I decided to strip the heads to check for cracks and you know how things get out of hand! Well, the heads were fine, so I removed the pots to have a peep at the rings and while the pots were off, I was able to look into the crankcase. When I did, I was a little disturbed at the pattern visible on the cam lobes. This resulted in a complete strip and the need for a new cam and lifters. Here are some pics of the Camshaft and Lifters. You can see the typical wear pattern on the Cam and two distinct patterns on the lifters. They are a result of the different degrees of stagger on the lifters on opposite sides of the cam. What caused the wear in the first place I can only speculate. I'm going to check with my VW buddy later today for an opinion. The bores and crank are as perfect as one could want. The only clue is the absence of the windage tray to indicate that someone may have been inside before. All the pics above were taken (hand-held) with the Sony, using a 500W halogen lamp. The extreme close-up capability (1/2") shows up well, although the focus becomes quite critical at that distance.
