The worlds toughest screw

Ive been working on and off all summer to remove this headlamp with the rusted screw.

I could barely identify it as a screw head much less back it out. So I figured I would drill it out. At first progress was slow, but there *was* progress as evidenced by the metal shavings. I finally reached a point where i just wasnt getting anywhere. New bit, bigger meaner drill, nothing helped. 

Out of desperation, last week I bought a body saw from Harbor Freight in order to cut it loose. I hate to cut things, but I didnt feel like I had any choice if it was going to make any progress on the disassembly.

Today I worked up the nerve to make the cut

You can see the divot where I tried drilling it out

And you can see I never even got close to drilling out the head.

Best I can figure is something called "work hardening." The heat and milling action of the drill basically hardened the metal in the divot until the bit couldn't cut it any more. Or its the worlds toughest screw. German engineering! 

Remainder of the headlamp mount

Lotta rust behind that headlamp

Front Bumper

 

Hiding

 This is what I found when I took off the headlamp bezel

The red circle used to be a screw. 

Bumper Crop

 Only broke 2 bolts!

Turn signals

 Removing the turn signals

Plug full of dirt

Look how shiny where the paint was protected

Tail Lights

 Removing the tail lights

Wires for reference

Hello Dolly

I know I will need a body dolly soon, so I decided to build it first. After looking around The Samba for recommendations I decided on this design 

Slow to turn over, but getting started

Its been a busy few years. We moved and I had no garage, so the car spent some time in a tool shed. I blew out a spark plug - that was loud. We built a garage, so now I have a proper place to work and more room than ever. 

After such a long hiatus, I didnt want to get it running and then delay the big project again. So the time has come for disassembly.