Engine rebulid fun, Jim Thorusen's old car Options

[Java2570]

Hi all - I've been on 914World for a while now and don't really post much. I purchased my 74 914 in May of 2010 from Pasadena, CA. It previously belonged to Jim Thorusen,
perhaps some of you old timer's remember him from the PP board?
Jim had sold the car in 2009 to Juilan Bunn and I bought it from him. Jim had made
some observations about this car's valve issues, particularly the shifting of the #4 intake valve. He had said that the valve lifter was mushroomed in the case and that
valve had to be set larger than spec. I knew of this when I got the car and since I got it for a good price, I figured I'd have a go at fixing it. I recently dropped the motor
and disassembled it to find that indeed the lifter was stuck in the case but was not
mushroomed at all. The real issue is the camshaft and cam bearings are totally trashed! The case is in good shape, the crank, rods and P & C look good also. I am
now sourcing parts to make a stock rebuild. I decided that I will put this engine back
to stock to see what kind of power I was missing and then I will put together a
modified one using a spare 1.7L case I have. So far, it's been fun and I'm looking forward to getting this one back together and then in the future building a 2056 or 2270....
Anyway, just wanted to say hello and wanted to share some photos of the car
and engine.

[Dave_Darling]

Interesting to see the actual cause of Jim's problems.

I remember that Jim took me for a ride in that car the one time I visited him. Very nice guy, BTW.

Those bearings look, umm.... Not good. The cam lobe wear looks to be of the typical kind, but there's a whole lot of it. And if it's not a funny reflection, that journal on the cam has a piece completely missing!!

--DD

[Java2570]

Interesting to see the actual cause of Jim's problems.

I remember that Jim took me for a ride in that car the one time I visited him. Very nice guy, BTW.

Those bearings look, umm.... Not good. The cam lobe wear looks to be of the typical kind, but there's a whole lot of it. And if it's not a funny reflection, that journal on the cam has a piece completely missing!!

--DD

Hi Dave - actually, what you see on the cam journal is a hunk of bearing metal!
The cam, other than hard wear on the lobes, is surprisingly unscathed considering
the wear on the bearings. I guess that's how it's supposed to be though....
I'm glad I broke it down when I did though, I can imagine the meltdown that could
happen with a failing camshaft, etc. I never had any contact with Jim but Julian had
several emails from him that he shared with me so I had some ideas of what was
happening in the motor. Never know until you rebuild though!