At long last I’m starting to work on my ‘57 beetle with plans to have it on the road by late spring, early summer of next year. The engine has been in my basement for close to a year and each time I go down and lift the cover, it’s in the same state of disassembly as last time I looked. I’ll probably go at that when the real cold weather hits us. I think I have most of the bits needed to get the motor put back together. The chassis is a different story. It has remained untouched for over 20 years in my garage.
I rearranged the garage a few weeks ago and put my Supra sideways at the rear of the garage. I brought the beetle forward to give me more space to work on it. Turned it 90 degrees too. Added the diesel heater and now there aren’t many excuses for not working on it.
I jacked it up at the back and decided to tackle the rear brakes. The rear drums are held on with a 36mm nut. Legend has it they are torqued upwards of 300 ft lbs and the only way to get them off is a 3/4” breaker bar and a 6 ft pipe. I didn’t want to mess with all that and put my cordless impact on it and it came off pretty easily. The brake drum is splined to mate with the axle shaft. I’m guessing the last time is was off was probably 30+ years ago. I beat it into submission with a 3 lb maul and it came loose - it was a tough battle. I thought I was going to have to make a special puller.
With the drum off I found everything under it was frozen solid. Lots of penetrating oil and a big screwdriver and hammer got most bits apart. Not so for the brake shoe adjusters though. They were stuck really good. Lucky for me I didn’t ham fist them too much because, as I found out later they are made of bronze or brass and something tells me replacements are unobtainium. Good news is the backing plate is in good shape. That’s important because replacements aren’t to be found. Other good news is the parking brake cable is free and the brake lines appear to be in usable shape, other than the rubber flex line. That’s all for today. I may try to remove the flex line tomorrow. I need to start a shopping list for parts. I think it’s gonna be a long one.
I rearranged the garage a few weeks ago and put my Supra sideways at the rear of the garage. I brought the beetle forward to give me more space to work on it. Turned it 90 degrees too. Added the diesel heater and now there aren’t many excuses for not working on it.
I jacked it up at the back and decided to tackle the rear brakes. The rear drums are held on with a 36mm nut. Legend has it they are torqued upwards of 300 ft lbs and the only way to get them off is a 3/4” breaker bar and a 6 ft pipe. I didn’t want to mess with all that and put my cordless impact on it and it came off pretty easily. The brake drum is splined to mate with the axle shaft. I’m guessing the last time is was off was probably 30+ years ago. I beat it into submission with a 3 lb maul and it came loose - it was a tough battle. I thought I was going to have to make a special puller.
With the drum off I found everything under it was frozen solid. Lots of penetrating oil and a big screwdriver and hammer got most bits apart. Not so for the brake shoe adjusters though. They were stuck really good. Lucky for me I didn’t ham fist them too much because, as I found out later they are made of bronze or brass and something tells me replacements are unobtainium. Good news is the backing plate is in good shape. That’s important because replacements aren’t to be found. Other good news is the parking brake cable is free and the brake lines appear to be in usable shape, other than the rubber flex line. That’s all for today. I may try to remove the flex line tomorrow. I need to start a shopping list for parts. I think it’s gonna be a long one.
Looked at the brake lines an' gave 'em my ol' okie dokie. About a month after I got it back on the road, the brakes failed on me.... in traffic... a story for another day.
