At 8:57 AM -0700 8/17/98, Harmon Seaver wrote:
>Just got a pair of rebuilt heads for my '81 2.0L from BusDepot, they
>look good and came quick. However, one has a pair of cylinder shims and
>a pair of head shims -- the other has just a pair of cylinder shims and
>a note *NOT* to use head shims.
>    I'm a bit confused. Don't have a Bentley for this engine, only a
>Haines, but it talks about "sealing rings" on the heads. So is the head
>shim in addition to the sealing rings from the gasket set? Seems like
>that wouldn't give the greatest seal. OTOH, the earlier air-cooled
>engines had no head gasket at all, and they did fine.

The type IV engine was originally designed to use the ring gaskets, but
sometime after that VW, or perhaps one of the rebuilders, started
recommending against using them.  I can't imagine why.  I have always used
them and will continue to do so, rather than take the risk of omitting them
and losing compression due to a leak.  My engine has enough miles on it now
that I am confident that running them does no harm.  As always, YMMV, but
that's my say on the matter.

-David

 =========================================================================
David Schwarze             '73 VW Safare Custom Camper             (Bluto)
Dallas, Texas, USA         '87 Mustang 5.0                     (13.37@102)
e-mail: des@eskimo.com     '93 Weber WG-50                      (Da Piano)
http://www.tiu.net/~des    '96, '96 cats             (Aaaackkk! Phhhhht!!)
 =========================================================================