Finished up a headgasket repair on my Cabriolet motor in the van in oh, probably 8 hours.  Included a new cam for a bit more poop.  Fired right up and sounds strong-er, but I am letting it sit overnight to bleed air from the cooling system and because I am too tired to go test drive tonight.  Valves looked great, pistons and bores good, belt tensioner bearings good, head was true and the cam journals looked good, too.

  One bad part of the job was getting the exhaust head pipe off the manifold and back on.  VW, it all it's wisdom, has a brand specific attachment system that takes a VW tool, which of course, I don't have.  They use two spring clips, shaped like Cs.  You have to pry the ends of the C open and get an end over the pipe and an end over a flange on the manifold..It is pretty strong spring steel.  I McGuivered it with two floor jacks, a rubber mallet and lots of blue words...

  I have never worked on a WBX engine, but I have done plenty of Air motors, and this was a bit easier.  Did it without much strain at all other than those stinkin clamps.  We shall see if I did it right, since this is my first time into a VW 4..
  Don Hanson