Club 80-90 Forums

Would a genuine vw factory recon engine have new heads fitted as standard ? I have a 2 ltr CU air cooled engine with the recon mark stamped in front of the number.

if it's the late Polish built engines with the week and year and VW recycle symbol on them you should find the initials of the person who built it , or built up the heads, and the date punch marked on the heads (certainly the 5 wbx that came through my hands from were marked like that) and you can work out from the casting date marks on the heads when they were cast

Depends on whether it was a base engine or complete. Base used more remanufactured parts, complete used more new parts.

There is just the recon symbol then the engine number on the crankcase, and I couldn't see a date stamp on the air cooled heads like a WBX would have, maybe the cast date stamps were a later thing. The crank measured as new which was a surprise but then this recon engine was supposed to be fitted in about 1985 due to a garage doing a service and forgetting to refill the engine oil ! I went to Germany in 88 and bought the van.