my63vw

Like i said in the past post, when i finished the car, i made some changes to the engine, i did it cause i really liked the car’s apearance, but not the engine. I had some pieces that didn’t belong to it, like the pulley, had some problems with the dinamo, etc, and looking at internet i decided to get a dual carb setup. One think i really like about my car is that it looks old, thats why i wanted a pre 67 car, and i tried to restore it originally, at least so much as i can, so i wanted an old school look engine. I found info about the Okrasa 36Hp engines and decided to do something like that, asking about carbs on the samba, some people told me “get some 34s” and some other “get some kadrons”, and i found a really nice set of used Kadrons, they have the old air filter model, they came with a nice set of dual port aluminium manifolds, but my engine is a single port, i looked for a pair of sp manifolds and found a set, the two were right side, so i made some litle modifications to one of them. Cause i wanted the look of an okrasa engine, i started looking for a FRAM Oil Filter, and finally got a NOS unit, for less money than a FLAT4 replica, for me it really looks nice, and it works too!. Finally i was having big troubles with my original distributor, problems geting parts for it, and problems with the advance, it was making my engine to run really hot, and has less power at high rpms, so cause i was going to put a dual car setup, i started asking about the 009, some people told me, “for the old speed look, get a 010 or a 019″, then i learned that this old distributors are far better than a 009, i found a really good guy who restore them, so i contacted him, and buy a good one at a really nice price, if interested, look here!. Well what can i say, the diference is amazing, the engine is the same, but it has a lot more power, it doesnt get hotter than it should, and with my new transmission i can go with the trafic really well.

At the same time, i painted all the engine tin again, this time the right way, i finally discovered the problems with the dinamo, i had to change the parts that hold it to the fan shroud, and the part that holds it in the case, i have a 12v dinamo, and its bigger than the 6v, so the guy who made the swap, didn’t changed the pieces and made some modifications to the originall ones, thats why it wasn’t straight, i ended recostructing the dinamo cause that, and it had only a year of use, now everything works fine.

In this post, i’ll show you some pictures of my engine’s assembliy, some months after i finished the car, i made some improvements, at the same time i changed the trans, now im saving money to buy parts, im planing a 2110 if it’s possible.

The car didn’t came with the original 40Hp engine, it had instead a 1500, this engine was refurbished by volkswagen in Germany, i know that cause in the serial number it has a “X” at the end, it means is a reconstructed engine, looking at the serials i found that the case was originally for a type2. Cause we broke the engine in the way home the day we buyed it, i just pulled it of the car, and leave it that way for two or three months, then was disassembled and reconstructed one more time. Here is almost impossible to find parts for 1500, so we changed the pistons and cilinders to 1600. We didnt have to much money and cause it wasnt that bad, a lot of parts were reaconditioned and reused, we wanted to finish the engine, we did it right, and some time later i fixed some details we missed, or incorrect parts, but nothing really important. Here are the pictures, the first group during the disassemble, the rest are the assembling.

The original post in spanish is here.

First i have to say that im not an expert, this is what i learned looking for a better trans in my 63, and here in Venezuela the cars are not exactly the same as USA or Europe.

I’ll be talking about trans from 61-62 ahead, the older ones are so diferent, they aren’t synchronized in the first change, and the oldest aren’t at all, so this is for the “modern” ones.

The 63 volkswagen type 1 is one of the fisrt years with the new transmission, it doesn’t split in two anymore, now it is just one piece and the gears are put inside by the front part, but they still swin axle(1). My car came originally with what is caled a 4:37 trans (2), it has 8 teeth in the pinion and 35 in the ring, that’s a good transmission for a 1200 but in my 1600 i was feeling the car too revolutioned and i was going at 80-90Km/h, for some people it doesn’t matter. Some years later, they changed the relation and make what is known as a 4:12 trans, is larger than the 4:37, you can get more speed or the same but at less RPM. At the beginning of 70s volkswagen introduced what is called the IRS (3) transmission system, it is a good improvement in the car, is more secure taking curves, etc. This new system came with 4:12 at the begining but in the 72 or 73 not sure, they changed the relation one more time, now it has 8 teeth in the pinion and 31 in the ring, which make it a 3:88 transmission, the lagest of the original type1. Here in Venezuela when they started to assemble Brazilian cars, they went back to the 4:37 and some 4:12 depending on the 1300 or 1600 engine, and all the brazillian trans are swin axle, no more IRS here.

Well the easyest way to make my car a litle bit faster was change the tire size in the rear for a bigger one, i didn’t like that idea cause i wanted it to look standard, the other option was change the trans, and here is where i started looking for the easyest and simple way to do it.

I had three options, find a 4:12 trans, change the ring and pinion on my 4:37 or another one, or make a 3:88 swing axle, this last option is really nice, but i think is too much trans for a 1600sp.

I went to the first option, and i found one, but it wasn’t 4:12 it was 4:37 but with a larger 3rd and 4th, so we decided to change the ring and pinion on it to make a good one, i decided this not only cause the larger 3rd and 4th, the clutch relese bearing (4) is diferent , and the presure plate and some other things are too, and i was having trouble with the parts i got for the older system.

I can’t explain all the process to make the change, cause i didn’t it myself, i was with the guy while he was doing it, you need to really know what are you doing, so is better leave that to someone who knows what is he doing. One important detail is, if you want to keep the original apearance of your car, at least in the 63 and 64 is that way, im not sure about the 65 and newer, and have the weel at the same place, you need to change the axles, cause in a 67 and 68 trans (4:12) they are larger by 1″ on each side, so use your original ones.

The option to make a 3:88 swin axle is the largest, but it needs kwnoleage and some special considerations, you need an IRS trans that have the 3:88 ring and pinion, and one with a special case, im not sure, but it need to has removable cover on both sides not in just one. You will need a swin axle trasn to use the axles, brake system, etc. I had never see the process of making one like this, but i know people how make them and have cars with one, the diference is like you go from 4:37 to 4:12, and if you have a big engine is a really nice combo for use in the highway, in the other hand a friend of mine has a relly nice 2200 he use for drag racing, and it has a 4:37 cause is shorter, of cuorse is not stock, is reinforced cause the torque and rpms that engine can do.

In my opinion if you want a nice trans, go with a 4:12, that’s what i have now, and is really nice drive the car in the city and even at the highway, if you have a big engine, and want a car that can keep going with modern ones, make a 3:88 swin axle. Another thing if your car is prior to 62, and you want to change the trans, you will need to take extra considerations, the transmission mount in the car is diferent, so you have two options to solve this issue, the first one is change the mount for a modern one, you will need to make some soldering and you can’t go back to original easily, the sencond is to use a nose cone(5) from a old type2 trans, this way you can use the new trans on your old mount, for this you will need some other parts(6), but you can go back if you want.

This is what i have learned until now, if i made some mistake let me know to fix it, and if you want to complement this, leave a coment to add it to the post!.

Some Important info:

(1) Swin Axle, here and here some info.

(2) The relation is calculed dividing the number of teeths in the ring with the number in the pinion:

35/8= 4,375
33/8= 4,125

31/8 = 3,875

(3) IRS some info here.

(4) Clutch relese bearing, first one is the one my original 63 trans has, the second is the newer system. (113141165A and 113141165B)

(5) Nose cone:

(6) Fit a modern trans on a pre 1961 car, in wolfburgwest.com sell all the parts you will need, write a mail to them and ask for info and help, some parts you will need are: 211301205H, 113311541.

I’ll try to explain how i did to disassemble and assemble again the mirror in my 63, cause i dont have pictures of that, and it was one year ago, it might be not acurate as it whould.

First of all, my mirror was really ugly, rusty, and the glass wasnt good, it has a lot of scratches and was moldy, with that in mind i finally broke the glass to see how the mirror was assembled.

I found that it has something like a rivet to hold the part with the glass to the base, and i nedeed to separate it to crome, cause the first is aluminium and it is not cromed, so i tried to put the rivet’s sides apart, when i did it, removed a washer and that was all. (im not sure if it has a spring beween the washer and the bottom, it could be).
Then, i sended the base to crome and the rest was polished, the overall is good, but cause the base was rusted, the suface is not soft, it has some small holes on it.

Assembling was a diferent story, cause the rivet’s sides were so delicate they broke and was imposible to use the same method again, so we make a hole in the base, right in the midle were the rivet was, the hole is a litle bit less that 3/16, then we make a thread (3/16) on it, after that was done, we used a bolt to put togheder the two parts, the bolt is really tight, but you have to be carefull and not tight it to much cause you can damage the thread and lost all the work, dont forget to put a washer between.

I went to a shop where they sell glasess and mirrors and the guy there cut it to exactly the size and shape i needed, he give some silicone or something like that to put the glass in the holder, it was easy and worked nice.

Here is a litle draw i made to show you how it is, is not hard at all, just be carefull and spend the time it needs.

This post is mostly pictures, cause they talk by itself.

Fixing the bolts i broke during the disassemble

Trans installed, months later i changed it for a better one, ill talk about it later.

We recromed the bumpers, and assembled them again, that was really hard, but my dad has the patience to did it.

Gas tank, cleaned and painted.

Steering whel, i feel really proud of it, i did it all by myself, clean, fix and paint.

Wiring harness, is the original one, fixed and marked by me, now it all works.

Some parts i got, a nice bosh headlight lense, to mach my original one, ruber for the engine comparmet, switches, etc.

Recromed mirror

Looking for volkswagen pictures, specifically engine, i found that in a lot of them they had an oil filter, almost the same the military jeep i own has, so i started to look info about and discover that i was right.

The filter is what is called a bypass oil filter, it does not filter all of the oil all of the time, but does work to a degree, and of cuorse is better than nothing. They used to came in the old performance kits like the okrasa or the judson supercharger, with specific braket, hoses and conections for the aplication. Reading a litle bit more, i learned that the old porshes has something similar, and that the FRAM filter in Europe was blue and in the USA orange. Some people says that most of them are not correct, cause are a lot newer than the car, (the ones you can find are very often that way) a lot of times is like they say, but in my case, the one i buyed was a NOS (New Old Stock), and was manufactured on july 1964, my car is a 63, so i guess is good. (you can also buy a new repro from flat4, but i found mine less expensive and is NOS)

In my experience, i think is a good filter, with it you have 1/2 liter more oil, and it filter something, cause the engine originally doesnt came with one, the mesh it has at the botom is not enought to keep the tiny paticules that eventualy can damage your engine.

Two Original OLD Fram filters, blue (European) and Orange (USA)

And this one is my NOS filter.

The first thing we did, was clean the pan, it was really ugly, but not bad, only the part where the batery goes was rusted and neded a replacement, so i went to look for a floor replacement, but how i was talking in the past post, the parts you find here are for brazilian cars, cause it wasnt the same, we cut only where the batery goes and replaced that, the welding was really dificult, at least for us, but it finally ended the way it should, after that, i found a nice 3M product called “sellador de juntas”, (something like a silicon but when is aplied it gets really hard) to fill the holes between the two parts. After all this was done, we cleaned the rust really well, then aplied a really nice anti-rust primer, and painted it black, the same work was done to the front beam later, and started the assembling.

When i first started looking info for my VW restoration, i searched all over the internet, and foud a lot of info, most of it from the USA, so at the begining i thougth that the cars here were the same than there, but thats not correct, let me explain why, and how it afects the restoration.

Here in Venezuela i cant say for sure when the first VW came, i think it was in the mid 50s, but in the 66 or so, they started assembling german cars here, the car was almost complete when it arrives, so they used to finish the assembly and put a litle informative data plate at the left door, thats the way to know if the car was assembled here - mine doesnt have one, cause it was buyed in Germany - they did it that way until 73, making the super beatle with round front window a one year only car, in the 74 they started to assembly here brazilian cars, if you pay atention to the details on them, you can easily diference one german car and another from brazil, cause the windows are diferent, the brazialian ones have the same size that the german cars until 64 had, some of they came with a 6 volts electric system, and a 1300 engine, this one was less expensive version. The cars were assembled here until 1982 when problems with the company ended the production, 15 or so years laters, volkswagen imported some cars from Mexico to be sold here, but they were expensive comparing to a chevrolet corsa, ford fiesta, fiat uno, etc, so only a few were sold.

When i started to look for parts here, i discovered that most of them are for brazilian cars, making a lot of them really diferent from the ones that i needed, the transmition and engine parts were the same, but here you can only found parts to assemble a 1600, my car came with a 1500, so i had to convert it, the brazilian’s cars front beam is what in the USA call a ball joint front end, mine is link pin, wasnt that hard to find parts, but they are a lot less common. Talking about electrical parts, interior and related is the same, you cant find switches, fuse boxes, etc for a pre 66 car.

Well thats a litle explanation of the diferences here, im sure there is a lot more to say, but by now this is what i learned talking to people who used to work seling parts, or in the assembling factory.

This car is a late 79 or 80, brazilian, look at the diferences, it has the same windows than my 63 (below), but late fenders, bumpers, etc.

First, forgive my english, i really need to practice a lot more.

In this post ill talk about the disassemble, i started it the same day the car got home, i was really exited, this was our second restoration - the first one was a m38a1, military jeep - but they are really diferent. First of all i started removig all the lights, cause they didt work, the electric system was complete but only a 20% was in working condition. After that the fenders went out, all the interior, and everything that needed to, cause the next step was remove the body from the pan, it was not that hard, really, you need to remove the bolts all around the car, then 4 in the front, 2 more below the gas tank - it was removed first - and 4 in the rear behind the wheels, then we and 4 friends lift it up, and puted in the ground next to the pan, dont do what i did, forgot to remove the acelerator cable, and with the car in the air i had to remove it. After all that i couldnt belive how easy it was, and how good the chasis and the body were, in that moment my love for german cars started to grow really fast : D. Of cuorse you cant forget to clean, i think that maybe a 50% of the final results in a restorations depends on it, so clean, clean, clean and clean, sure it is really boring and discosting sometimes, but you will see the diference.

With the fenders out, we found something we didnt realized before, the car was crashed hard in the front, but at least it was complete, so the disassemble contiued, we removed the engine, trans, front beam - not sure if it is the name in english - and then finally all the windows, doors, cables, everything. For now thats all!.

I think that the better way to start this, is presenting you my 63 vw, the original owner buyed the car in Germany, where she lived for 20 years or so, - i didnt meet her -, and in the mid 80’s she moved back to here, Venezuela, where i live, in 2000 her family sold the car to a good guy who wanted it to restore, indeed he buyed some missing parts and all that, but never started to really work in the car, so his wife wanted the car out of her’s house, and then is when i came in and buyed the car, with my dad, well really he buyed it for me, im 23 and didnt have the money at the moment, but thats not the important here, so we triyed to bring the car home - 220Km - by itself, but in the highway my dad broke the engine, so i didnt drive the car, i had to wait until it was restored.

Too much words, lets see some pictures.