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Wed Dec 25, 2019 11:51 am

This by far is the most ridiculous amount of effort and money thrown at being correct I’ve ever done for a single component but it was fun...

Started off with a typical manifold with loose sounds of rust inside...

Started cutting small windows in the jacket to access what I thought was a few holes.

Then realized the weld was protruding to far for my liking into the intake runner. I found a company online that makes grinding burrs and will make any size and weld them to a flex shaft. I stuck the burr on one side and put my borescope on the other and tried to remove some of it.

Then realized the light on the scope was very helpful locating ALL the pinholes in the intake so more of the jacket came off and welded a BUNCH of spots up.

We welded the heat risers up so there is no longer an issue with internal moisture on the jacket.

The jacket was then welded back on using silicon bronze and then welds were smoothed out.

Put in the blast cabinet and blasted with AE grade glass beads.

I used all metal on the jacket after I did some more dremel grinding and filled out the rest to prevent it from being a problem in the oven for powder. It was epoxy primed with powder then wet painted with 2k black paint.

Thu Dec 26, 2019 12:22 pm

Amazing Job 8)
Antoine

Thu Dec 26, 2019 3:12 pm

Really nice job on the restoration. What did that manifold originally come from?

Thu Dec 26, 2019 4:57 pm

srfndoc wrote: Really nice job on the restoration. What did that manifold originally come from?

Thanks!
It was factory installed on a majority (I believe) of 54’ 36hp engines. The steel jacket would collect condensation internally and rust through. The engine developed a lean mixture and they somewhat recalled it. Very few left in the wild and typically always found on 54’ era industrial engines.

Fri Dec 27, 2019 6:48 pm

Nice job!

Here's the 54 owners manual:

Those manifolds all rusted out, so I didn't look too hard when I had a '54 kombi. Even though I updated the later engine to have some correct stuff on it:

Tue Dec 31, 2019 4:25 am

Todd, I told you that before too, but can't say often enough how good this engine will look!!
It takes a lot of dedication to spend so much time and money on a part that can easily be swapped with a later part and most guys will never recognize.
But on the other hand, you can be sure, to have one of the most original early 36hp engines in this big world.
The 54-55 engines always interested me and it's always amazing to see that there is quite a big number of cars from that era left with original and complete engines but they all miss this very part.

Glad I can put my uterus manifolds away and "easily" install the Autotechnik kit without repairing the manifold :wink: :D

Thu Jan 09, 2020 8:07 pm

Thank you for painting it satin black, which was, in all likelihood, the correct color found on production cars.

Fri Jan 10, 2020 7:49 am

Great job on this. Thanks for sharing. I bought one of these for my 55 and I hope its not as bad as this one!

Sun Jan 12, 2020 10:05 pm

Wow!!! great job Todd.

Tue Jan 21, 2020 8:47 am

You welded up the heat risers? Does it not need them?

Wed Feb 12, 2020 6:16 pm

Wow, and I thought *I* went overboard restoring one of these intakes.

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=5973289&highlight=54#5973289

If anyone wants one, I have a beauty, unrestored off of an industrial engine in the classifieds.

Fri Feb 14, 2020 9:38 pm

kafer60 wrote: You welded up the heat risers? Does it not need them?
Yeah, what's the deal?

Sat Feb 15, 2020 6:35 pm

Look at any engine other than stock and there is no provisions for heat risers. This is the same situation. On these engines the exhaust gases made the STEEL jacket corrode in no time.
I plugged them so I didn’t have the same situation reoccur. Pretty self explanatory.