Tom,

I haven't had the occasion  to tear down one of these 2.1L engines, but
from all my reading, the case and the crankshaft are, in the
vernacular,  "hell for stout!". The crankshaft and case is the choice
for the rail folks to build serous power engines. They machine the water
jacket from the case and build it up after that, using the machined case
and crank. The thing that would raise a question in my mind is simply
the total mileage. It is close enough to 200K that were it mind, I would
take it all the way down and rebuild from the ground up. Have the case
align-bore checked, and then build back up from there. If you will do
this, you will have an engine that you know all the details about, and
there is no mystery, no wondering "what if". You can reasonably expect
another 150-200K out of it with minimal difficulty. BTDT!

Dunno if this helps, but it's worthy of consideration I think.

Good luck.

John Rodgers
Clayartist and Moldmaker
88'GL VW Bus Driver
Chelsea, AL
Http://www.moldhaus.com

On 9/6/2010 5:35 PM, Tom Lambas wrote:
> My '86 Vanagon has 178k miles on the odometer.  The PO had headgaskets, oil
> pump, one head (used), a couple of lifters and a rocker arm assembley
> replaced. Test drive seemed fine, and I bought it. Well , it didn't take
> long before I had overheating issues that I ultimately found to be exhaust
> gasses blowing into the coolant.  Pulled the heads, one was junk with a
> crack between the valves. I had the good head and another head rebuilt and
> pressure tested. I've pulled the barrels and pistons, and I am wondering
> whether to rebuild the bottom end, or not. Side play on the connecting rods
> seems normal. I can't feel any play when I push/pull toward or away from the
> crankshaft.  I'm also wondering if it's normal for the core to show what
> looks like fine cracks on the solid area to the left of the connecting rod
> (see photos).  Wrist pin wear looks minimal and the pistons look pretty
> good, but I'll probably replace the pistons.
>
> *http://tinyurl.com/39a3yso*
>
> Thanks for any advice,
>
> Tom
>
>