Cheers, I thought it looked a little out of proportion to the std mechanical tappet type of 38mm. My 8v Group A one is 36mm.
It's very difficult to describe,may be best to let the photo's show what is seen hope they make sense
They sit at the bottom of the bores and squirt oil up towards the underside of the pistons and small end of the conrod. Just looking at some of the mods to the block I am thinking it may possibly be an idea to consider another block if one came up for cheap. std 2E is not uncommon. I know it would need a rebore to suit those pistons but that may be easier than trying to undo certain mods that have been done to this block. I am just thinking out loud here though, as without seeing it close up to check everything I am thinking on the safe side. Would hate for this to have a problem caused by something we missed. If one bit of metal finds it's way into an oil way when removing the plugs it is very serious. knackered serious.
Good news , found a new block 2E and it is being breathed on as we speak and it comes complete with oil squirting jets, ideal for a conversion to a wet sump ( to conform to championship regs ). Speaking to an engine 'Guru' recently he explained the reason why they removed the jets was because most early vw engines were designed to run slightly on the lean side,which on a long run would cause the piston crowns to run hot, hence the need for oil squirting jets, but on a racing engine it's not usually starved of petrol (run lean) and so the above are deemed unnecessary and the fact that contact has been made with them in a very high revving situation so they have been deemed not essential especially with the use of a dry sump pump for good circulation. sounded a good explanation, so the plan is to build two short engines and have the flexibility to run wet or dry as the event allows.
More lift for the same length of lobe - so less likelihood of machining the head and rocker cover (more likely in 16v) for lobe clearance
Hotgolf had the oil squirters out of his 2092 16v that was in the Mk1, and I've heard of it in other engines. Should be fine, as already said. Looks like a lot of good kit in that engine, Ray. Very trick top end, custom pistons, race hardware, and the carbs ain't cheap either. You should sell me that bonnet to fund some bits for it
Cam base circles Be careful with the measuring the width of the cam to get the base circle. On a fast road or rally cam you can do that, for example my Shrick 304 you can do that and get the right figures (measure the height to the nose and subtract one from the other and you get the lift). However on full race cams (and I reckon thats what you have there) the lift starts much earlier and if you measure the width you are already starting to get some lift in the mix. I've now got a Shrick 320 and if you do the same calculation as above you don't get the correct lift - I know because I did this calc when checking components building my engine (never trust what it says on the box!!). So as far as I can tell to be accurate you need to measure the lift with a dial gauge and subtract that from the overall height to the nose get the base circle, my Schrick then all tallied up. Also, for the record, Schrick have changed the base circle on their race cams. The Germans told me at Autosport it was because they can't get the blanks so they have reduced the base circle. This caused a few issues as I based this years build on my 304 which was a 2005 cam but the new 320 cam was quite a bit smaller base circle (well a few mm). I reckon you could fit one of them and not need to machine the head at all. Not sure if it is any worse really. Bike cams run very small base circles and it doesn't do them any harm. Nice find by the way, wish I had found it Would be interested in the old block, intermediate shaft and sump if they are up for grabs as I want to go dry sump. I think that is machined to take an F3 Pace dry sump pump. Another point, if you don't want to use the distributor it's a good place to mount your coil pack, just take the inards out and make a bracket and plate to take the coil pack and then std VW size leads will fit
Check the cc in the head and the pistons Ray, and measure the thickness of the old head gasket on a flat compressed section. You can then determine how much the block needs decking to induce some squish and get the c.r right... you'll need 13:1 on that cam. If you still need it I may have found you an ignition only ecu, pm me if yr interested, though it will go quick.
Ray, what bore was this engine out of interest? Just compiling some race type info and looking for dimensional clues on F3-style builds.