[Vwdiesel] Help - messed in the head...

[Gary Shea]

It sucks how letting anyone else touch part of your car leads to that
part being screwed up :(  I'll never forget the place in Logan Utah that
did an inspection on my Vanagon, knocked the press-on drums off with a
sledge (before confronting the owner I quietly asked his son, who
innocently acknowledged it), warped them beyond repair, denied doing
anything improper, and when he finally agreed to replace them and gave
me a ride back to my office, agreed with me when I told him that what I
liked about Utah is how honest everyone was.  I could hardly keep a
straight face on that one...

I had my TD head valve seats and guides done recently... I brought it in
for the initial cleaning and had to come back later because I hadn't
brought them the prechamber inserts.  Huh, the sealing surface of the
head now has a big gouge in it... sigh.  Ok, so there goes the 1-notch
gasket I already bought :(  I did get semi-lucky though, the guy called
me when one of the prechamber inserts wouldn't stay in place.  He was
afraid they would get pulled up by the cutting tool, just as yours may
have.... he suggested we jbweld them in place, I gave him the go ahead,
it worked.  I haven't dared to look at them closely since then :)  Nor
have I had the courage to figure out the new clearance, if I can even
think of a way to do it... they couldn't give me the exact amount of
metal they milled off the head... it'll be at least a 3-notcher now
though, based on what little information they could give me.

So I know just how you feel :)
 
    Gary

On Thu, 2005-04-14 at 18:57 -0700, Shawn Wright wrote:
> Today I went to pick up the head I dropped off at JB precision last week for 
> a valve grind, resurfacing, new guides, etc. First thing I noticed was they 
> had *painted* the head! And it wasn't even a decent job, it looked like grey 
> primer! Next, I noticed the surface wasn't very smooth - I could see arcs 
> from the cutting tool sweeping across the surface every 1mm or so. In a 
> few spots, it appears a piece of harder material (probably from the pre-
> chamber inserts) had dragged across and left a groove in the head. 
> The machine shop was closed, so I was unable to speak to the guy who 
> worked on it. I left it there and said I'd call in the morning.
> 
> In addition to the two things I think they messed up on, I also noticed a 
> hairline crack on one of the pre-chamber inserts about 1/4" long - should I 
> worry about this?
> 
> I am going to ask if they can strip the paint off, and smooth the surface - I 
> am worried it will not seal well with the lines left from the cutter. The head I 
> saw at the other shop I visited was like a smooth mirror finish - that's what I 
> was expecting.
> 
> Any advice on how to proceed is appreciated. ThanksShawn Wright
> http://zuiko.sls.bc.ca/~swright
> '85 Jetta D 
> '88 Westy 2.1L, soon to be 1.6TD 5 speed
>  (see progress at http://members.shaw.ca/vwdiesels)
> '82 Diesel Westy
> 
> 
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