On Tue, 23 Sep 2003, Chuck Hill wrote:

> The head on a diesel is cast iron, not aluminum, as he suggests. If you
> ever actually pick one of these babies up, you'll definitely notice it.

Are you sure?  I'm pretty sure VW diesel heads are aluminum.  I seem to
recall that when I had to retrieve screws around mine the
magnet-on-a-stick never stuck to it, and I've read in several places that
these are aluminum heads.  (The prechamber inserts are steel, however.)

Yes, they're heavy, but they're a pretty big casting.

It could be there are some cast-iron heads for special applications,
though.  It seems like they'd be less likely to warp, and the match in
expansion rate between the head and block might cause the head gasket to
wear less.

David Brodbeck, N8SRE
'82 Diesel Westfalia
'94 Honda Civic Si