Restoring AND driving?

["Ginger D.&Peter P." <gingerd@teleport.com>]

Dear List,
	I admit that I never used to work on my own cars.  I did cosmetic stuff
mostly.  My first car was an '83  VW GTI, and I couldn't get the oil
filter off to change my own oil, so I just gave up.  When I moved to the
city I stopped driving alltogether, and sold the GTI and I've riden a
bicycle for the last 5 years.
	I bought my '66 Square one year ago with the express purpose of
learning to do my own auto repairs.  This last weekend I dove into some
more indepth systems on Phillip, and I now wishing that I had a steeper
learning curve.  I've been pretty busy and just never got the time to
thouroughly inspect some key areas, and I'm kicking myself now.  
	Transmission Fluid:  I bought the tools and oil to do a change, and
discovered how easy this really is.  Unfortunately, I also discovered I
only had 1 or 3 litres of oil left in there!  I cracked the filler hole
and stuck my finger in there like the manual says and nothing.  Stuck it
in as far as I could and STILL NOTHING.  There has always been dirty
crudy layers of oil under the car, and now I know why.  I'm assuming the
tranny is toast, although there weren't any big metal flakes on the
magnetic drain plug.
	Disk Rotors:  I did brake work right after getting Phillip (new MC and
lines), and checked the disk pads for wear.  Yesterday in the process of
replacing wheel bearings and lowering a notch, I had the oportunity to
measure the rotor width: .29" (7.3mm).  Yikes, that's over a mm narrower
than the manual's minumum 8.5mm.  
	I guess the moral of the story is to not rely on the P.O.  I spent too
much effort getting the high beams to work, and cleaning up etc., and
neglected important safety and longevity issues. Thankfully, I've only
driven 900 miles around town.  As someone asked the list earlier,
restoring a daily driver is possible.  I would recommend taking your new
purchase and putting it up on jackstands until you've gone through a
complete checklist: brakes, steering, tune-up, fluids, tires, etc.  

Peter Parker
'66 Square; Phillip
Portland, OR