Update on 87 Golf with 1.6 TD transplant

[Doug]

I have been struggling with this engine for a while and a couple of weeks ago finally bit the bullet. I pulled the head checking the valves and guides. The valves were pocketed and the guides were really worn. No wonder it used oil! Guides are easily driven out of the head wth a drift. Pulled a piston seeing the rings tarred in good to the lands. I decided that I would try the bandaid approach. With all the pistons in carb cleaner for 3 days and numerous scrapings the lands were finally clear. A quick hone with the brush hone and new rings, rod bearings, as well as new guides, reamed by moi, and the seats set up with a Newway cutter (does that work slick!) as well as all new valves, (they are cheap compared to motorcycles) has this engine finally running the way I wanted it to. The tooling to do the valve seats and hone cost $400 but that is what I would have paid some shop to do the same and I am certain that they would not be using the precision carbide cutters. The car went together on Tuesday with a quick test drive and today I hauled the landcruiser tranny to a rebuilder over 400 km away for over 800 km round trip at around 115 kmh to yield 55.6 mpg. Sorry for the conversions but I still work fuel efficiency in mpg. It used less that a litre of oil too which was the reason I started all this in first place as I was using a liter/250 km. The engine temperature was also better as I suspect the blowby and fuel from the oil leaking through the guides was an issue before. Gaskets, valves, guides. bearings and rings totalled out at about $400. And then the tooling was another $400 but I will always have that and now can go ahead and do the other engine in the car that I bought for parts. The local shop quoted me $260 + taxes to do the head with me supplying all the guides and valves!

[fatmobile]

Guides are easily driven out of the head wth a drift.

 My mechanic told me they aren't punched out... they are drilled until they are thin then pulled out. Otherwise it can drag too much head material with it and make the new one fit loose enough to eventually fail.

[Doug]

I guess there is more than one way to get the job done. The guides are bronze and the head is aluminum. There is no aluminum on the old bronze guides and the guide holes are clean. The book says to press them out. Frankly I would not be puttting a drill in there as one slip or off alignment and then you really have a mess. That procedure you mention may be necessary for steel guides but again at some point you are still going to have to get that sleeve of metal out of there somehow. It just doesn't fall out on its own because you have made it thin. There is always a risk of damage to the guide hole which is why they make oversize guides.

These engines are designed for simple easy work They do not need a lot of high tech tools and procedures. The parts are low tech and cheap as well. Don't look for the hard way to do things when there is an easy one. The book is the best source to start at. Then ask a few rebuilders what they do. There are always a few tricks that the pros know about and they are usually willing to share their knowledge with someone who is keen enough to tackle a job on their own.