God damn this is the shittest Forum software here at AVD that I have ever seen. I forgot to put in a Topic, got some stupid message, pressed 'Back' and voila!, what I had typed in here was just gone. "Please go back and " my ass! Not to mention the laughable Search function.
Anyway, sorry about that... My post was/is as follows: does anyone have any idea on how much is reasonable to rebuild a set of typeIV heads? Got a burnt valve on 8000km old AMC heads. Busted a valve spring at 2500km. Crap AMC bits (at least the spring was their fault, I acknowledge that the vac' leak I had likely contributed/caused the valve buggeration).
What do I need to specify has to be done? I'd rather get everything which might be needed done all at once, I don't enjoy pulling motors out that much.
And finally, any recommendations on where to go? I'm in Melourne.
vw54 wrote:theres no such thing its cheaper in the l o n g run to buy new heads complete with valves etcetc
Hehe, yeah, well these are new heads dude, only 8000km old. When I had my 1800 completely rebuilt, I was told to get new heads, but immediately piff the valves and stuff, because the AMC bits (other than the casting itself) are absolute rubbish. I didn't get around to it, and true to form the (apparently) crappy things busted a valve spring at 2500km. And I am not the kind of person that flogs a motor. 4000RPM for me is a very very rare occurrence.
Anyway, so these heads are almost new. If I were to buy brand new ones again (!) I would immediately send them off and have done to them exactly what I think I am going to have done to these ones, so since they're only ~10months old, what's the point in getting brand new ones?
What do I need to specify has to be done? I'd rather get everything which might be needed done all at once, I don't enjoy pulling motors out that much.
Cheers, Aurel.
All seats, valves, guides and springs need replacement with AMC heads. Even when they are brand new...
Like you said, the casting is very good actually!
Yeah cheers thanks guys. I spoke to a dude at a head-machining company; he reckons between $350 and $600 for the pair, without having seen them. Seem reasonable?
I was wondering though, should I perhaps try to get the hardware (valves, springs, whatever) myself, from a reputable place and of reputable quality, and insist that they use those bits?
Unfortunate, because I had other plans for that money, but hey, what can ya do?
Cheers, Aurel.
Craig Torrens6 times Australian, 7 times State Hillclimb Class Champion
Oh great. I guess at least I find this out before I have my engine together. What do you reckon new valves etc would be worth ball park as I have a new set of AMC heads which have not yet been fitted.
No idea on what the bits are worth individually, but as I mentioned earlier, I was quoted $350 to $600 to reco them. I expect that if they've never been used, you'd be looking at the low side of that, maybe even less...? They might look at you strangely too. ;-)
Oh and make sure there are no vacuum leaks. None at all.
Friggin' typeIV's. I hope you don't have to learn the same way I did (the more expensive way). Good luck.
Well i have two type 4 engines here. One is a runner which came in a dual cab i bought but has the half of the tin missing. The other was 'fully rebuilt' and only needed new heads as the reco ones on it had dropped a valve. Turns out that the pistons all have scores in them, the cam is worn and all that was done to the motor was re-hone the bores and re-ring the pistons. but oh well, you live you learn. 🙂
New valves, springs, seats and guides can be found at the type 4 store in the states which is run by Raby's Aircooled technology, he only uses the best and trust me on this as i was their 2 weeks ago and have seen their heads seen the boxes of valves and seats on the shelf. All quality parts.
Damo.
This is my Volkswagen, there are many like it, but this one is mine. Without me my Volkswagen is useless, without my Volkswagen, I am useless.
61 Karmann Ghia 2110cc type1 w Los Panchito's
66 Deluxe Beetle 2270 type 4
10 Subaru WRX Impreza
Right, got the heads off and into my mechanic's. $600 for the heads, incl. all new valves and a seat or two.
He's gonna put the heads back on, too, incl. new pushrod tubes and facing the heat exchangers (Danish, they were still leaking). I'd probably stuff it up somehow. It had better be good, then, 'cause it's now a $4000 motor. That's most of a Subaru conversion!
Hope this helps someone someday. I'm feeling a little annoyed with my superior typeIV at the moment. I'm going to go home and drive the Splitty instead. Or the '69.
What a f#@ker, sorry to hear that. I feel your pain when it comes to type 4 experiences though...All from a failed cam thrust bearing.
I had trouble getting the right valve guides for mine.
Assuming yours are stock diameter your mechanic won't have a problem picking them up hopefully.
Beware the valves themselves too as mine needed to have some metal taken off the guides so they would seat after the seats were cut!
Driving the splitty sounds like a better idea!!
Cheers!
Toby 👍
I have friend with a late bay window, he had his 2 litre rebuilt with these AMC heads, he also fitted factory EFI runners & centre section with Autronic SMC injection, he's done 60,000 + with no problems.
So either he's lucky or the accurate tuning of the EFI makes things last.
