Yeah, sorry, I'm talking about the cracks between the valves. I've heard
that a hairline fracture is acceptable, but that one in my picture is pretty
big. A leak test would be good.

Hmmm, thanks for the advice. Some of those measurement numbers are scary! I
have a line on a used set of German heads for $200, I may just go that
route.

Chris

On 9/9/07, Scott Daniel - Shazam <scottdaniel@turbovans.com> wrote:
>
> You're talking about the cracks between the two valves ?
> Totally normal.
> You 'could' get them pressure tested if you're worried,
> You can also peen the cracks shut with a hammer and punch.
>
> Fwiw - ..judging by the corrosion where the water gasket touches this head
> -
> perhaps you might get away with head gaskets only.
>
> I would also test for valve sealing by filling the ports with gasoline or
> kerosene, and see if they leak. I usually find at least one exhaust valve
> leaking.
> Then I have a machine shop do a valve job.
>
> And what I wanted to say about AMC heads - fwiw,  I have one.....that I
> installed new, and it didn't last, for head gasket sealing .....that
> particular head is so far out of 'dimension' it's sick.     Pure
> junk.  And
> it was factory new.  So I'd be careful about AMC heads, if nothing else.
>
> I'm finding it necessary to check how much the water gasket gets
> compressed.
> By my measurements the water gasket is 3.7 mm thick.
> Put the head on temporarily ( with metal sealing rings at the top of the
> barrels ) and measure the water gasket  gap.
> Iv'e seen  it be 3.7 mm - thus no compression on the water gasket - and it
> leaked after a thousand miles.
> Iv'e seen it vary , like 4 mm on one end, 7 mm on the other, and so forth.
> And I'd be real careful with AMC heads.
> I'd rather have a good set of used non-amc heads and rebuild them, then
> install them, than use AMC heads, unless the measure out nicely.
> Scott
> www.turbovans.com
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
> Chris Lisica
> Sent: Sunday, September 09, 2007 7:35 PM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: cracked AMC heads question
>
> Volks,
>
> After purchasing my wife's 87 Westy project, I'm finally getting started.
> I
> knew the heads were messed up, but I was hoping for a simple head gasket
> job. Upon closer inspection, and a few pictures in macro focus mode, there
> appears to be a big crack on the one side. Any opinions? Is this head
> reusable? What could cause such a large crack? The pics:
>
> http://wavanagon.googlepages.com/amcheads
>
> Please help enlighten an aspiring Vanagon mechanic. Thanks for any
> advice/input/feedback/links/etc.....
>
> --
> Chris
> 88 Vanagon GL (daily driver)
> 87 Westfalia (in progress)
>
>

--
Chris
88 Vanagon GL (daily driver)
87 Westfalia (in progress)