shaggyeg6si

Hey you guys! Long time lurker of this forum and I'm stumped with a problem and looking for some help or ideas to get me in the right direction. Okay, so little backstory on the project... 87 GTI with a 2.0 16V motor. Fun car but I'm tired of the stupid mechanical fuel injection, and the finicky 020 transmission and stupid shifting system. I found a k24a4 in the junkyard, and have recently paired it with a k20z1 6 speed. So i know the k-swap has been done a couple times and I'm definitely not the first to do it, but everywhere I look, I can never seem to find good information on axles. Some say that the honda wheel bearing will fit the vw carrier, and allow you to use a honda hub and axle. From my information that I've looked up, the bearings are of a different width, so the honda bearing wont be locked in the vw carrier. I contacted DSS about the issue, and $1k in axles isn't going to happen. Do you guys have any suggestions for maybe getting a mid-shaft made, one with honda splines on one end and vw splines on the other? Or how about the bearing actually fitting inside the carrier? You guys care to help me out and brainstorm or find a solution?

smilindave

First determine the outside diameter needed, then determine the inside diameter needed (you can get the information needed from the old bearings, you can build spacers from old bearings cut down to the proper width). then call your local bearing supply house, give them the bearing numbers from the old bearings explaining what is desired and get them, install them, problem solved.
Regards
Dave

shaggyeg6si

I don't even know where I'd begin looking for a bearing supply house. I did happen to find a website with a bearing size location, but nothing came up with the honda inner/outer diameters while staying with the same width. I see you're just down in Richmond, smilindave. I'm just north of you up in NoVa. Got any local resources you can suggest?

smilindave

Try applied industrial technologies or kaman industrial technologies. You will need the numbers on the bearings to determine the inside and outside diameters of the application. So, you need the inside diameter of the honda hub and then the outside diameter of the VW upright, thus making the axle issue a non issue.
Regards
Dave

55superbeetle

I have done a b series swap in a mk2 chassis. As stated the bearing in too wide, I tigged a bead in the inner ID of the knuckle and machined it to create a step for the bearing to press in against, and used the factory snap ring to retain the other side. I also had to use mk3 lower control arms to get the track with wider to accept the stock honda axles. You will need to oval out the holes in the flag of the strut to get the camber back to acceptable. Hope that helps. Even if you have to get a machine shop to do the work on the knuckles, it will still be cheaper and easier than custom axles, and it will use off the shelf parts.