Posting this up for a mate of mine ( not bay related soz ) he has recently rebuilt his engine in his bug ( 1600) new bearings , reground crank and reused the cam with new lifters and rods , new heads and 1600 pistons and barrels. The tiny arrow on the top of the pistons he is 99% sure he had them all facing towards the flywheel but has now become paranoid that he may have got 1 of them the wrong way round and although everything seems to be running fine was wondering what the reason for them being a certain way is and if one is the wrong way what effects would this have ? the engine has not been run under any major load yet so is it best to pull it again and check them all . Must admit wouldn't mind knowing myself on this one anyway
The conron / Gudgen pin hole is offset one way because of the engine is a flat four and the loading on the piston under power
Yes, they should all face the flywheel. It won't do any harm having one the wrong way round but it will be as noisy as hell. I'd whip the heads off and check
The engine in my type 4 was leaking oil and running like a bag of nails ,when stripped down it was found that the arrows on the pistons were not pointing the right way ,new pistons ,liners etc .
