Tbob
Samba Member
Joined: May 26, 2007
Posts: 417
Location: Pensacola, Fl.
|
 Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2018 5:13 am Post subject: connecting rod question |
 |
|
I recently took apart 3 1.9L engines, the former runner in my 85 and two parts engines. The reason I subjected myself to this much abuse probably boils down to some sort of mental defect, but I digress. Anyway, all 3 sets of rods exhibited a detail that I wonder is normal. When you unbolt the cap from the rod, it takes very little force to separate the rod from the cap. On every engine that I have rebuilt( most recently my Type 4 engined 1973 camper, the rods employ some precision splining that needs quite an amount of force to separate the rod from the cap. When I say quite an amount of force, it's not like you have to wail on it with a 24 oz hammer, but on my type 4, I had to use a brass drift and tap back and forth on the ends of the rod bolts to get the rod and the cap to separate. This would make sense to me, as you do want the rods to stay in alignment and stay together while the engine is humming along at 3500-4000 rpm, or more. Of course, you are also depending on the correct torque of the rod nuts.
However, in all 3 sets of 1.9 rods, the amount of force needed to remove the caps from the rods was very little. A tap from the wooden handle end of a small ball peen hammer was all it took. 2 of the engines had been apart before, and one of the engines had the sides of the caps and rod ground off for whatever resaon (oooh, could i have a set of hand planked rods?) It was only when I took apart the final engine, which showed no signs of ever being apart before, did I start wondering if this was normal. All rods appeared to have been tightened adequately, as it took quite a bit of force to break the rod nuts loose. I am going to order rebuilt rods, so hopefully whatever force is needed to help hold the rods together will be evaluated in the rebuild procedure, but I did find this odd. Thoughts?
_________________
1969 Deluxe, owned since 1973
1973 Westfalia, owned since 1983
1980 Westfalia, watercooled conversion
1985 Westfalia, stock!
1986 Westfakia, Audi I-4 conversion
A couple of trucks and a couple of Jeeps |
|
