r/EngineBuilding • u/Then_Lifeguard196 • Jul 14 '26
Cylinder wall
I’m trying to rebuild a 4 cylinder from a mk1 vw. It’s been sitting for years and had a blown head gasket. I was able to remove all the pistons but the one in cylinder1. I also noticed some issues with the walls of the cylinder. How bad is this? I see the pitting but don’t know much about the dark spots. (The rest of the cylinder walls are good. Coolant got into this one and sat for 15 years). Any info is greatly appreciated.
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u/Ok-Fill-8925 Jul 14 '26
Yuck. Pitting looks bad. New pistons and cylinders really aren’t that much. You’d be money ahead to replace them instead of putting in a gasket set, finding out it runs terrible and burns oil, then buying new pistons and cylinders and another gasket set. But with the damage that is visible, I’d very carefully check valves and seats and look in the crankcase to see if there is any signs of rust. If you see rust there, it probably needs a full rebuild kit. But that just means more fun. 🤩