Sludge under valve cover 20V Blacktop, is this a bad sign Options

[onnaj]

Hello,

I bought myself a 20V Blacktop yesterday and today we decided to strip the engine and take the cam cover off.
Under the cam cover we saw sludge sludge and sludge all over. The bearings and cams seems to be okay, but i'm afraid to take the head off
What do you guys think? Return the engine or just check the bottom and when there's no damage to the pistons, rings, cylinders, etc keep the engine?
The oil filter looks very clear, so that could mean two things. 1) The bottom is good and no sludge over there or 2) (I don't hope so) the oil passage is blocked.

Well...here are the pics:

Engine complete:


Cam cover itself:


Underneath the cam cover:








Tomorrow we are going to put the starter and brackter back on and check compression. I think this is possible isn't it? Valves are closed now and inlet/outlet is open and plugs are out. Should've done that right away. before stripping it :S

[onnaj]

Just FYI.

The engine bottom was perfect! You can't even feel in the cylinders that it even has run! Most of the bearings hardly had any damage at all and if they have it wasn't much at all.

But be aware that such ammounts of sludge will cost you money. The least you have to do is completely clean the engine and this means ofcourse buying a new engine gasket overhaul kit. I ended up with also buying new piston rings, all bearings, pistons (my own fault), etc. Pro is that a almost have a new bottom end, but the con is that it costed me a lot of money.

So before buying the engine ask if the seller can open the oil cap and see how it looks. If it looks al sludgy then you might have the same problem as i did. At least ask the seller for a startup guarantee.

I had a 60 day guarantee. After contacting my seller about the problems i've encountered he suggested that he could do 2 things. Give me a discout of 200 euro or either return the engine and get a complete cashback. I choose for the first option cause we've already invested a lot of time in the engine. the engine costed my 825 euro (without ecu and wiring) and when i include everything i think i might hit the 2000 including the rebuild, wiring, ecu, etc. Have to say that we've almost done everything regarding the rebuild by ourselves. Otherwise it would;ve exceed 3000 i guess.