Reuse gaskets... only in an extreme emergency.  Quite a few years back, a
bunch of us were camping/surfing down at Scorpion Bay in Baja California.
About an hour into our trip back, my buddies '84 Vanagon developed a bad rod
knock.  So, while parked next to Pemex station in San Ignacio, I took the
head off, removed #3 piston and connecting rod, put a hose clamp around the
crankshaft journal, and reassembled using the old gaskets and a bunch of
silicon sealant.  He was able to limp home to San Diego at 45mph and the
sucker didn't leak a drop of coolant.  This wasn't the first time I had to
do this type of repair, but it's the only time I ever did it on a WBX'er.

Cheers,

Jeff
www.vanagonparts.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM]On Behalf
Of Craig Oda
Sent: Monday, September 13, 2004 3:51 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Engine pull on scale of 1 to 10

BTW, why do you want to check the gaskets?  If you pull the heads, you
can't reuse the gaskets.  These are crush type things of thick rubber.
 If you take off the head, especially on an old one, I don't think you
can ever reuse the head gasket.

Has anyone successfully reused a head gasket?

If you're pulling the heads because you have a coolant leak into the
head and want to check the gasket and head for leaks, then I can
understand.  But, if you are pulling the head off to look at the
gasket to see if it is damaged, I think you'd be better off to plan on
replacing that gasket.

I'm kind of wondering if anyone is actually reusing newish head gaskets.

On Mon, 13 Sep 2004 15:04:56 -0700, Rocket J Squirrel
<j.michael.elliott@adelphia.net> wrote:
> I have a 1971 bus. I have pulled the engine a few times to take care of
> this and that.
>
> I have also recently acquired a 1984 automatic Westy with no A/C. At
> first glance, pulling its engine seems a bit harder. If, for example,
> one wanted to pull the heads and check the gaskets. Some kind of
> mechanical adventure like that.
>
> So, on a scale 1 to 10, assuming that taking off the gas cap is a "1",
> and pulling the 1971 bus's engine is a "5" -- how would you rate this
> year/model Vanagon engine pull?
>
> --
> Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott
> 71 VW Type 2 / 84 Westy: A poor but proud race.
> KG6RCR
>