upshot is, THE ENGINE IS OUT!! Hooray!

It really wasn't as hard as we'd expected, with Anthony's brother's help, we had it out in a matter of maybe 6 hours, about one hour of which was spent removing one single bolt (and cursing, oh so much cursing). Sometimes you find a bolt on a car, or a weed wacker, that has no earthly business where it is. It's as if some engineer had a horrible day or hated all human and animal life (he still liked plants) so he decided to strike out with furious bolt-inaccesibility vengeance. It's as if they never considered the possibility that this particular bolt might have to be removed one day. Whatever the evil reason for it, we eventually got it off, with only small amounts of blood spilled.

So confident were we in our progress with the engine removal that we took a break in the middle of the afternoon to go for a 7 mile mountain bike ride on Richmond's Belle Isle, a small island bobbing about in the James River, and get a nice coating of mud to go with the grease.

This is only the beginning, and probably the easiest part. We still have to install a new clutch, likely a new transmission, and install the as-yet-unseen new engine. Not to mention the exhaust, dual battery hook-up, alarm, roof storage system, amplifier and yogurt dispenser. Oh yes, there will be much more cussing to come.

Due to the complexity of this project, and, for some of you, the sheer tedium of it, we're going to soon launch a new section of the site dealing only with the car. Traveling in a vehicle like this, no matter what our intentions for this trip are or were, the car will undoubtedly steal much focus. It is possible that we'll drive away from here with everything in tip-top shape, but even if we do, we'll have to monitor everything diligently. This is just the nature of the beast. A 22 year old air-cooled Volkswagen is a part-time job.

Other changes are on the way too! We have lots of ideas! So don't get bored, we've barely begun. We'll knock your pants off.

grease monkey. that funky monkey.	beaver shot	ahh to be young and have your arm in a toilet
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