Scott,
Appears to be no endplay and the rings & pistons LOOK good, free to
move and there's no traces of metal anywhere. I do suspect the jugs
were not scratched on my watch, but the rebuild I bought is seriously
inferior in some ways. There's plenty of evidence of cutting corners.
The rebuilder never picked up the core, which is what I'm using for
parts. Would really prefer not to split the case. The heads appear to
be good and valves & seats are OK at first glance. Sending heads out
to shop tomorrow, so we'll see about that.

Thanks for the response
Jim

On Jul 9, 2009, at 5:55 PM, Scott Daniel - Turbovans wrote:

> I doubt it has anything to do with lifters.  Sounds like serious
> ring problems.
> It sounds like your 'back yard' repair is to get good barrels and
> pistons from the other engine .......
> put those on carefully ( ! ) .......and do some valve work to a pair
> of good heads, and install them carefully.
>
> how's the end play ? I have two 2.1's here ............with
> excessive end play ......
> and it's not just a matter of shims..........I think the cases might
> be pounded out where the shims go. The supposed to flat shims are
> pounded into a 'cone' shape some ......which I'm sure is not right.
> Very high miles on both of those bottom ends.
>
> what fun though !
> Scott
> www.turbovans.com
>
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jim Cochran" <mxsailor@GMAIL.COM>
> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
> Sent: Thursday, July 09, 2009 3:10 PM
> Subject: 2.1 questions
>
>
>> Have my '86 Westy back from Mazatlan and looking through the motor.
>> Blown
>> head gaskets both sides. When I pulled an exhaust pipe from one
>> head, a
>> quart (at least) of oil ran out of the pipe. If it got in through the
>> bottom of the cylinder past rings (all rings look OK but some major
>> scoring
>> on cylinder walls of 2 adjoining cylinders) it could have been
>> pumped out
>> on the exhaust stroke... or could it have been a sticky hydraulic
>> lifter
>> holding open the intake valve and sucking oil in? or something
>> else? Should
>> I check the lifters? Soak them in ATF for awhile? Go ahead and
>> assemble the
>> motor?
>>
>> I have a spare motor, both heads bad, but two perfect cylinders for
>> the
>> repair.
>