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BFB Samba Member

Joined: November 03, 2014 Posts: 3203
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Posted: Mon Dec 15, 2025 6:24 pm Post subject: just how offset are OE rods? |
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anyone ever measure or read about how much factory connecting rods are offset? _________________ "how am i supposed to torque the rear wheel nut to 250 ft lbs??? " - clonebug
An interesting thing happens in forums where everyone starts parroting the same thing and "common knowledge" takes over.
Most experts aren't. |
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BFB Samba Member

Joined: November 03, 2014 Posts: 3203
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Posted: Thu Jan 01, 2026 10:15 am Post subject: Re: just how offset are OE rods? |
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I guess its one of those things that Berg didn't notate so none of the experts know... _________________ "how am i supposed to torque the rear wheel nut to 250 ft lbs??? " - clonebug
An interesting thing happens in forums where everyone starts parroting the same thing and "common knowledge" takes over.
Most experts aren't. |
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Dougy Dee Samba Member
Joined: August 21, 2004 Posts: 1789 Location: Niagara Region, CANADA
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Posted: Thu Jan 01, 2026 1:33 pm Post subject: Re: just how offset are OE rods? |
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You, too, could measure a stock rod...
I get 1mm... |
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redhot Samba Member
Joined: February 05, 2005 Posts: 660
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Posted: Thu Jan 01, 2026 1:54 pm Post subject: Re: just how offset are OE rods? |
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According to a 1968 print.
Since February 1963.
34hp engines 1.0mm
Other engines 1.5mm
The print refers to rods otherwise of the types 25/30hp, 34hp, 1300ccm up to Jan.1966 and 1500cc up to Aug.1965 plus 1300, 1500 and 1600 otherwise.
So would assume all those are included in the statement (34hp and up).
If they later changed also the 34hp...? |
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BFB Samba Member

Joined: November 03, 2014 Posts: 3203
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Posted: Thu Jan 01, 2026 3:05 pm Post subject: Re: just how offset are OE rods? |
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| Dougy Dee wrote: |
You, too, could measure a stock rod...
I get 1mm... |
I'd be happy to, but I'll admit that I just cant picture how to do it.
wanna tell me how you did it? _________________ "how am i supposed to torque the rear wheel nut to 250 ft lbs??? " - clonebug
An interesting thing happens in forums where everyone starts parroting the same thing and "common knowledge" takes over.
Most experts aren't. |
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raygreenwood Samba Member
Joined: November 24, 2008 Posts: 23553 Location: Oklahoma City
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Posted: Thu Jan 01, 2026 3:45 pm Post subject: Re: just how offset are OE rods? |
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| BFB wrote: |
| Dougy Dee wrote: |
You, too, could measure a stock rod...
I get 1mm... |
I'd be happy to, but I'll admit that I just cant picture how to do it.
wanna tell me how you did it? |
A little while back I had to think about how to measure the same thing on the little end of type 4 rods. You can look at it and see that one side sticks out more from an imaginary centerline.
Going off memory here wo it may not be 100% the eight sequence but you get the gist. What I did was take a small granite plate that I have and lay the rod on there with the shorter side of the rod down....hold it down tight so its flat and used a caliper to measure how far the granite plate the cheeks of the rod were. Call that 0 or normal. Then flip the rod over and hold the wider side of the little end tight and flat against the plate and measure between the cheek of the big end and the plate. By subtracting the two measurements you get an idea of the offset.
And.....for type 4 its not really offset like type 1. It just has one side wider on the little end. But you can use the same technique to measure with. Ray |
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Dougy Dee Samba Member
Joined: August 21, 2004 Posts: 1789 Location: Niagara Region, CANADA
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Posted: Thu Jan 01, 2026 4:24 pm Post subject: Re: just how offset are OE rods? |
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| BFB wrote: |
| Dougy Dee wrote: |
You, too, could measure a stock rod...
I get 1mm... |
I'd be happy to, but I'll admit that I just cant picture how to do it.
wanna tell me how you did it? |
I held a rod up to my straight edge and used my eyecrometer...
For more accuracy I would have used a flat plate and dial indicator but that would have taken more time. |
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BFB Samba Member

Joined: November 03, 2014 Posts: 3203
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Posted: Thu Jan 01, 2026 10:24 pm Post subject: Re: just how offset are OE rods? |
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Im getting the feeling ya’ll are talking about the small end being offset side to side , not offset parallel to the big end’s center line ?
Im wondering if , say the stock wrist pin is off centered, is it just in the piston or the piston & rod both?
IE if you flip the stock rod so tang is down with using non-offset pistons, would it change the geometry of the crank & wristpin ? Or is the rod’s big & small ends parallel?
Theres always been talk of the rods needing to go tang up because their offset, but i got a feeling their not. And even if they were i dont see how itd matter aside from making a goofy off centered rod. Thats why im asking if anyone actually knows. _________________ "how am i supposed to torque the rear wheel nut to 250 ft lbs??? " - clonebug
An interesting thing happens in forums where everyone starts parroting the same thing and "common knowledge" takes over.
Most experts aren't. |
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redhot Samba Member
Joined: February 05, 2005 Posts: 660
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Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2026 9:51 am Post subject: Re: just how offset are OE rods? |
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My understanding is that there are two offsets with two differing objectives;
- connecting rod offset (in connecting rod itself): center the pistion in the bore engine lengthwise front to back. This I assume stem from how the engine block, crankshaft and piston bores all stack up packing wise including re-use existing forming tools, parts, optimizing tolerancese etc.. So one can move them over btw. sides without flipping them.
According to a search here, but not available on website anymore?
| Quote: |
On the Gene Berg website he refers to:
Quote:
Bug-pack Rods…Further, they did not have the proper 2mm offset the stock VW rods all have that is required to position the rod on the crank so it properly lines up to case and cylinder bore. "O" offset causes unwanted side loading on the rod bearing and piston, which make wrist pin keepers burr up or come out as well as blow-by.
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- piston pin offset (in piston itself): offsetting the piston pin in the bore vertically so to optimize side force on work strok vs. compression stroke. Hence to move them over one needs to flip them to maintain this relationship on the flat-4.
Great article: https://www.engineprofessional.com/articles/EPQ416_50-54.pdf |
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modok Samba Member

Joined: October 30, 2009 Posts: 27757 Location: Colorado Springs
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Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2026 9:30 pm Post subject: Re: just how offset are OE rods? |
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How offset are the rods?
One would hope the right amount for the crank
So how offset is the crank?
The CASE did not change from 40 horse to 1300/1600
it was the crank and rods that changed offset, to have a thicker cheek between rod throws.
It just takes some time with dial calipers and a flat surface to figure it out with what parts actually exist. Aftermarket stroker cranks sometimes have LESS.
I figured out half of it before but I don't recall what that number was exactly for all brands of this or that.
GOood question. Good luck |
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BFB Samba Member

Joined: November 03, 2014 Posts: 3203
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Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2026 10:44 am Post subject: Re: just how offset are OE rods? |
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wristpin offset in the piston should be easy enough to measure. but rod offset ( not side to side ) seems a different story to me, unless im overthinking it. the only way I could see to measure if theres any rod offset would be to mock a rod up on a crank with a piston that is known to not have any offset then see if when these parts are lined up 180 if the piston is at true TDC. or set the piston to TDC and see if the crank is off by any number of degrees.
I bet theres a tool for this somewhere.... _________________ "how am i supposed to torque the rear wheel nut to 250 ft lbs??? " - clonebug
An interesting thing happens in forums where everyone starts parroting the same thing and "common knowledge" takes over.
Most experts aren't. |
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redhot Samba Member
Joined: February 05, 2005 Posts: 660
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Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2026 12:15 pm Post subject: Re: just how offset are OE rods? |
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| Exactly what offset are you chasing? |
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redhot Samba Member
Joined: February 05, 2005 Posts: 660
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Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2026 11:02 am Post subject: Re: just how offset are OE rods? |
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Would be interesting to see a follow up.
My uinderstanding is that rod is offset I guess what you call "side to side" (engine lenght axis) while pistion boss is offset "top vs. bottom" (engine vertical axis).
What would be interesting - but have been discussed before - is what the use of non offset rods then has towards either/both performance or service life. While worthwile back in major serial production, maybe not for most of recreational use. But maybe important for high performance.
Or said differently - when should one maybe use original rods for "normal use" due to a tolerance stack up in the case, crankshaft and piston bores? |
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BFB Samba Member

Joined: November 03, 2014 Posts: 3203
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Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2026 8:27 pm Post subject: Re: just how offset are OE rods? |
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I dont think the rods are offset at all , i think it’s just in the wristpin. If you think about it, offsetting the small end to the big end would only make a weaker rod.
The small end does seem to have a little more meat on one side ( fore & aft ) but i dont see that making any difference and dont see why itd be done other than maybe production process. Theres so much room for the rod inside the piston that it’s not like a little more / less meat on one side or the other provides some clearance or something. _________________ "how am i supposed to torque the rear wheel nut to 250 ft lbs??? " - clonebug
An interesting thing happens in forums where everyone starts parroting the same thing and "common knowledge" takes over.
Most experts aren't. |
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RWK Samba Member
Joined: June 24, 2009 Posts: 1678 Location: S.W. MI
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Posted: Yesterday 7:45 am Post subject: Re: just how offset are OE rods? |
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Ther is a pic of the offset in the 61-65 Bently workshop manual. _________________ 73 Type 181
63 Type 113
63 Type 261- 428 071
62 Type 241-378 025 178 530 |
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Dusty1 Samba Member
Joined: April 16, 2004 Posts: 2256
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Posted: Yesterday 8:00 am Post subject: Re: just how offset are OE rods? |
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| BFB wrote: |
I dont think the rods are offset at all , i think it’s just in the wristpin. If you think about it, offsetting the small end to the big end would only make a weaker rod.
The small end does seem to have a little more meat on one side ( fore & aft ) but i dont see that making any difference and dont see why itd be done other than maybe production process. Theres so much room for the rod inside the piston that it’s not like a little more / less meat on one side or the other provides some clearance or something. |
Rod offset prevents piston slap. Seems to me my beloved EJ22s have less or no offset. An aged Subi slaps like hand jive.
Doesn't matter if the stock rods are a tiny bit weaker than they could be. They're designed for a 50hp engine. They will handle about 200hp.
Many if not most "connecting rod problems" aren't due to design flaw or weakness. They're due to oiling problems, assembly clearance problems and you bet if you drop a valve and mushroom a piston you'll end up with a matched set of three rods.
.
. _________________ "May you live an interesting life." |
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BFB Samba Member

Joined: November 03, 2014 Posts: 3203
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Posted: Yesterday 11:28 am Post subject: Re: just how offset are OE rods? |
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I think yall are making the assumption that because a wristpin is offset that the rod is too. the term rod offset is just used synonymous with wrist pin offset and again, ppl assume that the rods are offset because of a tab. and somewhere along the line its become common knowledge that they are offset but not a single person so far actually knows for sure.
all ppl know it that the casting tab goes up on OE rods which means bearing tangs go down, so then by that, all other rods missing casting tabs still need bearing tangs to face down as well too. why? apparently just because thats how its been done so we do it that way and were gunna keep on doing it that way because its been done that way, and if we do it that way there must be a reason and that reason must be because the rod is offset otherwise it wouldn't matter, but it does matter because thats the way we do it. so therefore thats why OE rods are offset. maybe not aftermarket rods but they still need to go the same direction as OE regardless... _________________ "how am i supposed to torque the rear wheel nut to 250 ft lbs??? " - clonebug
An interesting thing happens in forums where everyone starts parroting the same thing and "common knowledge" takes over.
Most experts aren't. |
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redhot Samba Member
Joined: February 05, 2005 Posts: 660
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Posted: Today 11:30 am Post subject: Re: just how offset are OE rods? |
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| It is in a VW publication, that the rod itself has a side-to-side offsett... With a drawing - of the rod. |
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