Reasons for wondering if head needs new parts, valve lapping:

- engine had 250K KM"s, maybe more, looked like it had a tough life
(lots of oil leaks, piston skirts quite scuffed)
- first start engine cold, it idles rough for about 30 seconds. Cause:
lazy or leaking down lifter? Once warmed up, it idles fine.
- machine shop checked valve(s) seal using compressed air. Was test thorough?
- I replaced all bearings, rings, pistons so seems a shame I didn't
rebuild the head too.

My '81 and '88 Vanagons have the same ABA 2.0 swap. The '81 has always
idled a bit rough after first start for about 5 - 10 seconds but the
'88 behaves much differently in that regard. Neither uses the ABA 2.0
air cleaner so rough idle *may* be due to a lack of the 27 valve shown
in this diagram

https://tinyurl.com/typy8zc

All that said, the engine has good acceleration and power albeit with
a rare intermittent stall when coming to a stop.

Neil.

On 4/1/20, Dennis Haynes <d23haynes57@hotmail.com> wrote:

> Why? Do you suspect or have a valve issue? I've seen my share of rings and
> piston issues with these motors.
> Dennis
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
> Neil N
> Sent: Wednesday, April 1, 2020 2:03 PM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Re: New engine, was Re: Ecu fix addendum
>
> On 4/1/20, Neil N <musomuso@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>  ....  Of note, I regret not having the head re-valved on my ABA
>> rebuild .....
>
> Meaning: new lifters, possibly valves or at least lap them, machine as
> needed.
>
>

-- 
Neil n

VE7TBN

1988 Westy 50º ABA swap: https://tinyurl.com/yap5hpwt

1981 Westy 15º ABA swap: https://tinyurl.com/y9n4xob8

VAG Gas Engine Swap Group <http://tinyurl.com/khalbay>