[Vwdiesel] Reman or new head?

[Will Taygan]

I've never used Aluminum Head Rebuilders in Portland, OR, but the have a
great reputation.  The old aircooled guy in town here has rebuilt a
number of my old diesel heads for about $350 ($400 with turbo valves).
He leaves the prechambers in and mills very slowly, no problems.  Fancy
machine shop in town popped my prechambers out and didn't grind them
flush.  Grrrr....

Heated, clamped = better?  I've never found anyone to do it.  Light
machining isn't approved but works well.

I have a rebuild with TopLine parts. it *SUCKS* - Too many issues to
mention (okay, one - how about the cam lock being ground 180 degrees
off!)  Parts Place sells TopLine heads. (Made in Argentina).  I love
Argentina, but I would STEER CLEAR of TopLine.

Will in Alaska.

On Mon, 2011-02-28 at 22:43 -0600, James Hansen wrote:
> Caveat Emptor.  Some folks love parts place.
> If you have many miles on this head, it needs rebuilding anyway.
> Overheating makes the head move in relation to the block, as evidenced by
> the oil in coolant. It will be warped, any competent shop can skim it, or as
> Mark suggests, lap it yourself, but it should need seals etc...
> Any rebuilder that tells me to use hylomar on a head gasket is a machinist
> not confident in his work.
> Assemble dry, if flat, it seals.
> Try this Craig:
> http://www.aluminumheads.com/Volks.html
> I've never heard bad about them, but then I'm one guy.
> There's one other, super cheap stuff, mostly China origin, but the url
> escapes me now. I'm away from my nest just now, don't have my little black
> book.
> Val uses his stuff IIRC, he'll remember.
> -james
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: vwdiesel-bounces at vwfans.com [mailto:vwdiesel-bounces at vwfans.com] On
> Behalf Of Craig O.
> Sent: February-28-11 8:40 PM
> To: vwdiesel at vwfans.com
> Subject: [Vwdiesel] Reman or new head?
> 
> The head gasket on my 81 is leaking badly after a thermostat failure / 
> overheating incident.  I also have a lot of oil in my coolant.  I 
> haven't started the engine since this happened.   I haven't disassembled 
> it yet, but I am assuming that the head is probably warped.
> In the PartsPlace catalog, they go into detail about how most machine 
> shops do not have the expertise to recondition a VW diesel head as there 
> is not much tolerance for shaving metal from the head.  They state that 
> in order to properly recondition a VW head it has to be heated and 
> pressed.  Is this just a ploy to get me to purchase a head from them?
> If I was to purchase a head from them,
> I can get a re-manufactured head from PartsPlaceInc for mid $450 or a 
> new head from them for $600.  My question is this -- If I do decide to 
> acquire a replacement head, is there an advantage to spending the extra 
> money to put on a new head?
> Also, they mention in their catalog that  they recommend using a gasket 
> sealant called Hylomar but I see that VW does not recommend a sealer.
> 
> Craig
> 
> 
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