Just won't idle - losing the plot - what else can I try?!

[Termite]

Exactly the same as the brass I found in mine, I put mine down to the brass gear (on the crankshaft) failing for a previous owner and not being cleaned up properly after.

How long have you had the van/ engine if second hand? always good to know what may have caused the fault.

Other brass components (I think) are the little end bushings in the conrods, to find that amount of brass in the oil though, the fit between the gudgeon pin and the rod would be really sloppy and give you a rattle/ knock.

It does look like the brass has got into the main bearings and wiped them out.

If you do decide to rebuild it you may be lucky and find the cam and crank re-useable, definitely fit a new oil cooler as the brass particles will be in there aswell.

I removed the oil galley plugs on mine and tapped the holes for fitment of tapered plugs, this allowed me to fully clean the galleys with galley brushes.

Have a read of this, it shows the brass gear http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=415546" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Wow - that looks quite horrendous.

The van has been in the family since 1994 and I've had it 10 years since my Dad passed away. At the moment, I have two other engines in an unknown condition in the garage that would've come out of VWs in the mid 90s. I am going to try and check those out at the weekend and see if either of those would be any good. I think it's safe to assume the current engine is probably junk.

I'm just trying to decide if I could get another trip out of it over the bank holiday or if I should just write it off until I get either one of the other engines (or a brand new one) into it?