Moving forward

 I made some time to work on the car today.  This picture was taken near the beginning.  I'm not great at tracking progress with photos.  Actually, let me rephrase that:  I'd make a horrible photojournalist.

The general goal was to find and fix the cause of the 'floaty' steering and I believe I've accomplished that part today.

 A brief comparison of the newly *rebuilt* steering box vs. the one that just came out of the car.  I got curious and opened up the fill plug and discovered that the box is full of oil but it's likely broken down after 50 years.  The box was tight but the operation was not smooth.

I also replaced the pittman arm with a refurbished part (new grommet/bushing).  Much tighter and definitely an improved feel.

After five hours of distractions and work, I managed to install the rebuilt steering box, reconditioned pittman arm with new bushing, new VW Mexico steering coupler (which didn't quite fit properly), two reconditioned tie rods, four NOS Lemförder tie rod ends and a Cofap Brazilian steering damper, as well as install a good used bearing cap.  In addition, I made adjustments to the speedometer cable (NOS unit not one that I recently purchased) and cleaned the front beam a little more.

I didn't get it finished up today because I discovered rather late in the day that I didn't have the cotter pins for the tie rod ends.  I didn't engage the lock plates in the event I need to make some last minute adjustments.  I'll take it for a basic alignment once I find a shop that can do it and then engage the lock plates.  All in all, everything cleaned up nicely and I was able to get quite a bit done.  I was hoping to finish it up and install the newly reconditioned fuel tank but I didn't quite get that far.  One more day like today and I'll be able to finish it all up.