back up to the garage of thomas to finish splitting the case on the wbx…
cleaned some stuff up and found that the one stud that just would not move was actually a bolt all the way through just completely bimetallically corroded… looked like it was held in with concrete…

after lots of huffing and puffing and swearing and hammering thomas tackwelded a nut on the end that got it started moving – then sheared it off…

you can see the stud with the nut welded on still glowing from the welder.

but with that start and a large hammer it came out…
after a bit more swearing and lots of shaking (and if i’d thought for more than 2 seconds) i realised that there ws no way the case would separate unless i actually bothered to remove the pistons….

on a wasserboxer this is easier said than done. the removal of the wrist pin circlips has to happen though a little hole in the water jacket…

eventually i got the pins out of number two and number four pistons and they’re off but number one and number three dont really want to budge.
i left at midnight with thomas and john still under a syncro t25 refitting a gearbox….

what fun.. !

here’s all the stuff stacked up, waiting for me to locate the special VW tool 3901 wbx wrist pin puller….
i found 1, special order form the US , $47.50 plus shipping. maybe i’ll try another way …