[Vwdiesel] Bolt hole mania

[SLATERSFB at aol.com]

I would do the same as you did, just because it is the right way to do the job. Is not anal IMHO.
One guy I know: leave everything attached to head, lever it up enough to remove head gasket. Then blow out space with compressed air, slip in new gasket, torque & return to customer. Street maniac. 
It is tribute to the VW engine that even after such lack of respect, it will still run another 100k miles.

Bob in NY



The head gasket job continues:

Having cleaned up the surfaces of the head and block, it's time to do the
bolt holes.

The bolts that came out looked pretty crusty, so I went at the cleaning with
some intent.
Ran a chase bolt in and out each by hand and discovered that some did not
want to permit bottoming. Filled all holes with solvent and left to soak.

Sucked out the solvent with the shop-vac and a trachor made of clear vinyl
tubing. got quite a bit of particulate stuff. (visible thru the tubing).

Ground a couple of slots in a head bolt wih the B&D and a thin cutting wheel.

Dipping in solvent for each hole, and rinsing after each, chased the threads
to the bottom of the holes. Sucked them dry again.

refilled with solvent and brushed the threads by using a cute little tooth
brush made by Butler G.U.M , with a bristle group about the size of a pencil
eraser (which I trimmed a bit shorter).
Screwed this in and out of each hole to clean the threads. Sucked them dry
again, lots more particulates.

Put in more solvent, sucked again, still getting particulates.
Looked in with a penlight, there's crud at the bottom of the holes.

Put in more solvent, using a long, flat blade screwdriver (3/16" blade),
scraped the bottom of the holes. sucked again. lots of junk, one piece
plugged the tube.

Refilled and sucked again twice until no more junk visible.

Chased all holes again and then flushed again, no more junk.

Now threads appear shiny inside the holes.

One more job before assembly.

Will chase each hole with a bolt sprayed with "fogging oil" Used to
winterize outboard motors.
Dont want the threads to be completely dry when the new bolts go in.

Will suck each again to be sure no oil puddles on the bottom.

I hope you will excuse my "anal"  attitude about this job. Perhaps it's
because I endured prep and colonoscopy inspection last week. The doctor made
much of ensuring the hole was squeeky clean for that too.


Sandy