Apologies for another long absence, it seems that I may be unofficially trying for the longest classic car restoration in history. Maybe I should reach out to Guinness and have it recognised as such when Gretchen finally gets back on the road in 2050? Anyway, I will explain in due course why things seemingly stalled yet again, but it is an exciting story for another time.
Back to business. The last time I updated on reviving the old engine and getting her purring once again. That was a thrill and since then I have been thinking about reinstating some original components as a lot of the ancillaries currently installed are inferior aftermarket parts. Back when I was a young student (and thus dependent on the car as my daily driver) my motivation was always just to keep the car on the road. So when things would fail I would simply buy the cheapest generic replacement part and toss the old parts as though they were worthless scrap (little did I know!). Fast forward to the present day and I am acutely aware that original VW parts are far superior and fortunately there are serviceable parts available to enable the rebuilding of certain things.
So, I picked this original Pierburg fuel pump up from a swap meet for £10. It is period correct to my car (manufactured in 1965) and was a prime candidate for a rebuild: