Date:         Fri, 24 May 1996 16:25:51 EDT
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         thorsland@bigvax.alfred.edu
Subject:      Valve job plus what?

My '77 westy ran out of power.  A compress test showed cylinders 1 and 2 at
120# and cylinders 3 and 4 at 0#.  After a valve adjustment, cylinders 1 and 2
showed 120# and cylinders 3 and 4 showed 60#.  When I squirted some oil in
to them (all of them) there was no compression increase.  So it appears I
need some head work.  Maybe a valve job (I'm not exactly certain what a valve
job consists of) or maybe a faulty head.  
	I have no knowledge of the history of this engine before 1991 (when the
previous owner bought it).  It has had no real engine work performed on it in
that time.  It also has what I assume to be 207,000 miles on it (it is possibly
107,000 but a doubt it is the indicated 7,000 miles).  
	What would you do in this case to get this thing running again.
Should I:
1. just pull the engine, bring the bad head to a machine shop have it fixed,
put it back in and hope for the best
2.  buy a new head and install it.
3.  1 or 2 with new rings
4.  3 with new pistons and cylinders and a new right head.
5.  a new (rebuilt engine).

assume I have reasonable mechanical skills, a fair amount of time, and barely
enough money to actually buy the new (rebuilt engine).

Is it OK to just replace one head or do you have to do them both while you
are at it?

Please help,  I really miss my bus.
thanks
Brett

I do plan on replacing the fuel lines while I have the engine out.