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Date:         Fri, 22 Aug 2008 11:32:55 -0700
Reply-To:     Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Subject:      Re: New vs. machined heads,
              a spinnoff of Engine Replacement or Gasket Fix?
Comments: To: B Feddish <bfeddish@NETREACH.NET>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
              reply-type=original

Depends on the brand of new head. I'm not impressed with AMC heads and have a flat 'wrong' with about 10,000 miles on it - dimensionally, it's off significantly concerning the outer water gasket.

I much prefer good used heads gone through. what do you mean by 'machined' ??

If you mean new valves and guides, or knurled guides and cleaned up valves..........that's generally called a 'valve job' and not 'machined'. As long as valve guides fit tightly .......... a head can be brought back to spec numerous times. There are valve guides that are oversize on the outside so they'll fit tightly like they should, should that be needed. It's possible to replace valve seats too. my point is...........sure, they can only last through so many valve jobs, but they can take several valve jobs unless cracked etc. And yes, of course, it's VERY possible for a machine shop to do it wrong. You bethcha !!

There is also resurfacing them on the flat bottom part, and then taking a like amount of material from the combustion chamber area, and checking/adjusting the 'step distance' between those two spots - which determines the how much the outer water gasket gets compressed. And that dimension is a funky area. And that's what is WAY off about the near-new AMC head I have still.

You ask about reconditioned heads - I think it was TRW ........might have been......... back when I worked on air-cooled VW's. Those were notorious for being funky. Perhaps it was for Type IV air-cooled engines - valve seats falling out or whatever. So I'm not so sure I like out of the box rebuilt heads, but that's an option for sure.

I much prefer to take a decent of good used heads to a machine shop, and have them do good valve work to it. I've not bothered with waterboxer heads, but there is also getting them pressure tested .....to check for cracks and places coolant might sneak to someplace it's not supposed to be.

These $ 1000 new heads. Is that VW OEM ? Those I might be inclined to like. But normally...........it's good VW heads, to a good machine shop - is what I prefer. Scott www.turbovans.com

if too small, the rubber gasket pinches. ----- Original Message ----- From: "B Feddish" <bfeddish@NETREACH.NET> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM> Sent: Friday, August 22, 2008 5:38 AM Subject: New vs. machined heads, a spinnoff of Engine Replacement or Gasket Fix?

> I'm going to be in the same situation as Robert this winter and I'll be > having my 1.9 rebuilt. One of the big expenses appears to be the heads. > What is the advantage of buying new heads, vs, reconditioned heads vs. > having a machine shop do them? Let's say my current engine has gone 80K > miles on it's last set of machined heads. That was fine with me as the > rebuild was dirt cheap. Am I only getting longetivity with new heads or > are > they much more reliable? Can the machine shop do it "wrong"? Are > reconditioned ones a good compromise? > > Heads come up allot here and I'm trying to determine if that extra $1000 > expense is worth it if I'm fine with my next rebuilt not being able to > make > it to 200K. > > > > Thanks, > Bryan


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