My brother gave me a 36hp engine that has been in dry storage (a barn) for years. Way back... it was pulled from a dune buggy to be replaced with a more powerful unit; but we believe it ran decently at that time. The serial number indicates that it's a 1959 vintage. It still turns smoothly with seemingly good compression. The plugs were easily removed and look pretty clean. The tin and heat risers seem to be solid with surface rust. I'm still studying the whole mess; thinking about rebuilding and restoring it to it's original state. It would be a spare for my '56 oval bug. When it's complete and beautiful, I would like to put it on display in a glass case in my garage with a simple system to suck exhaust to the outside -- It would be set-up to run!! Every once in a while, like in the dead of winter, I'd start her up and let her fweem... just for entertainment kicks :-) Sort of a working VW museum piece; a 36hp flat four sculpture on display. Whaddaya think? Crazy?
Here's what it looks like now:
Rich