Unused engine?

[isham-research.freeserve.co.uk at pop.pol.net.uk]

I've commented before that MB engines with defective WoT switches lead
a protected life, since they will never see even factory stock boost.

And I also commented recently that failed WGFVs were as rare as hen's
teeth.

Foolish.  Within days I come across a car with 86,000 miles on the
odometer, a failed WoT switch _and_ a defective WGFV.  Inspecting the
WGFV, I suspect it was bad when it was made.

Curiosity made me strip a big end bearing:

http://www.isham-research.freeserve.co.uk/quattro/shells.jpg

Live and in the flesh, these shells don't look as if they've done even a
thousand miles.  The dates are 02/88 - correct for an early 88 car - and
the sizes are nominal.  The cylinders are round at the bottom to within
0.02 mm on an average of five alternating measurements X and Y, 5mm in
to the bore.

On a ludicrous note, I hear that D-C is to introduce an SUV based on
the Unimog - nine feet high and twenty feet long.  Dwarfs even a Hummer.

-- 
 Phil