Torqueing engine case

[videoguy009]

I recently seized my 1776 motor in my Thing. I did damage to the middle split bearing area. I had the case aligned bored by an experienced VW mechanic to the first cut. He told me when putting the case together to torque the middle studs to 20 ft./lbs. and the other ones to 25.His reasoning behind this was even though it was a good bore,the case was initially damaged in this area and by torqueing to 20 would extend the life of the center bearing and the motor overall without hurting anything. He said I could go 25 probably without hurting anything.He said I will still get the proper oil pressure.I guess he his being cautious. What do you engine builders or mechanics think? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[Jim Ed]

Is it a Type I engine?

[videoguy009]

Yes it is.10 months old

[Jim Ed]

This link might help:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewto ... 3bf8f58225

[trapnm]

[Marc]

The advice you got at theSamba was sound. However, I'm concerned that they may not have torqued the center case nuts beyond 20lb-ft when doing the linebore. It should be machined at the same torque as it'll be built at - if it is chattered/warped and linebored at 20, it may close up slightly when torqued to 25 and that will cause trouble. The question to ask is, what torque specs were used when doing the linebore?
Have a pulley on the crank as you torque the case nuts and slowly turn it by hand as you go. If you notice it tightening up as the final torque is approached do not proceed. Try loosening/retorquing, sometimes a slight tightness goes away if you use a different sequence, but if it remains stiff the machinework is suspect.
I suspect that the real problem he's trying to sidestep with this unusual advice is a tight center camshaft bearing. High-mileage cases or those made of inferior alloy (H5, B5 and their ilk) tend to deform at the center cam web. There's a special cutter made expressly for the purpose of opening the center bore of the cam tunnel back out to normal, and if he lacks that capability this might be his workaround. Extremely bad idea IMO, it's better to handshave the cam bearing inserts to restore clearance. That can take 3 or more trial case-matings to accomplish but it's really the only answer if you don't have the cam-tunnel tool.
Or, maybe I'm being overly paranoid. I haven't seen the damage to the case we're speaking of, and it's possible the advice you got from the shop wasn't that far out of line. Although I don't build a Type I motor with less than 25lb-ft on the 12mm case nuts, the factory spec (using seal nuts) is only 18lb-ft, so if building it his way doesn't show any problems like I discussed above it'll probably be OK...just weird. You can get away with a lot more when it comes to cam bearings compared to mains (VWs didn't even have cam bearings until the mid`60s).

[Piledriver]

I only have a tiny question:

Did the machinist provide or ask for the new align bore bearings before doing the job?

If they don't insist on having the bearings in hand to measure and set the cutters by, run away.

Still no guarantee of a good job or in-spec bearing ID, but something to look out for.