Aaron Sedgmen writes:

 Upon dismantling the case I discovered writing <VW logo and
 some numbers> on one of the main bearing journals <no. 2> which
 suggests to me that the case has not previously been align bored.
 Does this logic hold true for those in the know?
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 According to "How to Rebuild your Air-Cooled VW Engine" the writing you are
 seeing on the case will correspond exactly to what is written on the back of
 the bearing - It has been "printed" into the case by the pounding of the
 crankshaft. It is an indicator of the need to do a line bore, not whether
 one has been done already. The book also says to check for fretted material
 on the case at the center journal parting lines as an indicator that a line
 bore is required. When I took apart my 1800 it also showed the bearing 
 markings in the case but I saw no evidence of fretting. What I did find
 disturbing was that I could rotate the #1 bearing slightly in the case 
 when it was still bolted together. This says to me that the case was
 distorted enough that it wasn't "clamping" that bearing tightly.  BTW,
 it was a rebuilt from VWoA and hadn't been line bored.

 Good Luck,

 Dave