40hp main bearing studs

[tom84ford]

This will sound dumb but I just have to know. I am building a 40hp SN 7264526. The books that I have are not 40 hp specific and all call for "o" rings on the main bearing studs. My case appears to not be cut to receive "o" rings and will not go all the way together with them in there. I just don’t want to crank the hell out of it and not get proper bearing crush just to get the rings in there. I am absolutely positive that the crank is set on the dowels properly and that the "o" rings are the hold up. Do I have the wrong gasket kit? HELP

[glutamodo]

Yeah, if you had the 1961-1965 Bentley you would find it does address this. 1200, and also 1300 and 1500 cases made before Sept 1966 came without a groove for the O-ring, and thus, do not use O-rings. Instead, for sealing the case at the studs, they had tried using a "sealing nut" without a washer, for the center two studs, and you can use them for all 6 if you'd like. They are a larger socket size than the stock nuts were and the book calls for them to be torqued only to 18 instead of 25. Those are the type that is pictured here

http://www.jbugs.com/store/merchant.mvc?Screen=PRO..._Code=9853

While it does say "a reworking of of the previous type crankcases is not being contemplated" it then goes on to mention that factory-overhauled engines from the earlier period come with the case reworked with a deep countersink cut into just the right case half, but it does not give a picture or description of what VW tool is used to cut this. (I tried this myself once though, and it worked. The hardest part for me was finding a tool that would cut into the right case half at a good angle, but still leaving a decent contact surface for the case halves to I think I used a step-drill/uni-bit to deepen the right side case half holes inside the case enough so that an O-ring would fit there)

[tom84ford]

Thank you! I didnt think that I was crazy. I have been flippin' wrenches for most of my life so I was confident that there was no space for the O rings but this being my first VW engine I thought I would ask.

Its interesting, you talk to some people about VW stuff and you hear "oh yeah they are all the same" The more I dig the more that I find. They all look the same from 30ft but up close they are all different in some little way from one year to the next.