Date: Tue, 3 Dec 2002 10:28:34 -0700
Reply-To: Mike Blotz <Mike.Blotz@PEARLIZUMI.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Mike Blotz <Mike.Blotz@PEARLIZUMI.COM>
Subject: heads off--now some questions
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hello again collective wisdom
so I got my stuck cylinders free. thanks to everyone who responded. heres
what worked. I tryed twisting and then prying the cylinder to no avail. I
then thought what the heck--grabbed a 12mm open end wrench and used it as a
fulcrum lever. man--with just a slight tug on the end--the cylinder moved.
workwed my way around and out they popped--both of the stuck ones. So the
people who recommended this--you are the winners.
onto my questions i'm seeking advise for.
1) my heads actually look amazingly well. havent scraped the glue off
yet--but they look to have no pitting. my guess is they were leaking like
crazy when the gaskets hardened since it sat for 4 years after PO had
coolant pressurization issues (assuming inner O-ring here). there is a crack
between valves on all 4 though. I was planning on taking them to painters
grinding in denver for a a fly cut and pressure test. does this sound like a
good idea? or should i clean them up and reuse them? or should i throw them
away since there are cracks between valves?
2) since my cylinders became unseated--am i looking at potential trouble
with the lower o-ring? how hard is it to replace and how many people do it?
seems like if i bring the piston to the bottom of its travel and then let
the barrel ride with it out to the top of its travel (with care on the other
3 of course) i can get at the lower one some what. Is this advisable?
3) since I have one bent pushrod--and I know all pushrods are to be instaled
in the same place and oreintation. what to do. Buy one new one? buy a
complete set? or find a used one? I bet these rods are the same rods used
forever and I probably have a ton of air cooled 1600 rods laying around.
Whats the thoughts there?
4) what other common items do people replace at this point? I am going to
replace some hoses for sure that look bad. fuel line sure seems pliable. I
have plans of eventually doing a conversion. so I'm not hip on replacing
everything. but I want to avoid break downs in the meantime.
any advise is apperciated--thanks in advance
mike