Engine Balancing

Whilst the engine is stripped down to the very last nut and bolt, we took the opportunity to have the whole rotating assembly balanced

Basically each single part is weighed and then is ground down to remove material so it is perfectly balanced in the rotating plane.

Whilst we accept this is not something VW did, it certainly will improve the life of the engine, its longevity and is smoother running:


You can see on the NOS crank shaft below where some material has been taken out of the crank. This is to ensure its perfectly balanced and rotates evenly too:

Here you can see the amount of material removed from the top of one of the con-rods. These were NOS con-rods but the weight difference between the 4 rods was staggering. 

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You can see here that some material as also been removed from the bottom of the con-rod

On the pistons, material is removed from the inside edge of the piston itself. Again, these were NOS pistons, but they are now all exactly the same weight. Down to the nearest micron.

When it comes to balancing the flywheel and clutch, they are put together so they rotate equally together. You can see in the bottom left corner of the flywheel a small amount has been removed to perfectly balance it. There's also small paint dab just to the left of the top dowel mount in the middle - this lines up with a dab on the clutch disc - this is how they must be fitted so they rotate perfectly together.

Some material has also been removed from the clutch disc again so its perfectly balanced.