I'm comparing two blocks that I have, one being the one I mentioned last
week that had the screwed-up repair job done to it previosly that ended up
breaking the block casting web around the oversized stud they attempted to
put in (I had it filled with aluminum weld and am waiting like a spider in a
web to snare the first person who comes along who can help me lift the
engine onto the stand of my drill press this afternoon).
I notice on the (obviously) newer block, which I know for a fact to be the
original to the car because I have been the only owner, that there is a
diagonal cast web that runs through the hollow cast area beneath the
alternator bracket that is not there on the earlier block.

Apparently VW knew this was a problem and changed the casting. It would
probably behoove rebuilders to seek out these blocks with the extra rib.

Jim