Flanged crank thrust bearings

[danny714]

Need some dimensions for the thrust bearings used on the rear main when using the BMW style main bearing setup . It's the bronze semi circle thrust washers I'm looking at using .

[Mike Lawless]

It depends on how you want to do it. The thickness is going to be .090 to .094" thick for an uncut case. The case has an existing counterbore and it is different on each side on every case I've looked at. I am reluctant to send anything down to Southern California for machine work, for fear  it will remain in "Machine Shop Prison" while So Cal locals work gets priority. The "Orange Curtain" thing. So, I simply make thrust inserts to fit. So far the thickness has been fairly consistent.

Get your parts together, and start measuring. Essentially it's about making a part that allows you to make the other parts work together.

That just seems to be the way for VW stuff anymore. It's rare that bolt in parts are available once a certain performance threshold has been passed. Buying a lathe, mill, and a tig welder has been among the best investments I have made for tooling. I just can't imagine having to rely on someone else for a lot of this stuff. I'm just not that patient.

[modnrod]

Your "Orange Curtain" thing extends a lot further than Cali Mike! I swear it also runs across the northern suburbs of my nearest city.
Over here the import guys just grab a new short for their T66/GT35-on-2JZ/RB25/EJ25 stuff then run again, the V8 guys have some good machinists, but of them one is too busy, one just laughed outright, and the other had to be shown what a VW crank looked like! I'd send it to one of the best VW guru's in the world (gday Dave!  ) but he's 4500km away.

Could you please hunt for a photo or two of your fabricated thrust pieces Mike? I can't remember seeing an exact shot or them installed on a T1 case.

[danny714]

That's where I'm aiming towards Mike . Can kill lots of time in machine shops so looking at ways to do this myself . Crank is on order so can't do any real measurements just trying to be one step ahead . What width are you making the thrust washers ?

[Mike Lawless]

Here ya go. As you can see, I didn't even use screws. I used spring pins to locate them. Once the crank is laid into the case and the case halves are bolted together, it has no where to go. It's been working well for a few years now

[modnrod]

Thank you Mike.