A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that I had decided to keep my '72 westy
and was going to pull the engine and fix this and that.
 
Well things are not as happy as I had hoped. 

Apart from the rusty heater boxes, the  camshaft has worn divits in the
tops of most of the lifters. I had pulled the push rod tubes to peek at the
cam and found the worn lifters and the cam lobes eroded.
I think this is a "common" problem with 1700 pancakes. Muir mentions
something about "parkenized" (sp?) cams. Anyone with anymore info?

Also my fuel pump pushrod has been peened where it rides on the cam.
Another victim of the predatory camshaft?

But lo, another mystery... one of the pushrods has been "grooved" about 1
1/2" from one end. It is as if it was done on a lathe, 1/4" long, 1/4"
deep. I only noticed it after I had all of the pushrods from one side in a
tub so I don't know wether it was the head or case end.

Well it looks like rebuild time. It doesn't seem as bad this time, it will
be my first rebuild on a car that is not a "daily driver". 

Lugjurey!

"Eee by gum lad, ah had to tak case on bus when ah did ma beetle rebuild"

Alistair