(7/8-9/2002) - I've done a lot of work in the past couple days...  I've completely disassembled TWO engines, and found the problem with my engine.  Now I need to fix it! 

Here's the engine out of my car with all of the tin removed.

My car is ENGINELESS (again!)

The first thing I noticed was that 3 of my chromoly pushrod ends were mashed pretty good...  This indicates metal (or something) getting between the rockers and pushrods.

Now its down to the case...

Got it opened up, and didn't notice anything else obviously wrong - at first.

When I found this piece in the case, I knew something was seriously wrong...  It looked like a broken piston ring, but it isn't - turns out to be a piece of the thrust bearing on the cam!!!

When I pulled the cam out, I noticed the 'lip' of the lash bearings had been worn completely off, and the cam was starting to wear into the case!  

THIS is what the bearing is supposed to look like:

Since small chunks of metal were sent out all throughout the oiling system, there was minor damage to the crank bearings and rod bearings.  These pics make them look HORRIBLE - the crank *should* polish out, and the rest of the bearings will be replaced...

The lifters in this engine are still convex, however they ARE 30+ years old, and show their age.

The cam lobes also showed signs of wear (pitting).

The most probable reason why the lash bearing and case had been eaten away is due to the LARGE force put there buy the ratio rockers AND dual valve springs.  The helix cut of the cam gear, coupled with SINGLE thrust bearings are probably the main "weak links" between everything.  The endplay between the cam and case is what I was hearing 'knocking'.  

I decided it wasn't worth it to try to fix my old case, so I thought I would just use the case off of my 'spare engine'.  So I started disassembly on the 2nd engine.

This sucker was definitely gunked up!

Unfortunately it turns out that this case has a couple quirks that make me want to re-think my case situation.  Firstly this case uses the larger 10mm head studs (which aren't as good as the 8mm head studs as on my previous case) - AND this case is the softer "AS41" (my other case is an "AS21" which is made of a harder material).  The pic below shows 10mm head studs vs. 8mm head studs.

So what now you ask?  Well, for starters I'm thinking about ordering a NEW case - that would fix that problem.  I have two cranks to pick from, so I will pick the best one and have the necessary machinework done.  My rods are in good shape, they just need bearings.  Both of the cams I have are too worn, so I will probably buy a new one (performance perhaps).  I'm going to buy new lifters to go with the new cam.  I will also buy new piston rings.  I'm going to add some new Mahle DOUBLE THRUST cam bearings (see pic below) to help distribute the load, AND I'm also planning on installing STRAIGHT CUT cam gears to get rid of most of the thrust wear - straight cuts are loud, but I think it will be worth it (plus it will sound 'cool'!).  As extra insurance I will be removing the DUAL HD valvesprings, and replace them with SINGLE HD valvesprings (I never really needed the duals in the first place).