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According to Tom Wilsons book on VW engines he says to torque the gland nut to 300 foot lbs. The Aerovee manual says 227 foot lbs. What have you guys done. I think I would go with the 300 foot lbs. Thoughts?

John

I didn't build an Aerovee, but why would you deviate from the factory recommended settings?

I followed the Aerovee manual.

I followed the plans and set it at 227 ft# . You can borrow a torque wrench For O' Reilly auto parts that goes up to 250#.

Even if you have a 250' torque wrench, you still have to exert 250 lbs pressure on the end of it. Even with my heft, that would be lifting myself off the ground to apply the full value to the wrench.

What we did with our AeroVee was to obtain a 3' length of pipe from the aviation dept of Lowes, slide it over a breaker bar (doesn't matter what length as long as the 3' STARTS at the point of rotation - the nut), then suspend 75 lbs of weights (lifting weights) from the other end. 3 x 75 lbs = 225 lbs applied. Gave it a nudge just to bump it up a bit.

I was quite surprised at the results. With me cranking on a breaker bar by myself, I thought it was snug. We then applied the above method to the nut, and we actually had to remove the socket and reposition because the weights pulled the bar down so low.

Remember that the Aerovee uses a custom crankshaft. So you have two reasons to use the torque value specified in the Aerovee manual:

1) It’s the manual, and has been specifically developed and tested by people who operate the engine as well as selling the kit.
2) The higher torque spec you quoted is for a different part. It’s not what you’re assembling when you put together an Aerovee.

Remember that the Aerovee is *based* on the VW, but it’s not actually a VW - so although many VW methods and standards apply, the Aerovee Manual should always take precedence.

—Noel

Also remember that, in its original application, when the driver dumps the clutch it is those 8 dowels and the gland nut that transmits all that torque. In our application, the only torque on the flywheel is the starter, and the engine never changes rpm rapidly like a car engine does. I'd be surprised if our flywheel needed a fraction of the torque the car ones do.