Is this repairable?

B7 A4
#1

So I bought a BPY longblock on ebay for $350 thinking I could fix it and flip it for a profit. Description said that there were some bent valves from a snapped timing belt. No biggy, I thought. Especially since I have all the stock valves from when I built the head for my car. I picked it up today and brought it home.


http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a129/2fast4sanity/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpshszap5gr.jpg

So I pulled off the intake manifold and looked at both intake and exhaust valves. None of them were visibly bent. I tried to turn the exhaust cam by hand to see if I could feel any binding. Wouldn’t budge, so I put a wrench on the bolt to get some leverage. Still nothing. Pulled the timing cover to check the timing chain and tensioner. They were fine. So I decide to pull the cam girdle and this is what I find:


http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a129/2fast4sanity/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpsqopip1rq.jpg

Exhaust cam was seized, presumably due to oil starvation. Intake cam doesn’t like like it was wiped, but is far from perfect. So my question to you guys is can this be fixed, or is the head junk? I’ve sent an email to the local machine shop to see if they can align bore it to accept replaceable bearings, but I don’t know if this is a thing or not. Any suggestions?

I’ve also emailed the seller to let him know that his description was severely inaccurate and I’m waiting to hear back.

#2

That looks terrible. It looks repairable but I would seriously look deeper to see if you can see any other potential damage fall put from this. Look in the oil pan for any surprises also rotate the motor assembly to see if that has any damage. Bent valves are going to need possible machine work to the heads of the guides were bent and the walls damaged. I would look that over.

#3

I’m still going to do a complete teardown before I spend any money on it. The crank does rotate easily by hand, so I know it’s not seized. The bearings may still be shot, but at least it rotates.

#4

That’s good news. What would cause that kind of oil starvation. My concern would be if what caused the issue is still there. After you fix all of this it might have the possibility not happening again

#5

I’m hoping it is a broken oil pump drive chain and not a seized pump. Will need further disassembly to be sure.

#6

Build it and sell it as a built engine for someone! Mec got like 7k for his setup

#7

That thought has crossed my mind… I have a possible lead on a used head for $300.

#8

Wow thats a good deal

#9

I’m awaiting pictures of the cam bearing surfaces. I will not be buying another junk head.

#10

Oil pump drive chain snapped and balance shaft assembly seized up tight. Not sure which on happened first, but it doesn’t really matter at this point. #3 main bearing is wiped, although the crank should still be salvageable. Haven’t looked at rod bearings yet.

#11

Wow any ideas on the mileage. It’s good to know what your dealing with. The rods should tell more of the story. Any idea what caused the event. What drives the balance shaft.

#12

Supposedly 90k, but the guy lied a out everything else so I don’t really believe it. He gave me paperwork with it for when the head was replaced under the cam follower warranty, and that said the car had 77k in 2011. I also don’t know how long ago the engine came out of the car. The balance shafts are driven by the oil pump drive chain which runs off a gear on the snout of the crank. Either the chain snapped, causing the shafts to sieze due to lack of oil or the shafts siezed on their own and that caused the chain to snap. The subsequent lack of oiling caused the bearing problems.

#13

Was that a 3 bid win on ebay? Lol
I was bidding on one same description but can’t remember and can’t look right now how much ended to that I lost. My highest bid was $300 giving it had the same description as yours. Bent valves, @100k.

Either way. Keeps us posted on the progress man. Hopefully it won’t be a major pitfall and you can salvage some ding ding in the end of this venture.

#14

I made an offer of $350 that was accepted and I drove to pick it up last weekend in Stamford, CT. I paid via paypal right away, but he refunded me saying he wanted me to just bring cash to avoid fees. I didnt think much of it at the time, but since he refunded me through paypal, I lost all buyer protection from paypal and ebay. According to them the transaction was cancelled when he refunded my money. I can’t even leave feedback on the auction. There should be enough salvageable to still make money on the deal. The block alone is probably worth what I paid for the whole pile.

#15

Shit we were bidding on the same engine then lol.

Well good luck man. Keep us updated on how it’s looking specially when you break everything apart.

Best
Paulo.

#16

Ps.: yeah that’s the sucky part of doing the biz off of PayPal… eBay and PayPal want nothing to do with that. But like you said, you got your money worth paying only $350 on a semi assembled block. With prices as high as 7,8k for these engines there is a good margin there for you. Of course if you are limited to relatively “small stuff” like you mentioned and not having to bore the block and what not, knock on the wood.

#17

I plan on stripping ti down to a bare block tomorrow. I’ll post some pictures when I get a chance. I need to decide what is worth keeping and what is junk. The oil pump/balance shaft assembly would make a good doorstop…

#18

They would. Don’t some guys just remove the balance shaft all together.

#19

Yes, a few have removed the balance shafts and kept the 2.0 oil pump and others remove the entire thing and use a 1.8T oiling system instead.

#20

Just trying to sick up as much info as I can here. Is the thought that the ballance shaft kills hp.