The rods from Van Cafe's supplier look good, clean, rebushed, nicely
finished, and well packaged. It is
a little disconcerting to get a bit of a mixed bag though. I'll check with
them tomorrow and see what they say.

Thanks, Tom

On Mon, Aug 22, 2011 at 9:42 PM, Scott Daniel - Turbovans <
scottdaniel@turbovans.com> wrote:

> hi..
> that does not make a lot of sense to me about different rod nuts having
> anything to do with balance.
>
> I like Van Cafe . They've never done me wrong in any way.
> and..
> no reflection on them ..but evidently some people do not realize that a
> matched set of four rods should be treated like gold...
> like delicate gold.
> A customer of mine had a set of AAZ rods sent from a seller in NY.
> I could not believe it when I saw them..
> just tossed willy nilly in a box..caps not on their repsective rods .
> old bearing shells there too.
> and ...the threads for the cap bolt in one of the rods was damaged..
> and way too much force on that part to try anyting like chasing the
> threads. Probably more stress on the rod cap bolts than any other part of an
> engine. Those things go from being under tension to being under compression
> hundreds of times a second.
> they change direction hundreds of times a second. The tensile strenth of
> rod bolts is in the many 10's of thousands of lbs.   A highly critical
> connection.
>
> This is how a matched set of four good used  rods should
> be.....................
> clean, nicely packed to prevent dings and damge.
> the caps should each be installed in the correct orientation on their
> repsective rods.
> and all fasteners should be the same type.
> and ...treat them like they are deleicate.
>
> heck ..if you drop a rod from say 4 feet to a concrete floor ..
> it might not hurt it ..but it could too.
> a set of rods belongs either ..
> assembled in an engine,
> or carefully packed as a matching set.  And treated like they are gold and
> delicate.
>
> I had some balanced recently btw..
> rods are not just balanced to have matching total wieght ..
> they are balanced per end too.
> And handle , as I said..............a matching set of good used rods to
> like they are gold.
>
> I have btw...a good set of matching used AAZ rods.
> and ....since there are many 1Y 1.9 NA engines around, and worn out, and
> pistons for them are nigh impossible fo find ( parts place
> claimed......don't know if they have fixed this yet ...but 5 months ago they
> were claiming their aaz pistons fit 1Y's too ........that is not true. )
>
> a 1Y NA 1.9 uses a long rod and a short piston, compared to an AAZ 1.9 TD
> engine.
> The AAZ uses a shorter rod and a taller piston.
>
> the 1Y NA I am building ( balanced too ) will have TD rods and pistons in
> it, but run naturally asperated.
> that's a stronger piston ..
> though with shorter rod the angularity is less optimal.
> should come out very nicely though.
> and I have a set of AAZ rods ..a nice good set, for sale.
> and if anyone needs a single AAZ rod, we have 3 of those in stock now.
>
> last detail..there are two kinds of AAZ rod ..
> those with a locating pin ( have only seen one set like that  ever ) in the
> rod cap..
> and 'normal' ones without that locating pin. The 3 singles I have are the
> with-locating pin style I think.,
> And there are two different lengths of rod bolt used. And they are stretch
> type always-replace of course.
>
> what fun !
> scott
> www.turbovans.com
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tom Lambas" <twlambas@GMAIL.COM>
>
> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
> Sent: Monday, August 22, 2011 3:16 PM
> Subject: Re: Thread locker on rod bolts?
>
>
>
>  Thanks Dennis,
>>
>> I decided not to use threadlocker. Removeable stuff was on advice of FLAPS
>> guy.
>>
>> As an aside, one of the rods I got from Van Cafe has the divot for peening
>> the shoulder of the rod nut into
>> it, and the rest don't. Also one set of nuts (for one cap) has no
>> shoulder.
>> Maybe this helps them "balance" the set.
>> Thoughts anyone?
>>
>> Tom L.
>>
>> On Mon, Aug 22, 2011 at 4:45 PM, Dennis Haynes <d23haynes57@hotmail.com>*
>> *wrote:
>>
>>  If you're going to use a thread locker you want the strong stuff there.
>>> Why
>>> even consider removable? Call Loctite and get the new torque specs for
>>> that
>>> application. If the Loctite should do anything at all the connection has
>>> already failed.
>>>
>>> Dennis
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.**com<vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>]
>>> On Behalf Of
>>> Tom Lambas
>>> Sent: Monday, August 22, 2011 1:27 PM
>>> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>>> Subject: Thread locker on rod bolts?
>>>
>>> We'll, I'm back from summer travel and getting back to my 2.1 WBX
>>> rebuild.
>>>
>>> I'm installing Rods from Van Cafe. Should I use some removable thread
>>> locker
>>> on the rod bolt/nut?
>>>
>>> Thanks, Tom
>>>
>>>
>>>
>