Inherited My Granddad's '57 Beetle

[KingOfAces]

[Eric&Barb]

Better and easier to just use a bigger nut. That way the hole fits over what is left of the stud and leaves a gap around it for a stronger weld.

When still super hot drench the area with water to quickly cool the head and stud down, that sudden change crushes the rust plating into dust. Dust take less space than the plating.
_________________
In Stereo, Where Available!

[Bug-nut]

[Eric&Barb]

[KingOfAces]

Alright, I have (relatively) good news, and bad news. I've been allowed to watch over my Grandmother's house until her passing. The bad news is that I don't have a job up here yet, so updates beyond what I've planned to do are going to be slow. I might be able to get away with sending the Cylinders and Heads to a machine shop for blasting, but let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Also I'm still waiting on the crankshaft. Should be done this weekend, hopefully. This project is getting increasingly scatter brained the longer I wait.

What's worse, I need to get my Grandma's car ready for this years inspection, and my Buick needs both Transmission and Engine Mounts. Once I had all that mostly done, I worked on the Beetle some. I have a bunch of parts that have been waiting to be used. I didn't want to mess with the cylinder heads today, so I finally tackled the brakes to see what condition they were in. The Torque Master made taking off the rear brakes very easy. I didn't expect them to be as awful as they were, so it took a while to clean and reassemble the passenger side, and I'll finish the other side tomorrow. I haven't even gotten to the front brakes.

I was going to replace both Parking Brake Cables, but I inspected them, and they're in good condition. I put some more grease on them and put them back. However, when I went to adjust the brakes, I couldn't get the sweet spot of no resistance with the parking brake down, and unmovable after pulling it up four notches. I'm going to try it again when I get everything back together.

Passenger Side

Driver Side

Broken brass gear.

Cleaned up Passenger Side

_________________
57' Beetle
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=612922

[KingOfAces]

Good news. The crankshaft is ready and should arrive next week.

Also I'm holding off on doing anything else on the rear brakes until I get some axle seal kits.
_________________
57' Beetle
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=612922

[62ItalianRagtop]

Have you reinstalled rear brake without change anything ?
_________________
LOOKING FOR 62 ENGINE WITH NUMBER FROM 6.904.xxx TO 6.915.xxx
http://tettodistraccio.blogspot.com/

[KingOfAces]

[KingOfAces]

Alright, back to what I wanted to actually do; rebuilding the engine.

Unfortunately it's extremely hot out and since the garage is as old as the hills, it doesn't cool properly, so I have to do this stuff in the evenings.

The Crankshaft arrived today, and everything is as it should be. I cleaned and reassembled the rods with the new bearings. I set the end play. I put dabs of form-a-gasket on the ends of the studs so they do not leak. Finally, I tried to get the camshaft drive gear onto the crankshaft and it got stuck very quickly.

EDIT: Actually, I just recalled I have the tool to remove the gear. It's too late in the night to do anything though. I'll remove it and retry tomorrow.

A bunch of parts that have been waiting very patiently.

Rods in place

Set endplay

_________________
57' Beetle
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=612922

[txoval]

Did you heat the gear?

Once heated properly, it will slide right on. Some people use a propane torch to heat it up, but I always use the oven

[KingOfAces]

[KingOfAces]

Okay, I did way more than I was planning on doing today.

I got the case halves together, the flywheel and pulley installed, put in a new oil relief spring. I grabbed a small tile from Home Depot and refinished the surface of the oil pump plate. I put the oil filter back. I also put the bit of tin behind the pulley on with properly sized hex bolts.

First, I put the distributor and it's gear set to cylinder 1 in.

I also dug out the original cap from the old distributor and put it on the 'new' one.

One last look at the inside. I cleaned up that bit of Permetex on the edge of the oil filter hole right after taking this pic.

and she's back together

Before

After

I reused the existing gland nut. It cleaned up pretty alright

Is this oil cooler salvageable?

here's how I left it.

There won't be an update tomorrow.
_________________
57' Beetle
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=612922

[KingOfAces]

Actually, I apparently used too much sealant and got it into the oil pump. I should have suspected something when the crankshaft got hard to turn when I was putting the pulley on. I got it all apart and got most of the crankshaft apart, enough to get the small amount of gasket that got into it out at least. Thank god this stuff comes out with mineral spirits and that all the oil passages didn't get clogged.

I guess I'm taking the case halves to the car wash again, and washing them out. Thank god I decided to be paranoid and check rather than put it off.
_________________
57' Beetle
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=612922

[willwilly]

How exciting. I just spent this evening combing through this thread.
I am in the middle of the same project, a 1957 Beetle Barn find and about to assemble the block.

My beetle has been sitting for nearly 35 years and arrived in pieces. You build has been so helpful. I'm hooked.

I have learned where many of my parts now go based on your pictures. Thanks so much for sharing and your tenacity is impressive.

One quick question, are you going to paint your engine? Mine (Feb 1957) appears to have been painted grey originally. Yours appears to be the same.
Do you know if these were painted originally?

[KingOfAces]

[txoval]

36hp rods do not self align, you got lucky the first time.

While tightening them, tap lightly with a hammer where rod halves meet...tighten more, then tap again until your get to 36 ft-lbs and they rotate smoothly

Check here: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=461368&highlight=rod+tight

[Abscate]

Don't forget to stake the rod caps when installing
_________________
.ssS!

[KingOfAces]

[Abscate]

After you bolt the rods to the crank you move a little bit of. Metal on the nut into a hole on the rod to stop them from vibrating loose. It wasn't clear in the picture above if you had done that.

Someone will correct me if this is wrong on a 36HP, so give me/them a day or two confirm in The Wilson book. I think you can still stake the bolts before the Pistons and cylinders go on....hope so...but don't skip it or you will ruin that case with a loose rod.
_________________
.ssS!

[KingOfAces]

That was a ball ache. As for the lack of updates, I've been very likely offered a job up here, so I've been focusing most of my attention towards that.

I got the crank reassembled after a not very fun combination of feeler gauges and taps to the rods. To prevent over applying the sealant this time, I used some cheap craft brushes from walmart to apply it. It spun freely, after I put the pulley on, after assembling it.

The oil screen and pump were reinstalled, and that's as far as I felt like going today. I set the case on the ground and covered it with a trashbag, as spiders seem to love setting up camp in the case.

I'm not putting that pulley back on until completely necessary. It is a massive pain to go all the way to Advance, check out their harmonic balancer puller, take it off, return the tool, and continue.