I'm going to rebuild this 73 engine, in this beater i just bought. It appears to have never had the case split. I'm down to the short block, rods off. rod bearings heavy damage, copper showing on some, but not all. Pistons were Nural brand, is that aftermarket? they were dished style and looked not too bad. I guess my question is do you guys just junk a case out of hand or line bore them and go for it? Going to be a stocker, no a hot rod.
have the case checked out by a machine shop, hopefully you don't need align boring.
When you tear it down look at the main-bearing bores in each half they should be the normal case color and have no dark discoloration or galled metal. you may see numbers from from the back of the bearing imprinted on the case. If any of these symptoms are present then you will need to have case align bored.
check #2 main-bearing bore, wear shows up on this bore first. watch out for spun bearings, in this case go with a new case. Either way, have a case checked out by a pro to see if bores are aligned.
Btw this is out of "How to rebuild your volkswagen air-cooled Engine" there is a TON of info on how to teardown, inspect, and rebuild.
Anton
Definitely get it checked out by someone that knows what they are doing there is alot of guys out there that claims they know what they are doing and I hear and see the horror stories so find someone that does reputable work on these cases ,best place to find them is to hit your local shows and talk to the people ,they usually will help you out and get you on the right track or contact this guy he will help you out anyway he can
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