Head gasket on an ur-quattro

[quk@sievers.com (Phil Payne)]

Well, we changed John Coughtrie's WR head gasket yesterday.  Following advice 
from Aelred down at Dialynx, we simply supported the head and attached 
manifolds on an engine hoist, took out all but two of the head bolts, loosened 
those, and lifted the head 4mm.  Loosening the camshaft lifted the valves 
enough to clear the gasket, and we swung the old one out by removing the two 
remaining bolts one at at time, using the other to locate the head in position.
 
It looked, to both of us, like a re-used gasket.  Possibly even one found at 
the roadside.  The coolant path into #5 pot was obvious, as were some other 
burn tracks into oilways, etc.
 
The new gasket slid in very easily and the whole process took about five hours 
overall.  We also replaced a few chewed-up hose clips, etc.  The only remaining 
problem is low compression in #5 (4.2) compared with the others (6.8 to 7.2). 
We're hoping this is because the cowboys who fitted the "old" gasket 20,000 
miles ago had not shimmed the valves properly.

(We're trying to convince ourselves that they ran out of available shims by the 
 time they reached the back of the engine ...)

--
 Phil Payne
 phil@sievers.com
 Committee Member, UK Audi [ur-]quattro Owners Club