Which head gasket and bolts?

[92EcoDiesel Jetta]

I am not upping boost or power. I just want a head gasket to last and not leak coolant. I have heard stories of $1 stretch bolts  with a composite gasket not holding coolant. Maybe there are different quality stretch bolts. Question is what are my choices and what is the most sensible parts to use? Composite gasket with stretch bolts? Composite gasket with ARP studs? metal gasket with ARP studs? Which supplier / brand to buy from and not buy from? I know Prothe is one to stay away from. Victor Reinze for the composite? Which metal head gasket can I use for the 92 Ecodiesel (turbo 59 HP)?

[derekp]

I cant speak to reliability of different head gaskets. (I got mine from germanautoparts.com cant remember brand - no problems yet - its been about 25k miles since I installed it) I had to do mine cause oil was leaking out the front of the head near #3 cyl.
As I recall it was a composite gasket on the diesel

I used stock bolts - didnt know where to get studs at the time. I retorqued at 1000 miles (or whatever it was the manual said)

However - when we built up my sons aba-16v head swap gas engine (turbo'd) I found arp studs and used them.
This was a steel laminate gasket (stock one)
I figured we'd be having to take the head off a couple of times and didnt want to have to buy bolts over and over again.

Its paid off so far. Studs cost a little more but you only buy them once.

[R.O.R-2.0]

i would go with a victor reinz, or felpro head gasket.. $1 head bolts are not scary either.. ive used them a few different times without problem.. if the decks are flat, cheap bolts will do fine..

[burn_your_money]

if the decks are flat...

This is ultimately what it comes down to. I find that the fiber gaskets are more forgiving of warpage. If you are at the maximum specified warp for your engine do not use a metal gasket or it will leak.

[745 turbogreasel]

We were building some engines, and my buddy got a bag of no-name head bolts.
I'd say more than 10% of them broke before reaching final torque, but the ones that survived install  did fine.

[92EcoDiesel Jetta]

The deck and head is in good shape as far as flatness. I checked it with a straightedge and feeler gauge and was not able to shove a 0.001" feeler in anywhere. Spec is 0.004" max so I'm way under. I will take your advice and use a composite gasket and TTY head bolts and save some $. I am getting the head pressure tested tomorrow in Long Island and if it turns out good I'll start ordering parts and put it back together.

While the head is out, should I go deeper such as checking the guides, stem seals, lapping the valves, pulling the piston and inspecting the rings? I did check compression and do a leak down test before I pulled the head and everything was good. Engine has 182K miles and was running well except a slow coolant loss and the stupid low coolant light didn't come on and blew the head gasket. I will be putting a cylinder head temp gauge with an alarm to avoid overheating again.

[burn_your_money]

If everything checked out good I wouldn't do any more work than needed. Although a slight porting might be enjoyed on the road.

[92EcoDiesel Jetta]

Tell me more about porting. Inlet? exh? both?

[92EcoDiesel Jetta]

I checked piston protrusion with a straightedge and feeler gauge and it was 0.033". Is there a better way to check? The head gasket that came off was a 3 hole. Should I put a 3 hole back in? Don't have my Bently handy at the moment.

[92EcoDiesel Jetta]

While the timing belt is off, should I replace the crankshaft sprocket and the harmonic balancer?

[burn_your_money]

Here is my thread where I ported my 1.9 head. I used it as a NA because I hate turbos. On a NA you don't need to go crazy and probably shouldn't because you will slow down the velocity of the air/exhaust if you take too much off. There are a couple other porting threads around here somewhere, a search should find them.
http://www.vwdiesel.net/forum/index.php?topic=26175.0

I wouldn't worry about the crank sprocket or harmonic balancer unless the harmonic balancer is all chewed up. Most 1.6s just use a steel crank pulley anyways. If you had an AAZ it would be a different story.

[92EcoDiesel Jetta]

Nice! You said you overheated your head many times and it warped and needed to be planed. Did you pressure test the head each time it overheated? My head is flat which indicate it was never badly overheated and I see no external cracks. The head gasket has some rust in the coolant passages and I can't tell where it leaked but I'm no expert in looking at head gaskets. Judging by the description of my head, do you think I should do a pressure test? Where do these heads usually crack (internally) and how badly do you have to overheat it for it to crack?

Here is my thread where I ported my 1.9 head. I used it as a NA because I hate turbos. On a NA you don't need to go crazy and probably shouldn't because you will slow down the velocity of the air/exhaust if you take too much off. There are a couple other porting threads around here somewhere, a search should find them.
http://www.vwdiesel.net/forum/index.php?topic=26175.0

I wouldn't worry about the crank sprocket or harmonic balancer unless the harmonic balancer is all chewed up. Most 1.6s just use a steel crank pulley anyways. If you had an AAZ it would be a different story.

[burn_your_money]

I don't know where they usually crack other then between the valves.

I never had mine pressure tested because I'm cheap and a bit of a gambler I guess. The car was still running fine when I tore into it so I had no reason to suspect any head issues.

[92EcoDiesel Jetta]

Can you describe how you overheated? Did you get high pressure in the cooling system and blew the coolant out?

[burn_your_money]

Yes, multiple times. It was a coolant leak that I was neglecting and I would regularly forget to top up the water (no coolant left because it had all leaked out and I was only adding water.) I actually forgot that I only had water in it and let it sit over winter. Again I got lucky.