Oh, it's aluminum all right. I just got through dropping it off at a
machine shop to make sure it's leaking. There's a crack through the
aluminum between a valve seat and the prechamber press-in. They told me
they wouldn't weld the aluminum, but would test and see if it's
actually leaking there. Will know in a couple of days at the soonest.
They're swamped.

Jim

On Tuesday, September 23, 2003, at 06:01 AM, David Brodbeck wrote:

> 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
>