That is one of the things that we are looking at. There are 2 VTC sprockets in that motor, however they only have an 8 degree range of motion I believe. Enough to allow for power lose, but a far stretch to get to the motor blowing as it did. The problem is determining whether I had 2 seperate issues, one that caused the lack of power and another that blew something through the side of the block, or if they were one and the same. We are also going to take a close look at the bearings and see what they show. Maybe one of them was not sized or installed correctly. I just have to get it out of the car and take a look.