cool stuff!

good luck finding the cause.

I hope its an easy fix! If not I'm sure someone in the RGB has a decent motor to swap in.

Jake

Update on finding the mechanical blockage and why the engine won’t turn (beyond a short range): We used a scope to look into the cylinders, but couldn’t see any obvious issues such as a broken valve. The scope was limited in its clarity and perspective, so there's nothing definitive either way here.

We had some ’02 experts helping us virtually, including the advice of setting the flywheel to the TO “line” mark (in the back viewing hole) and then examining the positions of the valves and camshaft. Well, things up top “were not where they should have been,” and the conclusion is that the timing chain skipped some teeth.

When we were turning the crank to set this up, we were unaware that the direction of rotation matters (due to the spring-loaded hydraulic chain tensioner)—so we’ll do it again and make sure we’re going clockwise. If this makes the valves/camshaft marks closer to what they should be, then we’ll try removing the distributor and see if that frees up the blockage. (We’ll remove the distributor anyway, because at this point, why not?) Odds are, we’ll have to remove the head and check for bent valves—but we’re exploring all other rotating options first (timing chain, etc.).

We first removed the oil pan to have a look around the underside, but everything there seemed in order (apart from a loose oil pump chain). We then removed the head, and yes--that was the source of the blockage. Now to examine the head...