inspecting a crankcase

[Fast Eddie]

i have a stripped out type 4 engine case which i dont know any history of.  what are there, if any, specific areas that need checking for problems, so i know if the case is scrap or worth keeping. thanks.

[Fasterbrit]

Check for barnacles on your boat anchor 

[Airspeed]

Check for barnacles on your boat anchor 

Nah, those are only to be found on watercooled engines 

More seriously: besides general inspection valid for every part/case, check the thread which hold the oil pick-up fixation. Those get overtorqued sometimes and the stud location then cracks.

[Eddie DVK]

Maybe look for this.

Regards Edgar

Hy guys, I started on building my engine but got in to a little bit of trouble.
When I dropped the crank in the case, I coudn t align it correct, it jammed a little bit.
Turned out it jams on #2 bearings (the half ones that are in the cases), when I clossed the
case I couldn t turn the crank. (the dowel pins were placed correctly).
When I left the #2 bearings out the crank turns freely in it s bearings.

Did some measurement turns out the bearing saddles aren t aligned properly.
Seems one got a little bit inwards.
The saddles(inside) are smaller then the outside of the #2 bearings.

When I closed the Case(torqued with case studs) with out the bearings, it seems that the case stays open
on the #2 saddles.

The sad part is I brought this case, crank and rods to a respectable typ 4 business in germany to check all of
this so that they could supply me with the correct bearings. So I am a little bit pissed by this.

Did a lot of work on this case, like polishing on the inside for better airflow and some adjustments to make the CSP typ1 kit to fit
and to let the case to look more like a typ 1 case.

As you can see on the pictures there is a big gap on the left side, this is the side where also the saddles of cam bearings are.





The pictures were taken with case closed and torqued.

Does somebody know if this can be fixed, or should I throw this away and get a new case.
Help much appreciated.

Kind regards Edgar

[Fast Eddie]

Thanks for all the replies guys. i not only had to use these checks on my spare case, but unfortunately on my recently rebuilt motor too.


basically i had frothy oil for some reason, did a few hundred miles on the rebuild and in that time the oil light flickered on for about 5 seconds maximum. it didnt happen again, so continued to use it for a couple of days, but thought i better strip and check just incase there was a problem...

Soooo, case split i found bearings and crank marked, enough to need a regrind!  such a big big shame as i had a std 2 litre crank with NOS vw bearings.. now i am having to use .25 mahle ones, which are no way near as good and belive it or not, i had to elongate an oil hole in one of the main bearings as it didnt line up properly...

anyway, to the cause of my problem...

I couldnt see anything wrong. anywhere.

Spoke to my friend Tom (wheelerdealer) and he suggested i check the oil pump to case clearance...
So with the left half of the case i  fitted  the oil pump and bolted it in, i did as Tom told me, shone a light down the oil feed galley from the oil filter housing back to the pump, and saw light between the gap on the inside of the case..

[Fast Eddie]

I took a feeler gauge, and if i remember correctly, got a 0.179mm blade in....

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just about where the tool is pointing to.

[Fast Eddie]

So my thinking is that oil pressure was going straight back into the case and getting whipped up into bubbles by the cam wheel.


any thoughts on this??

Hopefully i will have this problem sorted with a gene berg O ringed oil pump i have got on its way to me...

but i will be waiting untill i have it until i rebuild the motor, just to check there is no light in the gap anymore!!!

who says im cutting it fine to get it finished and ready for some drag racing action at Big Bang this up coming weekend!!