Vehicle Parts / Vanagon / Mechanical / Engine / Mechanical

Connecting Rod Set - Rebuilt

Part #: 025-198-401AX

VW Part #: 025198401A

Works With: 1986-1991

Weight: 7.00 lbs

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Rebuilt connecting rod set. Sold outright. No core charge.

Rod set includes:
• Matched lengths and weights
• Resized and clearanced
• New non-stretch rod bolts

Not all rebuilt connecting rods are created equal! If you find some online that seem too cheap, that is because they are cheap, and not in a good way. And, of all the places in your Vanagon to cut corners, connecting rod quality is not one!

Additional details in the the 'More Info' tab.

Everybody knows that the rod bolts used on 1986-91 2.1 liter engines were a one-time-use, stretch bolt. Lots of people, including us, learned that the hard way a long time ago—by building an engine with re-used stretch bolts and having it come right back apart-on its own—in short order. So, yes: All of our rods come with brand new, non-stretch rod bolts, every time, guaranteed.

And what about balance? You hear a lot of hoopla about that. Well, VW did an excellent job at making sure their rod sets were well balanced both to each other, and end-to-end. We make sure to use only rod sets that came out of the same engine, balance by VW, and then make sure all the rod bolts used are all the same (another reason rod bolts are important)—so the balance ends up as good as OEM VW. But, there is a whole lot more to rebuilding a rod than selecting the right rod bolt.

The most critical clearance in an piston engine is at the top (“small end”) of the connecting rod, between the wrist pin bushing and the wrist pin on the piston. We are talking 10ths of an inch one way or the other that can make the difference between a rod that will last and be quiet, and one that will clack, clack, clack until the cows come home (if you are lucky) or one that will just simply fall apart. Getting this dimension spot-on is not trivial, or cheap.

The second most critical clearance in a piston engine is at the other (“large”) end of the rod where it connects to the crankshaft rod journal which can vary slightly from one crankshaft to the next. The best way to get this dimension right is to have the crankshaft on hand that the rod is to be installed on, and size the rod for a perfect fit. That is the way we do it on all the engines we build. When you buy a set of rods from GoWesty, the large end will be sized exactly at the mid-specification. So, assuming your crank journal is within specification, the rod to journal clearance will be within specification. We highly recommend using Plastigage to double check, and this is actually just normal engine building procedure.

And, what, no core charge? While we use rebuilt OEM rods, just like these, in all of our 2200cc and 2300cc engines, all of our 2450cc, and 2700cc engines get brand new rods because of the need for a smaller wrist pin on the longer-stroke engines. So, we end up with LOTS of good, used rods—that is where the cores come from. So, no core charge!

Do it once, and do it right!

Engine - Crankshaft, Flexplate, & Flywheel

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Connecting Rod Set - Rebuilt

Part #: 025-198-401AX

VW Part #: 025198401A

Works With: 1986-1991

Weight: 7.00 lbs

Price: $399.95

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