In a message dated 96-03-22 06:44:12 EST, Chris wrote:

>        I need to find some 060 cylinder base shims for my 1700 ('72 Westy)
>T4 engine.  The VW dealer says he stocks nothing for aircooleds, the VW
>parts places in Dallas look at me funny and tell me they have called all the
>catalog parts suppliers.  Is there a difference between T1 shims and T4
>shims?  I guess so.  Anyway, the inner diameter for mine is 100mm.  I
>haven't called any of the sources in the magazines yet.  Anyone with
>experience finding these?  The PO had had the engine built for him by a
>local mechanic and there was no head gasket (.035) and only a .010 base
>shim.  After CC'ing the heads and running the math, I discovered this engine
>was trying to run  >9.1:1 compression ratio!  Trying to follow Bob Hoover's
>advice, it will take a .060 base shim and the 035 copper head gasket to
>bring it down under 7.5:1.  
>        Collective wisdom: where do I find 060 T4 1700 shims???
>
>

I ran into the same problem of not being able to find shims a couple of years
ago while working on my '74 Westy.  Finally got disgusted, grabbed a piece of
metal a saw and files and started in.  By the time I got done they didn't
look too bad and worked fine.  A tedious task but didn't spend any more time
making them than I did looking for some!

Good luck.  

Bruce Lewis