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Mon Oct 20, 2014 9:02 pm

Hi there, could someone please clarify how many washers my 1959 36hp distributor should have (placed down deep near the worm gear). I have one about 1mm thick but I have heard that some engines (a later year??) have two.

thanks
John

Tue Oct 21, 2014 7:43 am

The parts books only show one metal shim and one fibre distance washer at the very bottom, just above the "driving dog" - and one of each inside the distributor at the bottom as well.

-Andy

Tue Oct 21, 2014 7:45 am

I think he's asking about the thrust washers under the driveshaft.

Tue Oct 21, 2014 9:33 am

Didn't I mention those above? Items 23 and 27 are shown in two different locations in that diagram.

"and one of each inside the distributor at the bottom as well."

Tue Oct 21, 2014 10:08 am

glutamodo wrote: Didn't I mention those above? Items 23 and 27 are shown in two different locations in that diagram.

"and one of each inside the distributor at the bottom as well."

john_boy1959 wrote: (placed down deep near the worm gear)

Tue Oct 21, 2014 10:09 am

glutamodo wrote: Didn't I mention those above? Items 23 and 27 are shown in two different locations in that diagram.

He means the ones that fall into the case when you pull the distributor out of the case.

Tue Oct 21, 2014 10:36 am

Oh... the drive gear, not distributor. ](*,) idiot me. Thrust washers....

There were always two of them down there under the drive shaft. Now the earliest 40HP 1200 engines had a shorter drive gear and the case was machined to match. Halfway into model year 1961, VW changed this, and machined the case deeper, and specified one of the thrust shims be replaed by a special thick spacer washer if you used the early drive shaft in a later case.

Also, VW's remanufacturing shop would sometime rebore the bottom of the driveshaft hole by 3mm, requiring you replace one of the thrust shims with a spacer washer.

Wed Nov 19, 2014 4:01 am

thanks for all that info everyone - John

Mon Aug 10, 2015 1:35 pm

Old thread revival. What is the end play spec for a 36hp distributor drive? I have measured .136 without any shims in place. I have one shim that is .049 that came out of my 36hp and 2 from another later engine that measure .023 and .024. For some reason my engine only had the one thicker one installed. I got the 2 thinner ones from another engine build. There was only the thicker one in place when I took it apart. If I use the 3 I have that leaves me with .040 end play. Should I find another thicker one and use the 2 thick and 1 thin to tighten it up some?

Mon Aug 10, 2015 7:51 pm

After doing a couple hundred of these I can say that I don't need to measure anymore, I do it by feel. You didn't specifically mention the phenolic shims above. but it's not unusual for the bottom of the shaft by the drive dog to have two and sometimes even three steel shims. The idea is for the distributor to spin freely with no drive dog verticle wobble from being too loose or binding from being too tight.

Tue Aug 11, 2015 5:11 am

Quoting the Wilson engine rebuild book / .020 - .050 for type 1 engines. Using two or more shims.

Tue Aug 11, 2015 6:00 am

tasb wrote: After doing a couple hundred of these I can say that I don't need to measure anymore, I do it by feel. You didn't specifically mention the phenolic shims above. but it's not unusual for the bottom of the shaft by the drive dog to have two and sometimes even three steel shims. The idea is for the distributor to spin freely with no drive dog verticle wobble from being too loose or binding from being too tight.
Tim, they're talking about the steel thrust washers under the driveshaft.... not the fiber washers in the distributor.

Tue Aug 11, 2015 9:37 am

I was able to locate another thick washer and two more thin ones. With what I have the only two combinations I can come up with is .013 or .040 clearance with the distributor installed using feeler gauges to measure the gap. Which would be the better choice? And Glenn is correct I'm asking about the ones below the distributor drive shaft.

Tue Aug 11, 2015 1:33 pm

thomas. wrote: Quoting the Wilson engine rebuild book / .020 - .050 for type 1 engines. Using two or more shims.

.040 / "What you don't want is less than .020 Better to have too loose a clearance than not enough. You can use any number of shims as long as long there are at least two." Once again this is quoting the Tom Wilson book. "How to rebuild your air cooled engine" This is what I used .As do a lot of us.

Tue Aug 11, 2015 2:54 pm

Sounds good. Thanks for the help.