92 7/6 bolt

[Thor06]

I found a 92 TSI AWD for my friend. I emailed the guy about the car and he told me it was a 7 bolt and the pre 95 7 bolts crankwalk as little as the 6 bolts. Is this true? My friend wants the 92-94 style, but wants a 6 bolt too. Should I pass up the 92 7 bolt and wait for a 92 6 bolt? About what percentage of the 92's were 6 bolt? Where is the date of manufacture and when were the 92 6 bolts made? Are there any other ways to check if its a 6 bolt other than the date and oil pan bump (or lack thereof)? Thanks guys, I have been reading on this, but I needed to make sure, my friend is going to buy that car soon and I couldnt wait to read through a bunch more posts.

[gstclips]

2.0L, w/o turbo from 4/4/92 - 7 bolt
2.0L, w/turbo from 4/4/92 - 7 bolt
2.0L, w/o turbo thru 4/3/92 - 6 bolt
2.0L, w/turbo thru 4/3/92 - 6 bolt

So you need a car manufactured before 4/3/92

[kjewer1]

I dont agree with that cutoff date. I think it is much later than that. Hard to say for sure, but most auto manufacturers retool over the 4th of july shutdown allegedly. I have seen so few 7 bolt 92s that I have to believe it is very close to 7-4-92...

Aside from that, the 1g 7 bolts do crank walk much less, although when they do you usually don't find out until its ridiculously bad since there is no crank sensor to take one for the team. You will get the smaller rods just the same though. But, poeple are doing 500 whp recently on the 7 bolts after all...

[gstclips]

I just ordered a 6 bolt complete engine and everywhere I looked they specified 4/3 as the cut off....I am just going off that

Either way if you are looking for a 6 bolt 92 it would make more sense to call the person that has it for sale and ask...chances are they would know if it is a 6 bolt or a 7 bolt before they would know the manufactured date

[Thor06]

Ok, thanks guys. So if you were in my friends and my shoes, would you wait for a 6 bolt?

[macder]

Best method to tell appart a 6-bolt from a 7 http://www.vfaq.com/mods/early-late-engine.html. It's rare for any 1G motor (6 or 7-bolt) to get thrust bearing failure "crankwalk". I never bothered to research why the 2G 7-bolts are much more prone to CW, I suspect lower quality material used to manufacture parts. Quality seemed to start going downhill in the mid 90's in the auto industry and IMO has not gone back up. Increases in crude oil might be forcing auto manufactures to cutback in overhead cost to continue generating the same, if not larger profits. Quantity seems to be more important then quality nowaday's.