Brought home a Jan/ Feb 54' Jupiter Grey Euro

[Bub]

[motofly196]

Yes, 36hp use the dished washer on the snout. They are a little different from 1600, they can slide on without removing the woodruff key.
I'd be interested to know if those rods are balanced or not...that's a lot of material removed. Jose at DPR balanced mine by removing material on the big end. That rod has the entire line removed...that's gotta be quite a bit of weight. How did the rest of the internals look?

[Bub]

Anyways....I got it running to the extent I wanted. I knew it was just a preliminary assembly of everything and it would be VERY unlikely it was going to be great and run smooth.
But It runs. Or it DID run. I didn't like it. Didn't like what I saw..I figured I need to dig in a little deeper or lose sleep over it.

So. I did.

And I'm just going to leave this here.
I don't know whether to be terrified or impressed. I've balanced rods before; I think we used to get them withing .5grams typically. I tore a 356 engine down once with one rod something like 30 grams off.
But this. THIS. I don't know. Dammit. Hilarious.

Or not, I can't decide.

p.s. Do 36hp cranks have the dished washer just ahead of the small end bearing? I can't remember....but it wasn't there!

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[Bub]

[motofly196]

1st thing I do when I get my hands on an engine with the distributor clocked like that...I pull the drive gear, and re-clock it to the proper orientation. It's good that you know it's that way...but the next guy who isn't familiar with doing that will be scratching their head for quite a while. Or...when you're engine isn't running you might be over-looking the simplest of things.

Maybe the last guy adjusted the valves with the distributor rotor pointed at the #1 hash on the distributor rim? This is just one thing that could be off...

[Bub]

You guys. I clocked the distributor drive so the badge is facing that way.
The plugs are correct on the distributor....this is only about the 140th VW I've owned (thought I have swapped the plug wires wrong a million times). The notch on the distributor is directly under the #1 plug wire. While I had the heads off I did check to make sure that the cam was timed right- I suppose it's possible it's like ONE tooth off; I dind't open the case.
Which is why it's sort of funny it won't really run. It actually starts, but just sputters..and will continue to sputter even if you literally pour gas down the carb. And I've swapped 3 carbs out now. All the exact same result- except for the one that leaked real bad.

But fairly sure it's spark. When I took everything apart the coil was wired backwards (15/1 connections), I think it is half fried. I need to get my multimeter out and test it and dig around for another condenser.

Also going to loosen up some drivetrain mount stuff and see how much I can tilt the back of the engine down. Maybe I have the trans nosecone bolted down too high, fairly sure those hole are slightly slotted.

Here you go- rotor pointing at #1. Firing order 1-4-3-2- Yellow marks are TDC.

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[sled]

good eye Rome, yes the wires are in the wrong position, they appear 90 degrees out.

even with a centrifugal-only advance distributor, the number one TDC rotor position is the same, pointing over your right shoulder when facing the engine.
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drive your split.

[Rome]

Nice looking Beetle. For your taillamps, as an experiment to achieve the heart unit look, how about modifying a snowflake housing by cutting out the shape of the top heart lens and gluing in a repro heart lens? Set the heart lens back an equal distance from the housing attachment fastening screw. You can use a good photo of a genuine heart housing for dimensional reference, and just cut the snowflake housing so that the shoulder of the heart lens sits against the snowflake housing from underneath. Then use some silicone glue to fasten the heart lens from underneath to the housing. Here's a housing you can try- https://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=2319751

If the round contours of the lens match those of the top of the cheap snowflake housing, then you can do this conversion to your snowflakes (or buy a cheap set to redo and repaint anyway so that you keep your originals untouched). Might be enough o have a local body paint shop mix up a spray can bottle of Jupiter Grey so you can paint the housings. Mount the lamps down low in the original style heart location (aha- I see you did that; after I posted my response), not at the higher snowflake location. Since your car is a "13 footer", I bet such a modification would look genuine to most casual observers. No need to make the fake heart lens functional; you just glue it in for appearance.

Engine: I zoomed in on your "engine installed" photo. At first glance it looks like your plug wires are clocked 1 position too far clockwise (CW) in the cap. You can clearly see the wire for #4 at the "left front" of the cap when looking straight down at the cap. That would make the wire for #1 the next one CCW, namely "left rear" (ignition firing order 1-4-3-2). But "usually" the plug wire for #1 is at the "right rear" cap position.

Have you checked the distributor rotor position with the cap off and the crank pulley at #1 position (confirmed by the cylinder #1 valves both being closed)? If the rotor points to the right rear with the crank pulley at TDC, then you simply reclock the plug wires so that the wire for #1 comes out of the right rear cap terminal. But your distrib. is not an original type with the vacuum canister on the left. No vacuum canister would make it a mechanical advance type, so that there could still be a variation of how the rotor position would be... some could have the #1 cyl. wire 2 cap positions back (at "right front" cap position).

[sled]

[Bub]

Well. Got the engine thingy installed. It would be nice if it would run. Have no idea what the problem is- got fuel instantly, don't see ANY problem with the carb (which I've already rebuilt), spark? yes.
Timing...isn't that hard. I get an occasional sputter, sometimes it'll rumble and nearly fire up. 30 years of VW's and I can't make a 36hp run? Yeah.

Also- body is too low. I think I need to unbolt it and get a thicker pan seal. Engine seal sits roughly 3/4" low. Tailpipe will NEVER clear the rear apron.

Anyone know a source for a good slightly thicker pan/ body gasket? 1/2"-3/4" would probably be close enough.

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[sunroof]

Wow! That is fantastic. I want one.

Don
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Better and better mistakes!

[Bub]

[motofly196]

Progress looks great! Noticed you got some tail lights too...still looking for correct ones?
For what the car was when you bought it...you are getting it straightened out pretty quick! Should be ready to drive when the weather gets nice.

[Bub]

Ok, been saving some progress for this update.
A few pics to follow!
So, the engine came out relatively quickly. Tin went to the powdercoater and I just got it back. Next time remind me to find better/ cleaner/ less rusty-er tin.
I got it all back and it's decent, it won't be a show car by any means, so using what I had works for now.

New brakes, brake lines, hardware, drums...etc..

Some past owner ran a FABTASTIC copper bendy fuel line down the right side running board. So that had to go. I was able run a good stainless line down the rear next to the original line, through the tunnel and pop it out right behind the place it should be. Again, that works for me.
OH! And the contraption on the fuel reserve lever is a 'low fuel' switch. A warning light (sourced from 62' t-bird) comes on when it fuel is OFF or on R. I know a couple people (me?) who would absolutely forget to turn the lever back...don't need that trouble.

Removed and cleaned the trans, new seals everywhere I could access, boots, brakes, etc. Cleaned up and re-lined and sound proofed the engine compartment.

Some foglights for fun, didn't need those, but got them for less than the value of the brackets, so why not.

Engine in progress

Cleaned and straightened the interior, NOS Ra-bambus shelf, a repro cruiser pedal- of course. I have some pop-outs coming and a few misc little trinkets.
But...just MAYBE I'll be close to firing it up this weekend...

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[Bub]

[sled]

wow they painted the car with the semaphores and door strikers in place


I have those bulbs in my 51, they work well.
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drive your split.

[Bub]

Fully restored! Ready to go!
Engine is out and torn down for a quick once over.
Nothing shocking...except.. SOMEONE left the two case bolts out just below the thrust bearing. WTF people. Seriously. Who would do that?
So. Obviously I have to go and look further.
Hoping to get a couple misc piece of tin I'm missing-
under fuel pump
behind pulley
spark plug tube and a few other odds and ends then tin goes to powdercoating.

I have some more pics, nothing as fun as this. 6V blinky Semperfours!
I dig it, nice and bright too.
(I guess I don't get to embed an imgur .mov ? It's blocked?)


https://imgur.com/a/sF91rq0

https://i.imgur.com/u2poTxZ.mp4
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[ZENVWDRIVER]

[FRK]

[Bub]