Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2009 15:45:20 -0800
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: heads- bus depot or van cafe??
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hey, that's good to know about the AMC heads having thicker material in the
nut areas of the head.
Perhaps the best deal is AMC heads with high quality OE grade valves
installed.
the two AMC heads I saw that sit tilted must be an anomaly............let's
hope so !
I have about .................at least 6 used AMC heads.
an interesting point.......I hear there is just one head for either 1.9 or
2.1 wbxr engines.
is that true ?
if so, did they compromise on the compression ratio .....or what ?
thanks,
Scott
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ken Wilford" <kenwilfy@COMCAST.NET>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Sunday, January 25, 2009 1:28 PM
Subject: Re: heads- bus depot or van cafe??
> If it was me I would go with new heads instead of rebuilt but I
> understand money restraints. I actually have a pair of fairly low
> mileage AMC heads that were on a rebuilt engine that the lower end
> died. They had about 15k miles on them. I would take $350 each for
> them with no core if you are interested.
>
> The problem with the rebuilt heads is two fold. The financial problem
> is that 99% of the time you are going to be told that your cores are bad
> and get charged a core charge. So you lose your core and your shipping
> money. The rebuilder tells you that your heads are bad so they are junk
> and you knew that already that is why you were replacing them.
>
> The other problem comes with trying to repair an old head. VW heads are
> prone to crack between the valves. They all do this and VW even has a
> limit on how much a head can crack and still be good. When a rebuilder
> reworks a head they will grind down the crack between the valves and
> then reweld the head in that area. Any welder knows that now you have
> just introduced more stress into the metal and now you are going to get
> a new crack in that area in short order. Also the OE VW heads had a
> tendency to crack externally near one of the head nut seats. This is
> also a known problem and happens because the metal isn't thick enough in
> that spot. The new AMC heads are thicker in this area to eliminate this
> problem.
>
> I have a great, step by step write up on removing, cleaning, and
> replacing your head gaskets and heads. I give this to my customers who
> buy heads and gaskets from me. It is like a mini head gasket
> replacement manual. If you bought your parts through me I would include
> this to you at no cost. For folks who want to get this write up to see
> if replacing heads is beyond their mechanical scope I can sell the write
> up for $29 and then if you decide to get your parts through me after
> looking it over I will deduct the $29 from your order. Just FYI.
>
> I have installed way more sets of AMC heads on customer's Vanagons than
> I would like to think about over the last 10 years. I have NEVER had a
> valve issue even one time. I have NEVER had a head not be straight or
> cause other problems. Just my experience. I know there is a lot of
> info out there talking about the AMC heads, I just thought I would throw
> in my experience.
>
> Ken Wilford
> John 3:16
> www.vanagain.com
>
>
> Matthew wrote:
>> i need a set of rebuilt wasserboxer heads.
>>
>> van-cafe has'em for $350 + core
>> bus depot has'em for $220 + core
>>
>> Anybody have experience with one set versus the other?
>> thanks
>> matt
>>
>>
>> "may the four winds blow you safely home"
>>
>>
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