Hi everyone:

 I bought a junkyard engine in anticipation of buying a Vanagon that
 had an engine fire (though the purchase of the van might not go
 through) and I've been slowly dissasembling the engine.

 I suspect this engine is not too old in terms of miles run (it's a VW
 Canada rebuild) but I think it may have been run with some extremely
 dirty oil.

 Anyway, in looking at one of the rocker arm shafts I've pulled, one
 side of the shaft (where the rocker arms ride) is shinney and worn,
 while the other side remains untouched.  I didn't pay close attention
 when I took this apart so:

 1st question: I would guess the shinney side of the rocker arm shaft
               is the side that was *toward* the top of the head?  (As
               opposed to the side that was toward the valve cover.)

 In looking at this shaft, the worn side has some gouges, big enough
 to "hook" a fingernail on, that look like the result of dirt in the
 oil.  The inside of the rocker arms, however, look fine.  So:

 2nd question: Can I "flip" the shaft when re-assembling, putting
               "unworn" side of the shaft toward the head?  (Assuming
               the answer to question #1 in "yes.")  In looking at
               the holes in the shaft that the head studs go through
               it looks like one side of the holes have a slightly
               larger "bevel" than the other side, but I can't see
               that would make any difference in performance.

 Thanks for any help.
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Tom Young               young@sherlock.SIMS.Berkeley.EDU
Lafayette, CA  94549    '81 Vanagon
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