Great thread, thanks for sharing! The two variocam units are completely different, they move the chain to the opposite side during the changover. After browsing many threads and taking apart mine for inspection my understanding is that mostly only one of them fails, the one that has the large greenish O-rings that are prone to disintegrate due to aging. I forgot which one it is, I have a thread on this topic somewhere. Theoretically if you remove that steel cover disc you can pull the piston and replace the faulty O-rings. It does not seem to be easy to do though, it requires machining, mill, lathe, etc. If you go down that route let us know how it worked out. When I was rebuilding mine I tested the variocam operation while spinning the engine on my bench and activating the solenoids, and both turned out good. I have a thread on this in show & tell.
Good pictures, keep them coming!
