Jakirah - German Oil Camp

Howdy,
yes, we could have done worse in finding a decent work shop (it might be the only one in Libya). No really, this is awesome!!! The people in this camp are great, the facilities are top notch, gym, pool, internet cafe, buffet, no bar though, their warehouse is huge, their chief mechanic Mark from Malta knows what he is doing and helps us all the way and everybody else does too. Totally nice people.
At this point it already feels like we are part of their normal staff. We were given safety shoes, googles and coveralls upon arrival, were assigned a container each, Bernd has wireless access through our laptop, next on to a safety briefing, 6:20am every morning we leave our camp (with 50 other Toyota Landcruisers) for a short 4km ride to the workshops for a 12 hour shift, interrupted by a lunch break. We have handed in our resumees and will get our first pay check 1.12. .....just kidding, although....4 weeks on, 4 weeks off sounds great, anyway, Temps are pleasant and the clean German environment feels like we have officially left Libya, unreal, like a lunar outpost. Not so, we would of course rather be in the Kalansho sandsea and enjoy the full moon.
We are stuck here for 4-5 days and obviously had planned this a little differently. The new pistons will be hand delivered by an oil company employee (Thanks Ian for organizing the logistics! phantastic!), who flies in Thursday morning, that gives us 24hrs to put the engine back together again and travel 600km to the Egyptian Border to meet Frank and Colin.
Work progress so far: first day we spend 4 hours to clean Erwin from the rollover related oil and grease residues, sand and gerneral usage dirt.
Today we fixed a loose bearing on the rear differential (still a little play, needs to be monitored). A front Kardan joint that had excessive play was replaced (the one close to the transfer case) using the remaining half of the rear kardan shaft.
The transfer case was loose. The large washer that keeps the rubber on the rear support point down was missing.
The main gear lever (+Schaltkulisse) that was damaged by team 2 are currently being overhauled and cleaned.
Complete grease job. All gear boxes and differentials were flushed and filled. (We found quite a bit of metal shavings in the main gear box - guys take your time and try to shift the unsyncronized gears properly).
Tomorrow we will try to pull out a few fender benders from the roll over, weld the right head lamp into place and start taking the engine apart.
stay tuned...

Wednesday update:
...we are tired. Worked all day, fixed a lot of small things here and there. Took the engine apart. Honed cylinder, however the scratch in the cylinder wall from the connecting rod is too deep. So our plan is shot. We are disappointed and fed up. This is becoming a work only holiday.
We need a plan C now. None of the possible solutions can be done here at the camp.
Drill cylinder out and put an insert in. Difficult even in Germany.
Drill cylinder out and use an oversized piston (which we might have, it's just worn and scratched)
Get a new engine. ADAC will have to ship, we will have to pay dues in Egypt.
We will have to go to Cairo or Alexandria to get it fixed, time in Libya is running out.
We can either drive on 5 cylinders to Cairo and risk damage to the crank shaft or install the new piston as is which might destroy the piston.