Date:         Fri, 14 Jul 1995 13:52:24 -0700
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         wabbott@townshend.Corp.Megatest.COM (William Abbott)
Subject:      Cam and followers

	Mitch,
	Personally, I'd replace the lifter/followers. New ones, even
8 new ones, are cheap, and you can't change your mind without 
splitting the case. Same for the cam. Cheap insurance.

	You CAN have the old parts checked for dimensional tolerance,
and accept or reject them on that basis, I suppose.

	The engine in my first bus, my 69, died horribly from some malady
that I suspect involved worn lifters. First there was the ominous 
knocking sound. I traced it to the #1,2 side. I pulled the rocker and
there was wear on the cam end of the pushrod! But worse, when I pulled
the pushrod out to inspect it, the rocker fell - "Bloop!" - into
the oil. When I split the case, I found that the rockers were
worn to dramatic undersize, and the bores the ride in were trashed- 
bent, jagged pieces of metal. What came out of the oil screen looked
like silver paint there were so many little pieces of aluminum in it.
	To this day I'm a loss to explain exactly what happened here-
I'd only put 2500 miles on the car, set the valves twice and changed
the oil twice when disaster overtook me. Can I have fouled up the valve
setting so badly that it ran ok but worked itself to pieces? Its very
possible I did something wrong, but I've never figured out *what*.

	(Bob, Jim, anyone, got a theory on this? I've asked before. 
I still have two of the lifters and one of the pushrods, 17 years later.)

	Bill