TheSamba.com :: View topic - 36 hp

Mon May 25, 2015 9:27 am

Overhauling my 36 hp engine. Upon tear down, I discovered there was not a pressure relief spring or piston. Found a couple of them online. Inserted piston to be sure it wasn't sticky and it went in fine all the way up in the case. I the inserted the spring and noticed it extended about a 1/4 inch out of the block. Looking in the VW repair manual for 36 hp engines, and according to the manual, the spring installed length is 1.52 inches and the loaded length is 1.18 inches. My spring measures 2 inches long completely out of the block. Perhaps when you push the spring back in the block accompanied with the screw, it compresses the spring to 1.5 inches. Both pistons and springs that I ordered separately online are the same size in length in both piston and spring. Since this is my first time dealing with the spring and piston, I was hoping someone else can confirm I have the correct setup. :?:

Mon May 25, 2015 2:45 pm

your in the wrong forum. but i will try to help. there are 2 different ones. up to 55? and 56 and later. what year is the case? they don't interchange, there was no spring or piston? how did it run? :? must of been a motor that didn't run?

Tue May 26, 2015 4:06 am

case is original to the year of my bug, 1960. This was confirmed by birth certificate.

Tue May 26, 2015 4:23 am

So it's not the wrong forum - but his point being there's generally more discussion of the 36HP engine in the older beetle forum than here.

Looking at the Jan 61 edition of VW's Without Guesswork, they show a "free length" of just over 2 inches.

Tue May 26, 2015 4:47 am

Then I suppose what I have is correct. Looking at Wolfsburg West website, they offer for sale a spring for all 25-36 hp engines. Thus, I'm confused that there were two different ones depending on year model. ???

Tue May 26, 2015 7:22 am

Looking at Glutamodo's response closer, I think this would refer to a 40 hp engine having the spring length 2". Thus, this still does not address what it would be for a '60 model 36 hp.

Tue May 26, 2015 8:56 am

vwnc wrote: Looking at Glutamodo's response closer, I think this would refer to a 40 hp engine having the spring length 2". Thus, this still does not address what it would be for a '60 model 36 hp.

My '58 and '60 versions of the same manual above say the same length - 52-53mm

Tue May 26, 2015 9:23 am

Thanks for the information, Everett. Jay

Tue May 26, 2015 10:22 am

That Jan 61 edition only covers the 25/36HP engines, with supplemental data for the 1960 Bus "bastard" 40HP engine. If you were to look at the next page you'd have found that that engine's relief spring is 63mm/2.48"