1963 VW Beetle:Ragtop Resto.

[63Ragtop]

Found this rear sway bar on trade me.

Vw never had a sway bar on the early cars. By 63 mine at least came with a front bar, but with little weight on the front, and all the weight in the ass, I always felt the car cornered better without it, sure it rolled more, in any case I still don't have one. This is a K-Mak vintage thing.

It clamps onto the rear chassis frame horns and the ends mount to the lower shock bolts.

All the fiddly bits went for a swim in the viniger.

 

[63Ragtop]

In a effort to reduce future oil leaks, I wanted to improve the crankcase ventilation. There are a million opinions on this, so I've pretty much gone with the old school factory baffled oil filler and vented valve covers, which will be plumbed up to a catch can.

Found some old air connecters, cut them up and welded them in.

Had been wanting to do this forever.

Unsure of the grey.

Had to make this to screw in the big interior nut that holds the filler on.

gunna kill me the first time I slide the bale's up and scratch that paint!

[63Ragtop]

Turns out I've been driving around for over a year(when it runs) with a ugly mdf parcel shelf.

Fixed that a couple weeks back.

This was a second from work, it's just black vinyl from para rubber.

Very happy as now the whole interior is black.

Maybe one day it will get a headliner.

[63Ragtop]

So I didn't really said why I've pulled the motor again, but as I'm sure you've assumed from the tow truck photo, it wasn't good.

When I last had it out to replace the clutch and oil cooler, I noticed that no1 spark plug was lose, it tightened back up fine so thought nothing of it. Then down the bottom of town, after we got off the motorway, bang! Bang bang bang like the whole exhaust system had fallen off. But it was just old number 1 spark plug going number 2s.

So one of two things happened. Either thread stripped out of the head or the head is cracked between the valves and the plug hole.

[63Ragtop]

So as well as the fucked spark plugs threads and cracks between valves and the obvious oil leaks, the heads had been leaking compression from the joint between the heads and cylinders. Vws don't have head gaskets, the top of the cylinder sit inside the head. If you look at the above photos you can see the exhaust carbon blasting out some areas of the head. Also, interesting to see how well the pushrod tubes are sealed and clean, which was the head end. And dirty and leaking at block end.

I decided to dig a little deeper.

So much oil on the outside of the engine.

Doing my research I measured the end float of the crank assembly.

Converting .006inches to microns revealed shits fucked.

So there goes my idea of a top end rebuild.

[63Ragtop]

Having never done this before, I took it easy and did my best not to damage any mating surfaces.

My vintage schadek oil pump cover.

And 26mm heavy duty pump, which needs to be pulled out as it bolts to both half's of the case.

All the bolts, nuts, seals removed.

Amazing there isn't a rubber seal of anything between the half's or even any sealant I could see.

The middle bearing has seen better days.

Crank it.

[63Ragtop]

So I took the case and crank over to Qualitat for their air-cooled guy to check if the it was viable to rebuild. Wasn't holding out much hope as this is 40-50 year old chunk of alloy that I abused on a daily basis.

Took the opportunity to clean up the rear wheel well.

Made these from some scrap alloy I had.

Marked up a that's about right spot.

And cut some massive triangles out of my nicely painted engine bay. Drilled hole and popped rivnuts in.

Left the edge rough to hammer over the frame to strengthen the panel up.

Both bent to shape and countersunk for mounting, the plan was to drill and tap the frame for the covers to attach with but was thinking about using VHB tape. All this work is to make installing the carbs and manifolds easier, it to about 10 minutes to put the engine in last time, and two hours to tighten the four nuts that hold the manifolds on.

[63Ragtop]

Two weeks I waited to hear the verdict on the case. Before I took the car off the road for the rust and paint mission, the oil leaks had pissed me off enough to pull the engine out and take it to a local mechanic for new pushrod tubes and any other seal he could bung up. I remember him telling me the case was cracked behind number 3, the thinnest part and hottest running cylinder, and the heads were toast.

We he was fuckin wrong about the case! Unbelievably it's only on its second over size now, so happy as finding a good base to build is getting hard these days.

Even more amazingly, the crank is still within standard spec and even the center journal with the munted bearing only needed a light polish. The dude even said " he can't remember the last time a crank came in,that didn't need machining" guessing lucky! But I do always change my oil regularly, every 3000miles or six months as you should on these old clankers.

I set about cleaning up the case.

Using a small brass wire brush and turps. Will need to make sure all the galleries and shit are clean before it goes back together.

Also go as well as the crank bearings, which are machined to fit, new big end bearing in the rods, new cam bearings and a full engine seal kit.

These however, have been quietly waiting their turn under the bench for a long time. Soon my pretty, soon.

[63Ragtop]

But first.

This fucking primer has gots to go! Everytime I go to a show or whatever someone will be like, cool car! What happened to the fender? 

At least it comes apart easy.

Gave everything a good clean whilst easy access.

Had one crack to weld up.

And slapped on the mud, after some hammer work.

Sanding sucks!

Rubbed the whole thing down and high build primer 

Rubbed down with 400

And sprayed with the finest tractor paint on the last warm day at the end summer, which also happened to be mother's day.

[63Ragtop]

While I had the paint out I gave the windows in the engine bay a lick of paint, I thought about polishing the alloy up nah.

Just need some M5s to bolt the covers on.

The rivnuts are all painted and it should all blend into the background.

Been wanting to sort this out for years!

Makes the rest look shit now.

Ah yeah.

 

[63Ragtop]

Found a crc product, exoff. It's a pretty good degreaser and with a couple small wire brushes I got the gold stuff off.

Took the rings off and cleaned all the nasty black carbon shit off.

Some new rings and this stuff should be good to go.

Done some research about the step around the edge of the combustion chamber. The new heads will have a tighter squish, hopefully not to much!

Gave the inside of the casehalfs a good scrub, will need another before assembly.

1 2 3 4.

[63Ragtop]

More dissembly and cleaning.

On one side, 3 of the 4 adjusters didn't want to come out, didn't want to damage anything, so left them in. Will see how they go.

Might be a good excuse for ratio rockers.

Had to mock it up.

And try the carbs on.

Always good to see a cardboard box.

The right tool for the job.

So it's now all completely apart.

On the shopping list is, new rings, exhaust valves, lifters and I think that's everything.

[63Ragtop]

Shopping complete, I layed everything out in an effort to not screw anything up.

If I ever have to wash any engine parts again, it will be to soon!

Here is the case drying out one evening on top of the stove after dinner, obviously lighter than a SBC.

Mounted on my handy dandy engine stand.

This made assembly much easier.

Many bullets where sweated this evening, making sure the bearings stayed put, matching timing marks, not really a lot inside these things eh?

Top half ready to be dropped on, forgot to take a pic of the 3D printed lifter clips I printed at work, you can get metal spring clips but why not I thought!? These keep the lifter in place as you lower the top half over the crank and cam side.

Just as l was getting to this point, my neighbor turned up with a beer having just returned from a party and keen to continue, took every piece of control I had to concentrate on the torque pattern!

[63Ragtop]

Before the case half's are completely tightened, the oil pump is installed.

This requires the back of the cover to be flat so no oil sneaks past the pump.

Like so. Also gave the pump face a wee shine up, being careful not to mess with the small channel.

Sump cover and oil "filter" installed with a set of nice new acorn nut which help hold all the oil in.

Cleaned and wire brushed the head rods, use a little medium threadlock.

Both sides obviously.

After their one millionth wash, the heads are looking good.

Lapped the new valves into their new homes.

Noice.

Darrell gave me a hand with the fiddly retainers, much easier with two sets of hands.

Test fitting as there are three different lengths of head rods. See

 

[63Ragtop]

So with the short block done and the heads prepped, it was time to close it all up together. 

Also a good time to attach the oil cooler.

Sparkplugs will never be this easy to install.

Inside will never be this clean!

Borrowed Darrell's hone and refreshed the cylinders.

The trick is to use the ring compressor to install the pistons inside the jugs, then slide them onto the head rods, install the pins through the conrods and then seal the cylinders to the case and bolt on the heads.

Quite the fuck around.

All the while holding the pushrod tubes in place. Not forgetting to install the lower air deflectors like me!

180 degrees and repeat.

Nearly a complete vw engine!

 

[63Ragtop]

I've been looking for some steel rims for ages, the empi 5s could do with a repaint and I think they might polish up nice.

Found these on TM and snapped them up for 20bucks!

So these will need striping and painting then swapped out and then the alloys can have a birthday.

Would completely change the look.

[63Ragtop]

Have been slowly working towards reinstalling the engine into the actual car. Mocked up all the tinwear and even test fitted it in the engine bay to check all my mods and changes have improved anything and to also fit and design the oil breather can.

Spent a lot of time getting the fan shroud looking nice, only to have the primer fry up on the old primer the was now under the bog, fuck me.

What a mess. So...

Stripped it all back and started again.

My workmate volunteered to TIG up this thing I dreamed up. Looked for a off the shelf item but none were right.

Made a mount from a old stainless vat handle I had laying about, the bottom pipe runs back into the rocker cover.

The other cover and the crankcase breather go up top, air goes out the little air filters, hopefully.

It has two studs welded on the bottom and I've got a big hose clamp to help secure it.

After all the bog and paint and polishing, it does look pretty awesome.

[63Ragtop]

And in it went, like butter. Funny story, the family was around one weekend, so I asked my brother in-law to help pull the engine out when I was test fitting it, he has two old Holdens and a zephyr, how longs that gunna take!? He says, not long, I can do it myself but just need help lifting it onto the bench, what!

Can looks perfect. I was hoping I could have it all installed on the bench so the engine would be one unit and just slot in like a stock motor, most people attach these catch cans to the firewall, anyway...

These windows I made sure down make things easier, usually takes 10 minutes to install the engine and 2 hours to install the carbs.

Want I didn't think about is the VW engine isn't symmetrical, so this side is further back...

And this side further forward. Still, much better access to everything. 

I've always hated the connection point on the alternator, just a big ugly screw thing, I think some late model cars had a cover. I pulled this small sparkplug end of the minibikes old motor, I had to butcher the back to make it fit and cable tie it on, it's the details.

With everything ready, connected and plugged in ready to go, the moment of truth had arrived!

It turned over okay, got oil pressure, made some very small chuffing sounds, but wouldn't start. So the gas is a year old, pulled the line, pumped as much out as I could, fulled up with 10 ltrs of fresh 98, still no good, battery got slower, tried charging it, no change, well it's been sitting for a year as well, new battery no change, it actually seemed slower! Double checked everything. Tired turning it over by hand, it should not be that hard! Took the sparkplugs out, still hard to turn, so it's not just compression. Squirted a bit old oil down the plug holes, it did loosen it up a wee bit but still tight.

So I'm thinking a bearing has moved or something doesn't have enough clearance. When I built the bottom end, it moved smoothly with no tight spots, but maybe it needs to spin more?

So here we are, back on the bench. Hopefully I haven't damaged anything major. Only one way to see!

 

[63Ragtop]

Several months later...

 

 

Took it all apart, cleaner all the parts, took it back to the vw guy to check all the clearances etc, everything checked out, I think I may have lost track of the timing whist assembling my first engine.

 

[63Ragtop]

Prepping the final few bits and pieces tonight, getting pretty good at this part now, spun the engine around on the bench and heard something small fall on the ground.

What the fuck are you doing there dowel pin? You're supposed to be inside the case, stopping one of the bearings from spinning you little cunt!