Cylinder Heads
1.5 to TDI
REBUILT HEAD!
What Does It Mean?
(Depends on who’s talking!)
Water-cooled VW in-line 4-cylinder engines from 1974 to 1998 are all basically the same design. This "family of engines" includes 1500, 1600, 1700, 1800 gas engines and 1500 and 1600 and some 1900 Diesel engines. The engines, while different here and there, are very similar. Many parts from a 1500 gas engine will fit on an 1800 gas or 1600 diesel. It's a great basic design. Generally the shortblock assembly will run 250,000 miles without any additional work. The head generally needs work at 150,000 miles. If your engine runs out of water and the head warps or if your diesel drops a valve or if you have 100,000 miles on your engine, you need a "rebuilt head," "a valve job," "valves ground" or a dozen other names. You may be offered a "valve job" for $40.00 plus “$6 a valve and $5 a guide" or some such seemingly low number.
But please read on!
Every year we hear a hundred horror stories. The cheap job turns out to be not so cheap. The head was warped and they didn't find it until it was all rebuilt. There was an internal leak, undetected until it was reinstalled on the engine. The head was milled too far and the valves hit the pistons. VW head work is not for everyone. Many shops that do a hundred American car heads wreck many VW heads.
If you are on a budget, we offer good tested and guaranteed used head assemblies. We sell parts, valves, guides, springs, if you are an excellent mechanic. But generally your best bet is to buy a remanufactured head from the PartsPlace.
Our heads are remanufactured by companies that specialize in remanufacturing VW heads. They do other aluminum heads such as Ford Escort and Audi but their main business is VW heads.
"VW Head repair is tricky"
Many things can go wrong. The head can be warped. The center of the head is higher than the ends. When you bolt it down there is a space or gap in the center and the head leaks between the two center cylinders or between the cylinder and a bolt hole or oil or water port. The typical machine shop "grinds the head" or "surfaces the head." This means if the space or gap is 0.010" then they take 0.010" off each end until each end is level with the middle again. Sounds simple BUT the entire head is warped not just the head surface so when you bolt it down again you are bending the cam up 0.010. If you are leveling the bottom, the top and cam will be bent. This is just a little thing which the typical "machine shop" forgets.
This is not a problem in many heads because they don't have an overhead cam riding in a bearing block without cam bearing. VW® heads do not have any cam bearings. If the cam is bent or under tension it just wipes out the bearing blocks and itself.
Our shop remanufactures the head by completely disassembling the head to the original casting and makes the whole thing over again. The casting is heated until it is plastic. The head is bent in a press, back into shape, similar to a forging process, then heat treated all over again, so the head is straight before it is surfaced; therefore the cam is straight.
This is just one of the differences in a remanufactured head and the "valve job" by the local machine shop The local machine shop might be great on a "small block Chevy"... but don't take your VW head there.
Our deluxe remanufactured heads have the valves, seats, guides, springs, pucks, adjusting springs and cam installed & lubricated. The valves are adjusted, you just bolt them on.
All Heads Sold EXCHANGE
Core Charges Apply.
