Zarwerks shop spy cam ....

[LJay]

Absolute cracking thread John,really one of the best ive ever read-thanks!
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1962 Turkis Westfalia so34.

My build thread.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=742279

[johnshenry]

I recently bought one of these very rare '54-'55 intakes. It was known to be rusted inside and was unusable, but I just wanted one for my "Intake Museum" and on the out side this one was very nice, and looked original. I knew I would never use it on an engine.

Some discussion was started in another thread about intakes.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=503628

Some excellent documentation posted there, verifying these different split and oval intakes. Consensus was that these intakes were used '54-'55 timeframe and are very , very rare. They obviously suffered a design defect and very often rusted out inside the enclosure, allowing pressurized exhaust gas from the heatriser to leak into the intake runner. Invariably, once this breach was of any size at all, the VW it was in probably didn't run at all.

Going through all of my intakes, I suddenly realized I already had one of these (you know you are parts hoarder when.....). I bought it from another enthusiast for relatively little money, as it had been damaged in shipping and there was evidence of a poor restoration. I concluded that it probably was unrestorable and jsut stashed it away.

But this recent thread on these peaked my interest and I started to examine it a bit. First I noticed a small hole under the enclosure, through which I could see another hole in the intake runner tubing. Figuring it probably wasn't usable anyway, I cut a small opening in the bottom and discovered a rather substantial rust perforation in the intake runner.

I stared, and poked, and shone lights at all different angles on this thing, and slowly started to see a challenge to restore it and make it usable. Both heat riser legs had been bent toward the intake runner in the package it was in. The left side one showed a substantial crack in its midsection, the right one just bent back about 2" from its original position.

I cut the cracked section out on the left heat riser and discovered that the previous "restorer" had fit a thick spring in the heat riser, and welded around it. It was ground down, and a layer of body filler spread over it before it was painted.

For the intake runner perforation, I cut from another scrap 36hp intake runner a section the length of the opening I cut in the enclosure and about 1/3 the circumference of the tubing (sorry, no pic). I mixed JB Weld epoxy and brushed it on the rusted intake runner inside the enclosure, applied a thick coating on the backside of the donor tubing section, and using magnets, placed it over the rusted opening. I brushed more JB Weld on the donor metal covering the overlap areas.

I figured it was worth a try. I decided that after it set that if it passed a 10 psi compressed air test after the epoxy had set, that I would go ahead trying to restore it. The next day I tested it, and it passed the test (keep in mind that 90% of the time, the intake runner is running with a vacuum inside.)

First order of business was to try to straighten the right side heat riser that at least looked intact. I bolted the intake to my fixture, and pulled on the heat riser, outward. It bent outward, but then I saw some paint pop off near the enclosure as the tubing started to buckle; I had feared that. I had the riser leg within 3/4" of where it needed to be.

So I ground off as much of the paint as I could, and using some vice grips and an awl as a drift pin, gently cinched the heat riser end into position on the fixture and bolted it down.

Then I heated the heat riser with a propane torch, moving the flame from one end to the other. This tubing is VERY thin, even when not rusty. It heats to red almost instantly. I let the metal cool completely, and then took the screws out of the heat riser flange. I expected the end to move at least a little bit, as it was under pretty intense stress bolted down, but to my amazement, it didn't move an bit. The flange stayed perfectly positioned, and in flush contact with my fixture plate.

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John Henry

'57 Deluxe
'56 Single Cab

[johnshenry]

So on to the left side heat riser repair. About a 1" section needed to be replaced. I cut a section out of a scrap heat riser from an old K manifold. This tubing is VERY thin. I'd guess less than 0.5mm (I'll mic it later and post below). I use 2mm wall tubing for my repro K manifolds and jacketed K repairs, but face welding a tube 4-5 times thicker to another one is very, very hard. So it made sense to use same thickness tubing. After a grind and fit, grind and fit, grind and fit, ... I got a repair section just right. Here I use some small rare earth magnets to position the donor piece, my intake fixture holds the intake and the heat riser just right.

A few tacks from the MIG welder gets things started.

It is a multi step process, of tacking, knocking down the welds with the grinding disc, then flat filing the tubing. Here the welds are knocked down with the grinder.

Here we have a rust hole on the backside of the right side heat riser, filled with body filler!!

The body filler is chipped out and the hole is filled with the MIG and ground. Farther to the right in the pic below was a tear in the tubing that occurred when the heat riser was bent back into position. It is welded up.

Below, the repaired section is ground and has had a first pass with the flat file. You can see some low spots that after this pic, I filled with MIC and ground again.

Below you see the final repair. This is about 2 hours worth of work, and my hands and wrist ache. But this is a paint ready (well, after media blasting) all-metal repair that will be undetectable when done.

I intend to finish this intake, paint and bake it, and put it up for sale. And these pics and detail will be a record of how it was repaired. That being said, this intake is still very fragile. It would not take much pressure at all on these heat risers at all to buckle and crack them. While I expect that this intake will be fully functional, I will highly recommend to whoever buys it, that the heat riser be blocked off on the right side to keep gases from circulating through it. This will increase it's useful life. And to be sure, I know that the intake runner is probably paper thin in other areas inside the enclosure, but hopefully this intake will be installed in a well restored oval that is driven sparingly.

I can honestly say that I have NEVER seen one of these intakes in a running, drivable oval. They are much rarer than even the earlier jacked K 25hp intakes. It has been a lot of fun restoring this one knowing it will be a real conversation piece in someone's oval one day.
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John Henry

'57 Deluxe
'56 Single Cab

[Grant Reiling]

[johnshenry]

Repaired the cut away section on the enclosure tonight. Fitting a new piece of metal and using the little magnets to position it (and then dropping it down in the enclosure!)

MIG welded in the patch

Knocked down the welds with the edge of a carbide disc.

Ground down the welds with an 80 grit small disc

.. then went over it again with a brown ScotchBrite pad.

Pressure tested the intake runner again at 10psi

So I decided as an extra measure against intake leaks, I would flood the intake runner with gas tank sealer.

Then I dumped it out, flipped the intake over and flooded the enclosure via the heat riser tubes.

Now to media blast and paint......
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John Henry

'57 Deluxe
'56 Single Cab

[runsplit]

Nice and great work. Thanks to share

[johnshenry]

Finished the '54-'55 intake.

Media blasted and ready for paint:

Painted and baked:

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John Henry

'57 Deluxe
'56 Single Cab

[ZwitterND]

Great work John!
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Bill

[sunroof]

Gas tank sealer! That is my Idea of the Day!

Don

[johnshenry]

[sunroof]

How did you pour the excess back into the can without making a huge mess?

Don

[johnshenry]

[8287111]

Great work,but why you stil use this odd color for intakes?

[johnshenry]

[johnshenry]

[Blue Baron]

[johnshenry]

[sunroof]

I have had problems in the past with the idle circuit freezing up in cold weather. The worst is around 0 celcius with rain or sleet, it requires constant attention to keep the car idling in traffic. Something that seems to work is to warm the engine up by driving for a few Km and shutting it off for a few minutes. When you start it back up the problem usually goes away. I spent a couple of winters driving my '59 here in Winterpeg where it will be below -30 C for weeks at a time. It works OK until you have a passenger who will insist on breathing which will frost up the windows solid. Fortunately few people are interested in riding in a '59 beetle when it's 40 below.

Don

[ZwitterND]

I remember driving my zwitter one late fall in 1974, typical cold damp New England evening. Engine started sputtering and losiing power. When I got home the intake was frosted over on the outside, I pulled off the carb and the manifold was almost plugged with ice, save around the edges where it had started to melt. I always thought thats why they put those paper preheat tubes to air filters on later models. because the heat risers were not efficient enough?
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Bill

[Shadd]

We got tons of info about carb icing in aviation. It is really amazing that it does not have to be freezing to get carb ice.

I wonder if anyone has come up with an thermostatically controlled electric carb heat for a VW? Exhaust heat works good but with these rare old manifolds, electric may be a better option.