Copper head gaskets...

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167luckycharm
Posts: 52
Joined: Tue Mar 15, 2005 9:00 pm

Copper head gaskets...

Post by 167luckycharm »

Hi all! I pulled the engine from my buggy to do some adjustments to the rear suspension, fix an oil leak, and replace some cylinder tinware. The speedometer has been sent out for re-calibration so the downtime is not a problem. Since the engine is out, I wanted to re-torque the heads before I installed the buggy-style cylinder shrouds. There's 1143 miles on this build and no leaks around the heads. I did find a film of dust-covered oil around the base of the cylinders. Using the (skinny) stock 8mm studs with copper head gaskets, I was wondering if they should be re-torqued to the original 23 foot/pounds... Has anyone used this type of gasket before? There's a bunch more stuff I want to do while the engine is out, now that I'm on forced vacation until January 9th. BTW, the buggy chrome cylinder tin that's available from several sources, don't have the original cylinder numbers on them since the flat area has been trimmed off. Instead the numbers are stamped by hand...but beware, cylinder number one has been stamped with a #2... Perhaps the folks making them don't know much about VW's. I found part of the oil leak below the doghouse cooler offset mount. I used the wavy washers plus the nyloc nuts but somehow they worked loose. I'm thinking of replacing the outer cheapy-chromed torsion bar caps and possibly installing the original rubber grommets. I'll find out more when the urethane ones are inspected. We won't be participating in the Holiday parade this year after all. Last year it rained and I still don't have a roof, or wipers for that matter! The more pics I see of the sidewinder headers, the more I like them. I'd like to know if they'll fit with my rear bumper. If anyone can take some measurements of their setup, I'd be happy to check them out. I'll post another thread for that request. Thanks for now!
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