ROD TO CRANKSHAFT ASSEMBLY

While there are many aftermarket cranks and rods available, they may not have the same look, dimensions, or marking as the genuine VW ones. In this article, we’ll concentrate on stock, or slightly modified VW items that most builders use.

Specifically, we’ll use a genuine VW crank that has been “counterweighted” for reliability, but still has the stock VW 69mm stroke. A machine shop has welded on counterweights to keep crank flex at high RPMs to a minimum, ground the journals, and balanced the unit for us.

The rods we will use are stock VW B-style, which means that they have a bolt-on style cap. The bolts that hold the lower cap to the top side are pressed into the cap. They were used on all 1600cc engines. This differentiates them for the “A” style, which had a loose bolt that went top to bottom, with the cap having threads inside. The “B” style are the most heavy-duty, and the alignment of the cap to rod are