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

[Shawn Wright]

On 14 Apr 2005 at 23:55, James Hansen <jhsg at sasktel.net> wrote:

> You can put an insert in from another head, but why in the hell were they
> machining it in the first place? Nothing has happened to it that should have
> warped it, right?... or was it bad before and they sluffed it off the first time
> through the gate?  Gotta have a really really good reason for cutting a VW head
> other than "that was how it is done".  You want to know what the warpage was
> across the head, what the measurements actually were.  Five bucks sez there
> aren't any written down anywhere.

No, it wasn't warped I don't think, no sign of leaks before. But I thought it was safer to 
resurface and give a nice smooth sealing surface, and the shop didn't disagree. Is 
there a difference between resurfacing to fix a warp, and just cleanup up the face? 
ie: can they just cut a minimum amount off for cleaning it up? I'm betting no 
measurement were done also. When I dropped it off, a guy name Gene, who 
seemed to know his stuff, told me a complete check would be done and I would be 
told what it needed before work started. I called back a few days later asking for my 
estimate, and was told they were just waiting for seals, that most of the work had 
been done already. At that point I was starting to get worried, now I'm just pissed.
 
> Lines...wrong cutting tool insert, too high a feed rate, too deep a cut.
> CBN insert should have been used.  Either that or too much cut on one pass, and
> the steel loads up the cutting edge, or worse fractures the utra-hard edge, and
> leaves lines.  CBN can cut the head to finish like a mirror with a slow feed
> regardless of the materials on the head. Out of the fry pan and into the fire.
> Grrreat...  Last pass on an alum/steel surface should be just enough to remove
> all the frog hair that grew there between cuts. Another fiver sez it was cut in
> one pass.

I will ask them how many passes were made. What are typical values for the amount 
removed in a pass? What does CBN stand for? Is it standard to provide the 
customer with the amount of material removed?

> Painted the head... sigh....  nice to hear rattle can overhauls are still
> available. Sucks to have one done when you expect a REAL overhaul.
> Does it look like the valves were at all changed, or did they machine the
> head with them in too?

They told me the valves were ok, but did replace guides and did a valve grind. I hope 
they did at least. 

> I know it's easy to criticize someone else's work, but sheesh...

What worries me is what else they might have screwed up. I've only seen a few 
heads before, and never seen a VW diesel close up after a surfacing & valve grind, 
so don't really know what else they might have done wrong. 

THanks
Shawn 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