Mk1 Diesel Head question

[smithy010]

Look at:
http://www.vwwatercooled.org.au/newf...read.php?t=930

Geez....That guy "Brackie" is a legend....Whatever happened to him???

Probably too busy with his goats, or sick of young upstarts (like me) trying to give bad advice..

[Transporter]

Don't know where you heard this, 100's of aluminium heads get welded every day.

Pete

It is common knowledge mate.

Cheers

[bluey]

It is common knowledge mate.

Cheers

Obviously, people are welding aluminium heads with some success. There are no visible signs I could see on Franks (USA) head. Looks good as new. Are there particular problems that can't be reliably fixed?? Eg cracks vs dents??

[Transporter]

Obviously, people are welding aluminium heads with some success. There are no visible signs I could see on Franks (USA) head. Looks good as new. Are there particular problems that can't be reliably fixed?? Eg cracks vs dents??

Bluey,

Aluminium alloy gets softer after the heating above certain temperature that is different from manufacturer to manufacturer. After the welding very often the head needs to be straightened (very often reheated)which can cause metal to get softer and unlike steel it cannot be heat treated to gain back lost strength. When you fitting such cylinder head it is good idea to test for that). Very simple tester looks something like that: glass tube with the steel ball inside and the marked line (at the certain distance from the edge of the end of the glass tube) parallel with the surface of the head. When you place the glass tube on the machined surface or the head drop the steel ball inside the tube and note how high it bounces. Compare it with not welded cylinder head.
Or take the head to cylinder head specialist who will be able to help you.
Cylinder heads are welded for financial reason (to expensive to buy a new one). I'm not saying that every head will fail after welding but many do.
It takes some time before they fail usually a year or two.
Reason is that head bolts compress softer cylinder head metal and lose tension, coolant leaks onto the created gap and without circulation in that gap corrosion takes place. It doesn’t' matter how careful you are when tensioning the bolts in this case it cannot be done right.
Do it once do it right.
I hope this explains it a bit.

P.S. Of course that some people will disagree. Don’t expect that every body give you honest opinion. Many times the profit comes before customers’ interest.

[gldgti]

another (VW specific) point, is that you seldom need to repair vw diesel heads anyway.

the usual cracks between the valve seats are not dire - until they get REALLY deep (like 6-8mm) and even then the vehicle will still run ok.

fortunately, new head castings (even though non-vw) are available and work fine - and more to he point, they are cheap.

I think the aftermarket brand is TGA?? or something like that - and i'm pretty sure made in spain.