Date:         Fri, 23 Mar 2001 01:23:08 -0700
Reply-To:     Karl Wolz <wolzphoto@WORLDNET.ATT.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Karl Wolz <wolzphoto@WORLDNET.ATT.NET>
Subject:      Was head leak; then ring and valve.  Turned into rebuild.  Now,
              the case is crap! LONGISH

I haven't reported on my travails lately, and I'm sure all who car have
assumed that the project is long since over, however  .  .  .

I pulled the heads to fix a leak, though I wasn't quite sure where it was
coming from.  Kinda looked like from under one of the stud nuts, but
couldn't be sure.  As it turned out, the head had a crack above the stud,
which, when torqued, caused a bit of separation in the head.  Presto leako!

I checked the rings at this point, and determined they were right about at
the Bently wear limit, so in go new rings.  I had a real hard time with
putting the wrist pin back in, and had to shelf the project for a week and a
half due to a fine-art photo show in which I was participating.

One of the things that has been running around in the back of my head is
that I didn't like the amount of fore and aft movement afforded by the
connecting rods, especially #2.  It also seemed that, in addition to the rod
moving on the journal, the small end of the rod was moving considerably more
than was the large end.  Well, this morning I finally broke down and removed
that rod.  sure enough, the bearing was shoeing just a bit of copper.  On
the advice of regular mechanic, I took out the rest of the rods (#2 was the
one with the most wear) and split the case to check/replace the mains.

So, I'm sitting there looking at something I've never seen before and
wondering just exactly what it should look like. I call my mechanic and ask
him how serious it is that the front (rear)(by the clutch) bearings
positioning hole is rather elongated.  He says, "Yeah.  That means the case
is most likely junk!".  Upon further examination, I noticed that the
locating pin in the case is wobbling around, and I can pick it out with my
fingernails.  Bad sign, I think to myself.  The bearing is so displaced that
the outer shoulder is completely gone.

What would cause the engine to wear in this manner?

The only thing I'm really looking for here is some commiseration and warm
wishes.  Also thought some of you might be interested in my progress, or
lack of it.

Luckily, I have a spare (a lot of miles, but a good engine).  I am starting
to tear it down, and will have a pretty good handle on which way to jump by
tomorrow pm.

Thanks,

Karl