GZs 55 Project

[BulliBill]

[gzaharatos67]

[Dan22]

You may have a bent rod. Make sure the piston is not cocked in the bore on that rod as an indication. I had encountered this on my motor build.
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1-0900722 die langsame grüne Schildkröte
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=765074

[VW_Jimbo]

[gzaharatos67]

Thanks for getting back to me. I fixed it today.

I disassembled the left side which is where I recalled the engine getting significantly tighter when turning it after I put it together. With just the rods looking at me, I had end play.

The piston pins needed to be sanded down a bit so that the pistons were free to ever so slightly slide front the back. I did that, oiled em up and slide em back in and now either everything assembled again, I have end play. I have 6 shims so hopefully tmrw I can find the right combination to get it to .004.

[VW_Jimbo]

What were the crank journals at?

Is the distributor binding it up at all?

Front pulley rubbing on the case?

If the crank is tight, maybe you pinched a bearing.
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Jimbo

There is never enough time to do it right the first time, but all the time necessary the second time!

[gzaharatos67]

Running into an issue here. Maybe I could get some advice.

Rebuilt a 36hp out to a long block for the moment. It spins, although tight ... I was attributing that just to new parts and compression.

But I have no end play. Can't get the crank to slide front to back at all. This is with the flywheel off.

I'm thinking at the very least I'll need to take the heads off and slide the cylinders out and see if I have any then and if not will need to split the case. I absolutely had movement front to back in the crank when I laid it in the case half.

Any thoughts?

[BulliBill]

Not yet, but thanks for the prodding. I'm thinking about doing so like I did with the full restoration of my '59 Double-Cab Pick-up ( seen here: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=545000 ).

FYI I bought this Dec of 1956 ('57 model year USA spec Oval Kabriolett back in 1994 or '95 as an in-progress project all blown apart and in primer. Moved it all 2 hours to my place and put it away for future consideration back in a corner of my garage for storage and then buried it under a lot of it's disassembled parts. "outta sight, outta mind" ya know? For 30 years I've been buying more/better parts and accessories for it. The pile got deeper. I'm retired now from a 44 year career as a TWA and AA F/A (Flight Attendant) and F/A safety instructor, and now I have the time (and no more excuses) thirty years later to get on with the full resto...

I'll try to start a build thread soon... I swear!

Bill
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I'm looking for these license plate frames for my fleet:
Coeur D'Alene - Lake Shore Volkswagen
Mission VW - San Fernando
Thornton VW - Stockton

Thanks for any help!

[Dan22]

[gzaharatos67]

Thanks Bill ... Good luck with your project too!

[BulliBill]

Yep! I'd definitely fully restore the rarer and cool '55 Sunroof. So unique, and more valuable when done right! Perhaps I'm biased a bit, as I luckily found a very nice condition unrestored original June of '55 Sunroof almost 30 years ago and it's the queen of my collection. I'm doing a resto on a '57 Kabriolett now.

Both your Ovals would be nice to have restored, but the '55 three-fold sunroof definitely has my vote!

Bill
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I'm looking for these license plate frames for my fleet:
Coeur D'Alene - Lake Shore Volkswagen
Mission VW - San Fernando
Thornton VW - Stockton

Thanks for any help!

[gzaharatos67]

As my summer break comes to an end, I finished up the chassis on the 55.

All that's left to do is fill and bleed the brakes and clear out one of the heater cable tubes which feels like it has cement in it.

Overall, I'm happy with it.

Next up is to build the engine, mount it and see if it runs. It's a case from 36hp dated in 57.

The body is being media blasted this week. Will post photos of it after it's done.

[gzaharatos67]

I removed the apron, measured up and cut out the right rear quarter. I'm pretty happy with how curving the bottom lip on it came out. I made it match the factory curves, being tighter in the rear and a wider gap as it goes forward.

I also painted two wheels ....sometimes you just gotta see color, hah!

Strato silver and pearl white (which I hope is the correct inner color ... It's certainly different from silver white).

[obus]

nice work on that!!
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July 1959 Mango Standard Bus aka Obus L346 L347 https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=256592&highlight=
June 1973 Pumpkin Orange Thing aka Othing L30H
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=711775&highlight=
1960 Paprika Red Karmann Ghia Convertible aka Schatze L452 built 5/20/60
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...highlight=
March 1956 Beetle convertible L41 Black

[gzaharatos67]

Finished up work on the floors today. Pretty happy with how they came out.

[gzaharatos67]

One thing I've learned from this hobby over the last 25 years is that sometimes you just need to see a small victory... In this case it meant painting the shifter and base L75 beige after some rust treatment. Although I think the base gets painted black ...

I also split the case on the 36hp to see what was inside ...

[gzaharatos67]

Thanks Everett ... That means a lot coming from you.

Will keep plugging along and add photos whenever I make some sort of significant progress.

This week I'll be replacing the rear pan quarters on both sides, then hitting the frame and floors with Eastwood encapsulator.

[kintail]

Just to clarify I voted patina........but the other half of me says '55 sunroofs are pretty rare and restoration is the way to go! Rust never sleeps......
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Scott

August 1954 Beetle Canadian Deluxe

[EverettB]

First, I'm enjoying this thread so thanks for doing it.

Second, this is a cool photo:

[gzaharatos67]

Body is off the pan. Today I took the front axle and transmission out and scrubbed the pan w degreaser. If it ever stops raining here I'll apply phosphoric acid and then por15 the whole thing ... After I replace the rear pan halves and weld up a few small holes on the driver's front.