Itinerant Air-Cooled

This is pieces of the 3/4 valvetrain on the 79 engine setting in my garage:







Notice the blueing in the second pic? There was some serious heat happening.

I'm wondering if it's worth going any further. If there's this much damage in the valvetrain, I fear what's inside at the crank and cam. The guy who gave me the engine said there was no compression, and the engine turned over well enough by hand.

I may stop here and just give it away.

Blue means heat. Scoring means dirty oil ( caused by heat?). The rocker shafts probably cant be used agian if they are actualy scored and you can feel the grooves.

If the crank looks like that, I dont think it's a big deal cause you can get it taken down to the first undersize

Keep all your crank gear/hardwear to go with the cam gear you'll take off and use again with your new cam. Aftermarket stuff seems to be noisey. Factory parts, if still servicable are matched ( the numbers on the backside of the cam gear) ad wont make a mesh noise when running.

The combination of the blueing and the scoring (yes those grooves are VERY deep) says more than dirty oil, IMHO. That's why I'm debating whether to bother digging any further.

Dig. You've nothing to loose.

bottomend wrote:Dig. You've nothing to loose.

Except time.

I'm not sure if you've ever opened up an engine case at this point Don, but even if it's your first time, it'll go quick. About 4 hours if it's still got everthing attached and nothing is rusted badly ( jinx). What else would you do with the engine if you kept it? Paperweight?

Cylinders can be reboard

Crank can be turned down a size

Heads can be reconditioned

Cam gear can be removed and saved for later use

Crankgear is reusable

Lifters can be re-ground and coated

Case can be checked for tolerences and conditioned as required

Rods are reusable


If there is blueing then the stuff is not useable. I bet you'd find lots of goodies hiding inside there!

bottomend wrote:I'm not sure if you've ever opened up an engine case at this point Don, but even if it's your first time, it'll go quick. About 4 hours if it's still got everthing attached and nothing is rusted badly ( jinx). What else would you do with the engine if you kept it? Paperweight?

Cylinders can be reboard

Crank can be turned down a size

Heads can be reconditioned

Cam gear can be removed and saved for later use

Crankgear is reusable

Lifters can be re-ground and coated

Case can be checked for tolerences and conditioned as required

Rods are reusable


If there is blueing then the stuff is not useable. I bet you'd find lots of goodies hiding inside there!

The issue is my time is worth more than the "goodies" I can pull from this. I'd rather rebuild the known good Guac engine. Or even something better......................................................................................................................................

;)

DurocShark wrote:
The issue is my time is worth more than the "goodies" I can pull from this.

Use as many old parts as you can. They are a finite supply. You can sand the shafts with 220 in a 45* cross hatch, clean and re-use. These rockers are excellent (compare to that stamped sheetmetal crap from Chevy). They can be rebushed by a machinist certified not to be an idiot, there are oil drillings that must be open.
Colin

Amskeptic wrote:

DurocShark wrote:
The issue is my time is worth more than the "goodies" I can pull from this.

Use as many old parts as you can. They are a finite supply. You can sand the shafts with 220 in a 45* cross hatch, clean and re-use. These rockers are excellent (compare to that stamped sheetmetal crap from Chevy). They can be rebushed by a machinist certified not to be an idiot, there are oil drillings that must be open.
Colin

Don't get me wrong, I'm not tossing it. I'm going to find someone who has the time and space to work with it. I have other things I need to do with my time and space.

The rockers can be re-bushed, etc. But the heat blueing makes me nervous and not willing to use the rest of the engine.

Besides, I'm swaying towards a watercooled engine again.

DurocShark wrote:...I'm swaying towards a watercooled engine again.

Say it ain't so, duroc, say it ain't so.

chitwnvw wrote:

DurocShark wrote:...I'm swaying towards a watercooled engine again.

Say it ain't so, duroc, say it ain't so.

<evil>

I'm just imagining the beautiful sound of a 3.3 liter H-6 SVX engine... I'd better start saving up for transmissions though.

Blah, blah, blah....

bottomend wrote:Blah, blah, blah....

You don't say...

How about triple the power but with the same mileage? Or better? Naw, nobody is interested in anything like that.

If I had a real back yard or garage, I'd be first in line to go " frankenstien" on anything called Volkswagen.

DurocShark wrote:
How about triple the power but with the same mileage? Or better?
Naw, nobody is interested in anything like that.

I was rather amused myself by the 419,000 miles I got on my original crankshaft, and the 508,000 miles on my original Broken Pottery Looking cylinder heads, and the reliability of the original stuff. That's what I was interested in.
Colin