so i'm officially half way through restoring my '56 bug (being that everything is pulled apart, now it just has to be fixed and put together), and I'm planning on beginning getting the engine back together on the weekend.

while the crank case has come up nice and clean, several of the studs have quite a bit of corrossion on them, and i was thinking i should replace them all.
is this a good idea? should i just try and clean up the current ones?

also does anyone have any tips on what to use for cleaning the myriad of parts i now have piled up in the shed? kero? diesel? is there some new wonder product i should be aware of?

thanks in advance.

[Edited on 21/4/2005 by nic]

whe i pulled my engine down, most of those studs where missing!.. so i just threw some more in, i think you can just pull them out clean up, if they are not that pitted just clean them up and put back in, but thats just me... as for cleaning, i just used a petrol bath...

do you mean the head studs or the 6 big ass main bearing studs that holds the case halves together?

If it's the head studs, just pull them out and wirebrush them and clearcoat them or paint them. The big main bearing studs however aren't supposed to be removed.

I was thinking those tiny things that stop the bearings around the crank from moving..

yeah i mean the 6 big ass ones. one of them is actually already out, as the nut on it was corroded to it, and when i went to take it off, the thread at the other end screwed out of the crank case. so if they're not meant to come out, that could be a problem.
i was of the view they can be replaced, but it's not recomended, so i suppose i'm just wondering how bad there condition needs to be to justify replacing them.

thanks,
nic.

Good old Elbow grease is the only way to clean the stuff..... takes heaps of time.

Did any magnesium shavings come out with the stud when it came out? Is this a 36hp engine? What are the bore's like?

it's a 36hp, no magnesium came out with it, basically i think it was a matter of the nut on the outside being corroded to the stud stronger than the stud was screwed into the crankcase.

they could be cleaned up, but i'd definately feel better putting new ones in. but i'm getting the feeling from the replies that perhaps that's not the best idea?

bores and pretty much everything else in the engine is in really good shape. the car hasn't been driven since '76 so while there's a bit of crud built up on the outside, inside it's still in very good shape. (to the point i'm thinking about not dismantling and rebuilding the crankshaft as it doesn't seem to be worth the trouble).

I haven't really seen new replacement studs before. Shouldnt need to replace them anyway unless the threads on them are farked.

If the case is split, you might as well disassemble the crank completely and check the journals to see if they are ok. Easier to do it now.