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Metal rings in heads
homer - July 18th, 2007 at 04:41 PM

there is a metal ring in each of the combustion chambers of my heads. It is a 1600 tp. is this normal?
thanks in advance for any replies

76camper - July 18th, 2007 at 04:53 PM

yea its a head gasket... i think the vw told all vw mech's to remove them or leave them out when doing rebuilds. They can also be used as shims to decrease the compression ratio, in which case they are better used between the crankcase and the cylinder...

[ Edited on 18-7-2007 by 76camper ]

RISKY_VW - July 18th, 2007 at 06:27 PM

don't you mean decrease compression
and no 1600 tp had them from factory

76camper - July 18th, 2007 at 06:30 PM

woops, meant decrease...

few good threads on cylinder to head sealing on the shoptalk forums, i assume t4 procedures would apply to t1 engines...

68AutoBug - July 18th, 2007 at 09:53 PM

My 1500 single port engine has the shims between the cylinders and the heads.
it was already 1600cc when I bought it, and i left the shims there,,,

Lee

ancientbugger - July 19th, 2007 at 10:10 AM

I think early 1200s had them as standard plus I've heard they were used by shoddy engine rebuilders in the past to save any extra work for sealing purposes.

homer - July 19th, 2007 at 05:08 PM

so if i put new heads on i should be able to leave those out.

vw54 - July 19th, 2007 at 05:45 PM

You will have to work out the compression ratio, but more than likely the old heads have been machined too much and thats why the spacers were in there too reduce the compression ratio

Do the spacers fit on top of the barrel or do they fit on the outside of the barrel this will say werther they are to reduce the compression or if they are old style gaskets

Are they brand new heads you have ????

homer - July 19th, 2007 at 06:13 PM

the rings are inside the combustion chamber which i think would mean they are on top of the barrel.i have had the bottom end rebuilt and the old heads are cracked so i will be buying brand new ones.

RISKY_VW - July 19th, 2007 at 06:15 PM

id lap the barrels into the heads real nice and use them on the bottem before they go into the case id say that you would need them

homer - July 19th, 2007 at 06:21 PM

the pistons and barrels are also new, i should have mentioned before, this will be a rebuilt engine when i am done.

vw54 - July 19th, 2007 at 06:53 PM

OK so are they STOCK heads you have purchased ???

homer - July 19th, 2007 at 08:41 PM

sorry for any confusion here ,the rings are in the heads i took off which are cracked. i am buying new ones and need to know if i still need to use these rings. thanks guys

vw54 - July 20th, 2007 at 08:04 AM

It would be best to work out the compression ratio

RISKY_VW - July 20th, 2007 at 07:23 PM

so if the heads are craked and you are getting new one they should lip inside the new head
if you look at your old ones and the new ones you should be able to tell if you need them