blown engine salvage

[tbelicke]

Do you have any A1 stuff left? I just bought an 83 GTI in the fall for track days.

[joeg]

If you had a lot of scrapnel in the motor, toss the oil cooler and lines. Same thing if you use an Accusump.

[quadzjr]

remove the head.. look at teh combustion chambers.. see if you see any piston to head contact. check teh valves.. bring the bottom end to a recycle center to get some money back.

[markw]

A common cause of rod bearing failure can be from detonation. This can be caused by a lean mixture in one cylinder, too much timing with a poor octane fuel, or by an engine that has a cylinder passing oil through the rings or valve guide. This slight amount of oil can add BTU's to your mixture causing detonation. Beside detonation not being good for the pistons, it can cause the rod bearing shell to start to close in on itself and actually squeegy away the oil from the journal leading to failure. Think of it this way. Set a rod bearing shell on the bench. Start tapping the center of it and you can see the ends start to move in. Some engine builders will actually thin this area of the rod bearing shell to help avoid this. Sorry for your engine loss. Most likely the there is an imprint of the piston crown in the head that will show up with machining. If you want to put the head into service, have the valves checked to be sure they were not bent as well. If so, replace the guides. Don't ask how I know. Regards. mark

[Campbell]

I was able to salvage the head - a bent exhaust valve was all. The block and crank were ruined and I removed and cleaned everything else. Not sure why it happened but it was a mess in there.. thanks