VW .32mm Flywheel Shim, Beetle, Ghia, Thing, 1966-79, Bus 63-71, Type 3 62-73

Setting the crankshaft end play is crucial to ensure the main bearings do not wear out prematurely. The OEM specifications measurement is 0.075-0.125mm (or .003-.005") for those using the archaic imperial measurement in inches. Therein lays the biggest math hurdle that confuses people when it comes to ordering flywheel shims and setting the end play. We keep measuring in thousandths of an inch. So our recommendation is instead of trying to convert the flywheel shim measurements over to inches, get your initial end play measurement (which is usually done with a dial caliper that measures in inches) and convert that first measurement over to millimeters. Then all of the metric flywheel shims are much easier to deal with! For instance, when we measured the end play on our 1800cc Super Beetle build, we came up with a measurement of .044" (Forty-four thousandths).

To convert our thousandths to millimeters we multiply the inches measurement by 25.4, the length of 1" in millimeters.
.044(") X 25.4(mm) = 1.1176.

Now we take our end play in millimeters and subtract our minimum recommended metric measurement end play:
1.1176mm - 0.075m = 1.0426mm

So we want 1.04mm of shims.

Now using the available shims, .24, .30, .32, .34, .36 and .38, we want 3 shims that get us to that number, easy enough!
Drop out the decimal for "simplicity's" sake and we want three numbers to add up to 104.
34 + 34 + 36 = 104
So we want 2, .34mm shims and 1, .36mm shim - it's that easy.

As .076mm is the minimum recommended end play, if you want to play it safe, you might also to order some extra sizes of shims that are the same, slightly thicker or thinner than the "middle" shim measurement just in case. Unless you want to spend about $50 and just get 3 of each shim to have all possible combinations covered!

A middle measurement:
1.1176mm - 0.100mm = 1.0176mm
34 + 34 + 34 = 102 (one more of the same "middle" sized shim)

A max measurement:
1.1176mm - 0.125mm = .9926mm
34 + 30 + 36 = 100 (one thinner and one thicker shim)

We just listed a bunch of math, but hopefully the advice of getting away from imperial measurements for metric cars makes setting your end play easier!