Pile of Pre-A Parts what's trash and what's not?

[Dan Epperly]

A guy called me about some old Porsche parts which turned out to be the usual collection of VW and yes, some old Porsche parts. In the pile was a two piece case which contained a roller crank. The case was unmarked, but from inspecting it I could tell it was a late VW 36hp case, probably '58-'60 vintage. The case had been cut to accept the crank and a set of biral 79mm jugs and pistons which also came with the pile. Looks like all used parts and that the PO had started to assemble it (the case, crank and cam) and then stopped. When I pulled the crank it had unused VW mains, but here is where it gets odd, the thrust bearing was cut dowls inserted on both sides and then welded up leaving a sizable crack down the middle of the bearing. The other mains had a thin piece of brass inserted between them and the case
The cam was a standard VW unit, but it came with a mishmash of 36hp pushrods and the swivel Porsche sort. It has Porsche heads that fit the jugs, the crazy early pre-54 fuel pump and a later 56 or so VW one, a mishmash of Pre-A tins and shroud, and apparently there is more to come
Not sure what to do with this stuff, meaning the crank, case and jugs. Is there anyway to check the crank to see if it is any good on my own or are special tools and knowledge needed? The jugs still have the little holes or whatever you call them on the inside, but wore down, is there any use for such early used jugs? I have so much crap in my garage I don't want to hang onto scrap metal if you know what I mean.
Thanks for any advice and I will try to post some pictures later.

[Steve Harrison]

Post some pix for sure Dan, but from what I read there's not much to work with there. The VW case is most likely shot, the roller cranks are door stops/boat anchors, and the jugs/pistons are not much use either. Believe it or not, the gem here might be the tinwork if it is pre A tinwork. The rear engine surround without carb heat cutouts is rare, and I can't tell you how rare the "split seam" fan shrouds are,...I've never seen one for sale, ha ha. Is that what yours has? : Side tin is also unique with the M shaped cut outs for the early manifolds. There's a one piece "clamshell" type cylinder tin that's super early rare also,... Pix please?