>  First, the manual says "make sure the forge mark of the rod faces up
>  as shown in FIGURE 96."  FIGURE 96 is a small photo of a crank with
>  the 4 rods attached, and there's an arrow to a small white mark on
>  the center of each rod.  This seems to be refering to some marking I
>  should be able to distinguish on the rods but, frankly, both sides of
>  all the rods look more or less the same.  That is, there's (I guess)
>  a forge mark about 1/4" wide down the center of both sides of the
>  rod.

They're referring to type I aircooled rods, which do indeed have such marks.

>
>  I made notes to myself so I know the orientation of the old rods (I
>  used the numbers stamped on the caps) but I'm forced to assume the
>  old rods were installed correctly.  Can anybody clear up this matter
>  of rod orientation?  Does it make any difference?

I just checked my Bently manual and the rods are symmetrical (the
type I rods are not, which is why one side must be up). The halves of
the rod must match, and the number stamps must be on the same side.

>
>  Secondly, the manual says "peen each rod nut into the slot on the rod
>  to lock it in place (FIGURE 97)."  Figure 97 is a line drawing
>  showing a close up of an assembled rod; it looks like each rod is
>  supposed to have a small "slot" right where it interfaces with the
>  nut, and this slot receives the peened material from the nut.  But,
>  I'm sure not seeing any "slot" on any of the rods I'm holding in my
>  hand.  Can anybody help out with this?
>
>  Thanks.

Once again the Clymer is wrong. Old (1972 and older?) type IV engines
use this type of nut. A 2.0 liter vanagon does not. You should use
red loctite on these threads, and on the case through bolts. When
rebuilding an engine that uses peened nuts, you are supposed to
replace them with the newer, non-peened nuts.

I strongly suggest you invest in the vanagon Bently manual. It is
worth the price. Certainly, it costs much less than the cost of one
mistake made because of inaccurate information.

Joshua Van Tol -- jjvantol@uswest.net