[Vwdiesel] Cyl head issues

[Mark Shepherd]

Bob;
I surmise that sparkplugs are an inherently bad design (having the seal at
the wrong end of the threads) whilst glowplugs and injectors properly
installed in an intact head should need nothing as the gas tight seal is
below the threads...
MTM
Bob wrote...
In "The Old Days", air cooled VWs were prone to stripped spark plug holes.
This was common if Never Sneeze was not used & plugs stayed in for over 10k
miles.
Any how......
Common repair was a steel insert threaded in after spark plug hole was
reamed & tapped to larger size.  I personally did many of these as the
tap/reamer was very short & repair could be done with engine in car. Big
advantage over helicoil.
I just made sure both valves were closed, piston at TDC. After installation
of insert, a long skinny nozzle with compressed air was inserted into hole
& all the swarf was blown out. I never had a single problem doing this.
I would worry about grease holding some metal in cylinder where you
couldn't see it or get to it, and ending up stuck on an exhaust valve seat.
My prefference any how.

Bob in the Entire State



-----Original Message-----
From: Libbybapa at wmconnect.com
To: Libbybapa at wmconnect.com; vwdiesel at audifans.com
Sent: Tue, 18 Oct 2005 10:54:34 EDT
Subject: Re: [Vwdiesel] Cyl head issues


In a message dated 10/18/05 6:42:07 AM US Mountain Standard Time,
persistantwriter at yahoo.ca writes:


> The insert which James is describing is already available frome Fastenal
> http://www.fastenal.com/web/products.ex?Ne=999600186&fxfst=0&
> N=999600186+4294967278 Their picture does not show the rods which are
driven
down through the
> outside threads to lock the insert in place.  The advantage of the
EZ-Lock
> over heli coils is that EZ-lock uses standard or metric  taps while you
need
to
> purchase the specific heli-coil taps.
>

Couldn't you put the piston at TDC, fill the bottom of the hole with thick
grease, grease the tap, 1/4 turn, back it out, clean it, grease it, 1/4
turn
more, back it out, clean it, regrease it, etc...  If the tap gets close to
bottoming out, grind down the tip some.  When finished, carefully clean out
the
grease from the bottom of the hole.  If done carefully, the head would not
need
to
be removed.

Andrew