Refer to the manual.  In the 2.1L Vanagon engine it clearly state
that small cracks (I think less than 2 mm) are excepable.
Maybe the same with the air cooled.  To bad a friend just sent a running
AC vanagon to the scrap yard.

            Eric                   86-VW4x4
            vw4x4@fyi.net          86-SS Syncro
            Pittsburgh, PA USA     1936-Chrysler
                                   92-Jetta GWC
            www.fyi.net/~vw4x4/vw4x4.htm

On Tue, 4 Jan 2005, Jonathan Poole wrote:

> Howdy List,
>
> I have discovered that each of the heads on my '82 ac vanagon have a
> small crack running from an exhaust port.  This engine actually ran
> pretty well but had developed oil leaks from the pushrod tubes and I
> wanted to check out the piston/cylinder conditions for bad rings etc.
> When I cleaned the carbon off of the heads I found the cracks and am
> now looking for the cheapest solution to my problem.  From what I can
> tell the rods are tight and the cam looks good and so I hope to get a
> little more out of this engine before a complete rebuild or
> replacement.  Anybody out there have an old set of 2.0 square port
> heads with the cylinder head temp sensor mounting hole?  I don't mind
> getting a rebuildable set, but I don't want to pay to have cracks
> repaired as I have been told that this would cost over $500.00.
>
> Thanks for any help with this,
>
> Jonathan Poole
>