hello Stuart  I havent seen them suck valves but the seats are known  for
coming out,mostly when ran hot.  I have a bunch of heads here with the  seats
hanging out of them and if the seat comes out and catches the valve just
right it will break then  later  md

In a message dated 9/9/2012 3:06:55 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
stuartmacm@GMAIL.COM writes:

All  aircooleds certainly did, but I don't recall seeing anything on this
list  while I've been checking it (off and on since 1997 or so).  Since
I've
got leaky valves, particularly the exhaust valves which were notorious  for
snapping off "BWBX" (before the water boxer).  Anyone remember the  sodium
filled exhaust valves in the 2.0 of the early  '70s?

After thoroughly analyzing and pricing conversions, (min  $12,000 by the
time
you are done with all the worn out ancillary crap,  including the
transmission) I may be looking to either slap some heads on  this one or
look
for a rebuildable core I can build over the winter.   I could also upgrade
the other systems piece by piece over  time.

But, if this engine isn't a valve eater, (just a rod  sucker, at least for
the 2.1) then I may just drive it, but only within 200  miles!

One thought is to just have a spare engine in the garage  at all times and
forget about the conversion, but I would like to take some  extended trips
someday and don't want to trailer an extra  engine.

Stuart

'85  Westy