The 914 I recently bought came with a supposedly rebuilt bus 2.0. I decided to take it apart to see what I have. It is indeed a 2.0, it has a bore of 94 mm, and a stroke of around 71 mm. It still has very visible honing marks all the way around, and no noticable able ridge. But regarding it's history, I have some questions...

1. Do all VW cylinders have part numbers? I have taken off two cylinders so far and one has a part number (039 101 301C), one does not.

2. Is there an easy way to tell if someone just reamed off the ridge, honed it, and put in new rings to make it "rebuilt"?

3. How much smaller should the piston be than the cylinder? I've never rebuilt a VW engine, but I've never seen an engine where you can slide the piston back and forth (I can on this one)

4. All this stuff is going to be up for sale eventually... what is the best strategy for getting my money's worth while not screwing over any buyers? (part it out, sell it whole, sell it disassembled, etc..)

Dang, I was hoping I'd never incur the wrath of the no pics smileys.

Engine:

camshaft (front half)

Camshaft (rear half)

Cylinder:

Cylinder part number:

Head:

Piston underside (Mahle... is the good?)

Last one for now..

piston top (anyone know an easy way to clean this? Carb cleaner doesn't touch it and a razor blade could scratch it)

"021" = 1.7
"022" = 1.8
"039" = 2.0

2.0 Bus heads have part #022 101 372G.

Piston top - wire brush or glass bead blaster. Books say old screwdriver/ old compression ring - nothing sharp.

Your piston better slide thru the barrel easily with no rings or you've got the wrong size. I can't find the piston to bore clearance figure.

It also looks like a valve has touched the piston.

I don't think it was a valve.. I cleaned that piston up, and there's that large dent, then a series of smaller dents all over it, and even some dents above the top ring on the sides. It looks like it ingested something and then pounded it to pieces... but I think that was prior to the rebuild because the cylinder and head look fine. Someone must have reused the piston.

Looks like a 78-79 bus engine, late case, hydro lifters, small valve heads...maybe worth $500 as a core, probably less.

The heads need new seats.

One head has that part number but without the G. (022 101 372) The Other head has no part number but on the outside has AML or AMC cast into it. The lifters are solid, and the case number is GD017555. It's beginning to look like this wasn't worth taking apart

AMC makes new castings of 1.7, 1.8, and Bus 2.0 heads. Sounds like the motor ate something, tore up the head and piston, and they re-ringed and honed the sucka and slapped a new ~$300 head on it.

--DD

If you end up parting it out, I'll take the rocker assemblies... OR...
just the 4 solid spacers between the rocker arms.

lmk...

I was guessing at the hydro lifters...it's a hydro case, no pressure relief on the lifters.

Some 914 cases did not have that pressure relief either.

--DD

That cam is hurtin'

GD = '76 - '79 Bus (Type 2)