Date:         Fri, 23 Jun 1995 21:24:16 -0700 (PDT)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         David Schwarze <des@teleport.com>
Subject:      Re: Should I get a valve job?

SStueber@aol.com writes:
> 
> I hate to be a pest, but I got no response on my valve job  question
> yesterday(unusual for this group) except two nice people who explained the
> spelling of "compleat" to me.  I'm re-sending the message in case not
> everyone received it for some reason.

I would say you can probably leave the heads alone, but if you want to
be sure, just have the heads checked by a shop, or you can do it
yourself.  There is some stuff called "prussian blue" that you can buy
that will enable you to see how well the valves are seating, but I
believe you will have to remove the springs and retainers.  No big deal.
If the shop does it I believe they can pressurize the ports to see how
well the valves seal.

In addition to sealing, you should also visually inspect the seats.
Look at the height of the valve head in the combustion chamber.  They
should all be close to the same height.  On an old head of mine, one of
them sat lower (i.e. more recessed in the head).  Not good.

Hope this helps...

-David

============================================================================
David Schwarze                     '73 VW Safare Custom Camper  (Da Boat)
San Diego, California, USA         '73 Capri GT 2800            (Da Beast)
e-mail: des@teleport.com           '87 Mustang Lx 5.0           (Da Sleeper)
http://www.teleport.com/~des       '93 Weber WG-50              (Da Piano)
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