[Vwdiesel] Banana Rabbit, more details

[Dave Cook]

Got the head off today.  

Popped the piston out from below, easily.

As you can see, the piston is totally trashed.  It was torn up all the way to the bottom edge of the oil scraper ring.  It appears that it kissed the head from scraping on the piston and on the head, however this didn't happen until after the engine was nearly stopped so it doesn't seem that any real damage occurred to the head.  The dead piston, of course, was much higher in the cylinder than the good one.  It was probably down in the cylinder about as much as the valves might have pushed it.

The rod is jammed in there.  I cannot push the engine either way; the crank is jammed against it up high and down low.  

I don't think the block is salvageable.  The bottom edge of that cylinder has a chunk missing and there is a large gouge on two sides, presumably where the piston pin was dragged down by the crank.

Also, there is a chunk of metal bent/dented in by the crank near the rod, so the crank is either trashed or would need work after all.  

However, the guy I bought it from, who reads this list, has generously offered to let me take a spare block he has stashed away to make the car run.  Came out of a "ran when parked" car it seems.  

This seems like the best option at this point.

More pictures have been added to the album.  Again, I made it so anyone can view but let me know if for some reason it doesn't work.

<http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=361754&id=583537597&l=035aba2bd5>

Dave Cook