56 vert Jimmy Sprinkles

[kaieric]

[esde]

Finally got some cars juggled so the vert can be in a corner for a few months without clogging up the whole barn while I have the engine and transmission pulled. The engine leaks of course, but it's bad enough that it's a nuisance, and the trans pops out of third occasionally, and it whines when it gets hot, and it leaks....
And there is a long list of things that could stand to be improved, so out it all comes

My shop helper keeps dropping the ball in my lap.

you can see how wet this is, just weeping from every seam
Engine out in 20 minutes, would've been less if I had all the tools pulled out before hand. These 36hp are a joy to work on

Some holes drilled where the cross shaft goes through the trans case, perhaps it seized at some point? strange

broken bits of something sitting under the tempermental starter gear.

Evidence of the rear end accident from many years ago. Whatever happened, the engine bay shape and size were barely changed, as then engine came out easily

Several incorrect bits on this engine, distributor, generator, crank pulley

The exhaust has a few pinholes, but is mostly solid. May get patched as I like the embossed VW end caps

Breaking it down, didn't break or strip a single thing

The typical goofball repairs these things get over a lifetime
Heads are getting a rebuild, so not a problem

Some correct thin slot generators broken down for inspection

Cleaned up

Once the flywheel is off I can get it mounted up on the stand, and open it up for inspection. Best case scenario is it gets rings and heads, but if things are marginal I'll just do everything.
SD
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modok wrote:
Bent cranks are silent but gather no moss. I mean, ah, something like that.

[kaieric]

how did you clean up the end plates? so clean!
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7/1958 RSA Beetle Cabriolet RHD

[esde]

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In for a penny, in for a pound....

Had the thing on the bench and stripped before I even thought to snap a pic, but no doubt you are all familiar with a dripping greasy long block..
Heads off, few studs came loose

Not great, but not terrible.

Ruh-Roh!

Piston #3 has left the chat

Opened up, no real surprises.

Mains are decent, or better than expected. But someone used the later style center main, I feel the grooved center gives the rod bearings better oil

Rod bearings are trashed, especially the two that feed off the center main

Here's the deal with this
If I pay to ship it to DPR to be ground, it gets stroked too. Maybe someone local has a ground stock crank.

Need to find a teenager to start washing things at the parts washer.

I'm going to try to get the case hot washed tomorrow, fingers crossed.
SD
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modok wrote:
Bent cranks are silent but gather no moss. I mean, ah, something like that.

[VW_Jimbo]

Looks like it was overheated pretty good.

Or starved of oil.

Or, BOTH!

If it helps you out, you can send the crank to me, I can drive it over to Jose! Only 7.2 miles away!
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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!

[esde]

[esde]

Merry Christmas to everyone, from my family to yours!
Peace.
My wife has fully embraced Jimmy and made him the centerpiece of this years card.. after much patience, many takes, and hours of editing

Behind the scenes

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modok wrote:
Bent cranks are silent but gather no moss. I mean, ah, something like that.

[VW_Jimbo]

That is SO COOL! Good to see it is part of the family!

Merry Christmas!
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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!

[esde]

cleaning engine cases is terrible filthy business, so better to get it over with and clean all the cases I have to build at once. So here is the case for Jimmy Sprinkles, with a 52 case for my zwitter, and a 57 case I have to build for a client

I run hot water through the pressure washer, it gets most of the grease, but not the baked on varnish or oxidation.

Then into the cabinet for a walnut shell blast. This cuts the baked on oil and varnish, and all but the worst oxidation

Then they get scrubbed in the parts washer, to clean out the bits of walnut shell and pockets of missed oily goop.

Next I rinse with some dish detergent to kill the parts washer solvent, dry, and remove the rest of the studs and other hardware. Pull the case plugs so I can flush and brush the oil galleys

Finally looking good and no longer filthy\

Not done, but clean enough to work on without getting myself filthy.
The crank needs a grind, so off to DPR. It'll get stroked to 69mm
Rest of the engine details are being debated, but probably a mild build, made to look period correct for the car. If it was the original motor, it would stay original, but oh well.
SD
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modok wrote:
Bent cranks are silent but gather no moss. I mean, ah, something like that.

[obus]

I should have bought that went he put it up for sale but i passed like a dummy and bought a bus. Looks like you are doing it better justice than i would have. Looks like its coming along nicely
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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=
66 21 window bus built 8/31/65 https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=777273

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[obus]

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Two steps forward, one step back.
Finished stripping everything out of the case late last night and found a problem.
Both dowels that locate the rear pinion bearing, and rear inout shaft bearing were flush with the case. Say what?

The case was too slippery to really do anything more, so gave it a bath and looked further.
You can see the pin on the left has been driven down into the bearing saddle and is actually sticking out the bottom

And a crack

`Welded a nut to each dowel and twisted them free.

D'oh!

So the case is cracked in two spots, so trash. I have another case that's also a 1956 serial number, just a few months later, so I'll get started cleaning that..
damned.
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modok wrote:
Bent cranks are silent but gather no moss. I mean, ah, something like that.

[VW_Jimbo]

That sucks! I feel for you! Sorry man.
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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!

[esde]

BACK IN THE SADDLE

Went up into the loft, found the 56 case, gave to a thorough blast with crushed walnut shells, then a long soak and hot scrub with lots of degreaser and little brass brushes. Then before anything, cleaned the shop. Cleaned and put away tools, toys, other projects, two disassembled 36hp engines got sorted and sent for cleaning, rebuilding, painting....
Bought clean rags, brake clean, new gloves, brought down all the slit case trans parts and got set up

First, get the differential bearing installed, so I can measure for the needed differential side shims. If I was using the diff in it's original case I wouldn't need to do this, but setting g up a ring and pinion into a new case, this is what you do.. The factory method uses a special mandrel, and another fixture to measure the differential.

Which is a lot of tools that I don't have, but them there's a procedure "emergency method of adjusting ring gear" which was written for the plebeians.

So I got my measurements written down and started on reassembling the shift rails and forks.
There are a bunch of check balls and pill shaped bits, that click the forks into position, and prevent you from selecting more than one gear at a time. Then the rails and forks go in. I laid out my collection of 1/2 shift forks, and measured them to find the least worn.
The most worn (3.73mm) was the one that is original to this car, I had another that was a full .11mm thicker so I used it

Then the 3/4 shift fork. The one I'm holding is the original, you can see the groove where it's worn thin. In the back are the two NOS forks I sourced from Nico (Thank you!!)

Then picked out the nicest reverse gear, which isn't really nice, but much better than the others I had to choose from. Here it is installed, and locked in place with the pin. This is the pin that locates the input shaft bearing, the same pin that the last person missed getting aligned and cracked the case.

Getting this far let me get a bunch of parts off the bench, next I will r&r the input shaft, and then move on to the pinion shaft.
SD
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modok wrote:
Bent cranks are silent but gather no moss. I mean, ah, something like that.

[markendee]

Great work Seth.

Really enjoying your work.

Those damaged dowels have all the hallmarks of someone not calming down and doing it right.

The longest way is often the quickest.

Regards,

Mark.
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Member # 145244

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MOAR:
If you take the case measuring instructions you will end up with a sheet like this:

And, if you can measure accurately, you come up with the dimensions for S1 and S2 which are the differential shims. These are smaller than tunnel style shims, and hard to find. The tunnel style shims all have a 9 digit part number, these only have a 6 digit number.

I called around and couldn't find any, so I started emptying my stash and found a half dozen, and actually had the two that I needed.
Then onto more luck, while emptying boxes and bins, I found a NOS FAG pinion bearing, which is great as my others have been delayed in the mail.

And I started on the pinion stack, as it takes more time, and it is a rainy Saturday..
this is the pinion with the cleaned and reinstalled 1-2 hub and slider installed. No pics of the installation, as it is spring loaded and I only have two hands.

2nd gear synchronizer stop ring, the 3 recesses fit the slider spring keys

Second gear and hub installed, with the brass bushing that 2nd and 3rd spin on. There is an oil hole in this bushing that I line up with an oil hole in the pinion. The manual doesn't say anything about that but it feels right

3rd gear/ hub and it's synchronizer stop ring. The 3/4 synchronizer ring is NLA, and I was lucky enough to buy a few NOS last year

3-4 hub and slider assembly

When it's installed it needs to sit flush or just above the splines. The shim to adjust this is where I started under the 1-2 slider and hub

4th gear bushing, this is badly galled on almost every transmission I've disassembled

4th sychronizer stop ring

4th gear and hub installed, topped with the fat washer (oil grooves towards the gear). These other shims adjust the final size. I did wash them before installing

Pressing on that sweet nos bearing

And then checking the fit into the case

Yes!!
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modok wrote:
Bent cranks are silent but gather no moss. I mean, ah, something like that.

[tcoop1100]

Great stuff, Seth. Thanks for posting for us.
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Aloha,
Tim
January '57 Sedan, April '64 40hp big bore

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