Aircooled head gasket

[A KIRK]

Is there ment to be one to seal the barrels against the head? as I;ve just bought 2 new heads, and obviously don't have any, but as far as I can see the old ones never had any either.

Are they needed or can liquid sealant be used?

Thanks for any help

Really need to get this back together tomorrow

[VWCamperfan]

Mine has nothing. Place a few blobs of valve grinding paste around the inside lip of the heads, place the barrels on top of this and grind them in. When finished, clean off all remains of grinding paste and you will have a machined finish between the two surfaces. Reassemble... Job done!

[A KIRK]

cheers was hoping not to have to remove the barrels from the block, but it looks like I have no choice

Thank you

[VWCamperfan]

I have bolted them straight on in the past and had no problems at all. Just tend to grind them in a bit now to be sure but it shouldn't be a problem whipping them straight on. Saves disturbing other bits further down!

[A KIRK]

Thanks for the advice, after doing a little more digging, I think I shall use a little gasket sealant and whack them on.

Plenty more questions on the way soon.

Cheers

Andrew

[neil3965]

The original VW heads had thin aluminium gaskets, but new AMC heads are machined differently and do not need gaskets. See http://www.ratwell.com/technical/Heads.html#gaskets

[A KIRK]

hm not to sure what make the heads are, I bought them from Vw heritage today.

So bascially if I want to do the job properly I really need to lap them in with the pots.

I guess to do this I need to do the following:

Remove barrels from the pistons, apply gringin pastes to the barrel and rotate it against the head, once done clean off all paste.

Add sealant to the block end of the barrel, re-fit barrel over the piston, and build up from there with no sealants against the barrel and head.

Does this sound about right.

Cheers

[VWCamperfan]

Sounds good to me. You may find some paper or other gaskets at the base of the barrels, sometimes used there.

[neil3965]

Got my cylinder heads from VW Heritage, and they were AMC. Is there a leaflet in the box warning you not to use gaskets? (Like the one on the ratwell web site).

There was a thin aluminium gasket (provided in engine gasket set) between base of barrel and engine block. Applied Curil sealant between barrel and gasket, and again between gasket and engine block.

All this for 2.0L CU, not 1.6 mind - not sure if there is a difference.

[A KIRK]

Cheers guys wish me luck.

Worry not the next batch of questions will be about ct tappets lol.

I think I'll spend tonight cleaning everything first

[VWCamperfan]

CT tappets the same as other aircooleds with hydraulic lifters.

See here:- https://club8090.co.uk/wiki/Hy ... _explained" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[PEET]

This isnt' ur recon engine is it Andy? Please tell me its a spare!!

[dugcati]

dudes.. dunna forget the CT eats heads due to heat issues and compression issues.. - (I now they will run without the rings but) does it have any detrimental effects on the engine as the compression will be up slightly and also heat transfer from barrels to head ? I wonder what Laurie would have a comment on this (if he still comes on 8090 - not seen him post for ages now though)...

[A KIRK]

IT is the recon I had fitted last January. I've now had enough of it, its in, but not running, time to burn it oh sorry I mean pass it to someone else to fix, as I have no motivation left to do anymore with it.

Cheers guys for the advice.

Just for reference here are a couple of pics of the heads, hence all my previous issues

[dugcati]

not too sure what state it's in Andrew but have a spare head which might help you out?....
how many cooling finns are on your heads?