Fitting Out the Crank Case

After the rotating assembly was fully weighed and balanced, we can now assemble it and trial fit it into the crankcase.

Here the rotating crank shaft assembly is fitted into the case

Next the cam-shaft is fitted into place

Here you can see the timing marks on the cam wheel lining up with the mark on the cam drive gear:

Here you should be able to see the difference between the con-rods showing just how much work has gone into taking material off each one so they balance perfectly:

Rocker Assemblies

We've re-built the complete rocker-assemblies using a combination of NOS rocker shafts and the original parts. Everything now moves freely and is ready for assembly in the engine.

The NOS rocker shafts before assembly:

We can supply NOS rocker shafts suitable for 25hp and 30hp engines - click here to buy yours

Engine Assembly

Now we get to the exciting point of assembling the engine. But before we did, we thought it would be fun to lay out all the parts in a kind of exploded view:

So there are all the bits of the engine. All we need to do now is bolt it altogether!!!!

Engine Balancing

Whilst the engine is stripped down to the very last nut and bolt, we took the opportunity to have the whole rotating assembly balanced

Basically each single part is weighed and then is ground down to remove material so it is perfectly balanced in the rotating plane.

Whilst we accept this is not something VW did, it certainly will improve the life of the engine, its longevity and is smoother running:


You can see on the NOS crank shaft below where some material has been taken out of the crank. This is to ensure its perfectly balanced and rotates evenly too:

Here you can see the amount of material removed from the top of one of the con-rods. These were NOS con-rods but the weight difference between the 4 rods was staggering. 

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You can see here that some material as also been removed from the bottom of the con-rod

On the pistons, material is removed from the inside edge of the piston itself. Again, these were NOS pistons, but they are now all exactly the same weight. Down to the nearest micron.

When it comes to balancing the flywheel and clutch, they are put together so they rotate equally together. You can see in the bottom left corner of the flywheel a small amount has been removed to perfectly balance it. There's also small paint dab just to the left of the top dowel mount in the middle - this lines up with a dab on the clutch disc - this is how they must be fitted so they rotate perfectly together.

Some material has also been removed from the clutch disc again so its perfectly balanced.

Gearbox Re-Build

The Gearbox has been something of a trial in itself! The gearbox that came in the van looked to be the correct one, until we started investigating....... Yes, it was a split-case box, but not a full "crash" box, therefore it had a synchromesh. We assumed this was correct because the Split Beetle (when it became the Zwitter) went to a synchromesh gearbox at the same time (roughly sept / oct 1952). However, the Barndoor kept the full 'crash' gearbox till later on than the Beetle. So, bye-bye gearbox out of van!

Firstly finding a correct barndoor gearbox (yes they are different than a Split Beetle) was the biggest headache. Yes they look physically the same, but obviously by running reduction boxes, the differentials are in the opposite way around (otherwise it goes rapidly in reverse). The only visibly way to tell is that the gearbox code will start 2A-******

The first one we found was visibly perfect, until it was cracked open to reveal totally mashed-up innards.

The 2nd one was a Beetle box that visibly was a mess, but inside was like new.

So, Carl set about making one good Barndoor gearbox out of the various ones we had! Here's how we ended up:

Once the case was split, we had it chemically cleaned and then the case halves were blasted using aluminium-oxide blasting grit, then given a light dusting with glass beads. This takes it back to a factory looking fresh finish.

The very early gearboxes have the oil filler nut located to one side - its the bit with the red blob on it in the photo below:

The two red bolts are the drain bolts.

Sold axle boots complete the correct early gearbox. If you're wondering what the red 'blobs' are, its a paint finish that was added to every part that is opened / undone / drained during a service. Therefore the oil drain plugs and oil fill plugs would have left the factory with a blob of red paint of them to help the service mechanic at the dealership with its routine servicing

All we need now is the van back from the paint shop so we can fit it!!!

Work Starts on the Roof Prep

Straight away the boys at Cotswold Body Shop have made a start already on the roof of the van

They even found some of the original Dove Blue paint under the horrible green!

Arrived at Paint Shop

After leaving our premises yesterday, Bam-Bam has a new home for the next few months whilst the body get its final prep and then painted.

Here's the van in its new home: