Pulled the head today

[saurkraut]

If you have the time and money, seriously concider the head studs.  Either from ATP or Raceware.  If i remember correctly, they are 11mm.

The engagement length of the stock bolts in the 1.5 block is really a weak link.  There is a real probability of stripping the threads out of the block.  The holes in the corners of the block are the ones that will give you heck.

Try putting a bolt through one of the holes in the head and you'll see what I mean.  there is alot of unused threads in the block, and the studs can be installed full length in these holes

Good luck

[hipifreq]

Thanks for the input on the head bolts. At this point I'm ready to put it all together with the stock bolts. They've been cleaned thoroughly and I'll be tapping the threads in the block before installation. I may have this head gasket in for only 6 months or so before I pull the whole engine to rebuild or maybe get a 1.6na to rebuild for a swap.

I tried using a Dremel on the crankcase surface, and it worked pretty darned well. I used the 280 and 180 grit buffs (attachment 511). Going slow, with not too much pressure I was able to remove the carbon build-up from 3 of the cylinders before the scrubbers had worn away. Had to get more today, and will finish up tomorrow. Here's a look at what the #4 cylinder looks like compared to the others. Unfortunately the glare in the photo doesn't do it justice, it looks better in person.


Here's a shot of the head after the 0.004" shave it got at the machine shop.

[wolf_walker]

I often wondered if it'd be good or bad idea to take such as a dremel and very lightly and carefully grind out the cracks, just down to the base of the crack essentially removing sharp edges and in theory lessing the likelihood of it cracking further.

Thoughts?

[jtanguay]

i wouldn't mess with that...

the area between the valve that cracks would be a good candidate for some sort of heat reflective material, because that is essentially what is causing the cracks... thin pieces of aluminum crack under stress a lot easier than thick pieces  :wink:

[wolf_walker]

Understood.

How much meat is there before it cracks into a water jacket or something?  Can you weld up such a place before coating it with something?

[hipifreq]

Happy New Year!! (gregorian)

Problem with installing a heat reflective coating to the area between the valves is that that valves repeatedly contact the head there. I'd be concerned about how the coating would hold up against the unrelenting stress of valves opening and closing against it.

Got the head on the car yesterday and everything bolted down before the New Years festivities took over, and I couldn't finish it all. I've got to check the pump advance, as it turned over but didn't start the one time I tried it.

[jtanguay]

there is pretty much nothing you can really do about the cracks between valves...

i myself would prefer a cast iron head like those on a mercedes... they never have head issues!!!

[hipifreq]

IT LIVES!

Got everything all together. Cranked it over and it made the most aweful racket! Sounds of metal on metal were coming from the engine.

Checked the timing: check
Checked all nuts and bolts were tight: check
Nothing in the way of moving parts: check

turned over again, fired and started, but still making a crazy scraping noise! AH! :x

Hand-cranked the engine, and heard the noise faintly coming from the alternator. A few of the fins had shiny patches on the edge, and so did the mounting bracket! I took it off and noticed that it was thicker on one side than the other, so I flipped it over.

Fired and stayed going without the noise! Quieter running now, although I'll take it easy on the new head gasket for a bit. Now to figure out the pump timing. I got my dial indicator in there, and I think I'm reading 0.037" at TDC. I feel like it should be reading 0.033" (0.83 mm). The Bentley just mentions loosing the mounting bolts and turning the pump, but no pictures. Anyone have a link to a good pump timing thread? Not much luck on the search.
Scratch that: I found a good thread
http://www.vwdiesel.net/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=2476&highlight=adjusting+injection+pump+timing

[burn_your_money]

Just in case
http://vwdiesel.net/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=5949&highlight=burnyourmoney