Benny, thanks for the welcome, thanks for your opinion, and thanks to
everyone else for their 2 cents. I do agree, this head is garbage. The
conclusion is that I am going to buy 2 used heads from a reputable used
parts dealer here in the Seattle area. The heads look to be in very good
condition and the price is right. After I install the working heads, it will
be time to trouble shoot the cooling system to see what went wrong!

Chris

On 9/11/07, Benny boy <huotb@videotron.ca> wrote:
>
> Hi Chris and welcome to the dark side :-)
>
> As i'm a lurker, i don't folllow each thread, once in a wile i come here
> (web interface, i like to say i come here... kind of a visit full of
> suprise) and read some subject and i stop on those who may interest me.
>
> Anyway, i have red most post on this one and i don't agree with some but i
> will shut up.
>
> I will make that pretty short, first, this head is good for the garbage,
> something went wrong... who knows what and we don't care.... for now!!! If
> you would removed the #1 or #3 cyl valves (right side on your picture) i'm
> sure that the crack is pass the seat, if not, it will be soon, this crack
> is
> way to big and it will make a hot spot. I also see sign of pinging/hot
> spot
> and lean mixture or/and overheating. Something KILL the head and the head
> did suffer a lot at some point, any head would! As some will tell you
> here,
> the AMC casting seem very solid, so head like that don't die easily. Now,
> i
> would like to see the other end of the head, valve tip!
>
> You could have someone fix them (welding Alum. is an art!), if the guy is
> good, real good, they may last for a good 25k. But i would not do so.
>
> This head also may have cause some over heating problems... but that only
> after something (coolant sys, FI... bad valves adjustment) made them
> scream
> for help. Now, how is the other head??? if something went wrong with the
> coolant sys and/or the FI, both head should show sign!!! if not, now you
> can
> blame that head and just change this one.
>
> I have installed and sold 38 AMC head in about 4 years ( i just look at at
> my invoice), most of my customers having those heads still have their
> vans... and running fine, lately, i offer the german valves and somme work
> to the head as an option. But i still have no problem installing them out
> of
> the box, but i have to spend one hour on the valve tip/keeper. Lately, i
> have inspected the head of one of my customer, i did a top head including
> stock AMC head 3 years ago, everything look fine at both end, compression
> was very good... nothing wrong anywhere, over 65k km (about 42k miles).
>
> So the conclusion... i don't know Chris! maybe the late one are better,
> maybe not, maybe some batch are worse then some other??? I'm not even sure
> for how long AMC heads have been out there? What i know, is i need them!!!
> or many would NOT have a running engine. So thank to AMC.
>
> If your on a budget, ask Bob or others here, they should have a set for a
> good price. And after, make sure that what happen to those heads don't
> happen again... this is where normally i get in and make sure everything
> is
> as best at it can be around the engine. And that is a dificult task.. even
> impossible sometime. Fuel pressure test, injectors test, air plenium
> sealing
> test, coolant pressure test. One of them kill engine very often.
>
> This is why i went Subi... already 10k miles since my conversion and still
> going... very strong.
>
> I hope i have been of some help.
> Please don'T hesitate to show more pictures.
>
> Regards, Ben
> http://www.benplace.com/vw2.htm
>
> On Sun, 9 Sep 2007 19:34:47 -0700, Chris Lisica <wavanagon@GMAIL.COM>
> wrote:
>
> >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)