VM Diesel Specialists

RTTT265 · **Posted:** Sun Sep 21, 2014 2:52 pm

The Green is just the phone camera, a bit of a weird effect.

I'll check with ID parts to what happened with this hose

flman · **Posted:** Sun Sep 21, 2014 4:03 pm

So what kind of freight are they charging to ship a cylinder head to the states due to size and weight?

Mike92104 · **Posted:** Sun Sep 21, 2014 6:21 pm

flman wrote:

So what kind of freight are they charging to ship a cylinder head to the states due to size and weight?

"......The cylinder head is £225.00. The approximate shipping cost is £112.00. Please advise if you require insurance at a cost of £25.00......"

From my email exchange a year ago. shipping was to San Diego.

flman · **Posted:** Mon Sep 22, 2014 6:35 am

Mike92104 wrote:

flman wrote:

So what kind of freight are they charging to ship a cylinder head to the states due to size and weight?

"......The cylinder head is £225.00. The approximate shipping cost is £112.00. Please advise if you require insurance at a cost of £25.00......"

From my email exchange a year ago. shipping was to San Diego.

£362.00 = $591.25 ? does it come with valves and springs for that price?

geordi · **Posted:** Mon Sep 22, 2014 11:38 am

As I remember... Yes.

RTTT265 · **Posted:** Mon Sep 22, 2014 2:30 pm

As far as the inlet pipe goes, they admitted it would never fit, and I need to return for a refund.

Now I need to source some reasonable priced charge hoses.

flman · **Posted:** Mon Sep 22, 2014 5:57 pm

geordi wrote:

As I remember... Yes.

Then that is a good deal, almost on the cheap side.

Mike92104 · **Posted:** Fri Sep 26, 2014 12:16 am

flman wrote:

Mike92104 wrote:

flman wrote:

So what kind of freight are they charging to ship a cylinder head to the states due to size and weight?

"......The cylinder head is £225.00. The approximate shipping cost is £112.00. Please advise if you require insurance at a cost of £25.00......"

From my email exchange a year ago. shipping was to San Diego.

£362.00 = $591.25 ? does it come with valves and springs for that price?

Yep. Immaculate condition, and ready to install after a quick cleaning. My airplane mechanic uncle approved.

greiswig · **Posted:** Thu Oct 02, 2014 10:03 pm

So quick update on this vendor. I bought a cylinder head and a set of 16 rocker arm/hydraulic lash adjuster assemblies from them. Took a bit of time to actually get them to ship, but they got here.

Cylinder head - very good shape, but needed a surfacing on the head gasket side. And because of that, it needs a valve job as well. No leaks, though, and even with the shop fees to do that work, it feels like a good deal.

Rockers - well, I got them. Unfortunately, all but two sets show as much wear as my old ones do. That is documented in another thread here. And there has been quite a bit of arguing back and forth with me, which isn't easy given the time difference. They have said that they are sending out another set (I pay shipping) to see if they meet my needs. Time will tell.

I'll let you know how it turns out.

DOC4444 · **Posted:** Sat Oct 04, 2014 3:02 pm

Several people have indicated that these heads cannot be resurfaced. They sent you used lifters when you were expecting new? BTW, makes no sense installing used lifters if you are expecting not to touch the motor for 100K miles.
DOC

diesel_guy86 · **Posted:** Sat Oct 04, 2014 5:01 pm

I had mine resurfaced. 10k miles ago and 30+ psi of boost and haven't had a single hiccup.
The machinist did comment that he had to use lube/ coolant to keep the aluminum from galling up the cutter head.

DOC4444 · **Posted:** Sat Oct 04, 2014 5:55 pm

What procedure did you follow to determine which head gasket to use? How much was removed from the head?

DOC

greiswig · **Posted:** Sat Oct 04, 2014 9:16 pm

I'm no expert, but my understanding is that as long as the valves are recessed after resurfacing to avoid interference, you will only risk a slightly higher compression ratio. Since I am using biodiesel anyway, which has a much higher cetane rating, I am less concerned about that. Other people are doing performance boosts on this engine, which is about equivalent to a higher compression ratio.

geordi · **Posted:** Sun Oct 05, 2014 12:06 am

Resurfacing the head changes NOTHING about the head gasket selection on this engine. The measurement of the cylinder liner protrusion from the block deck is what determines the thickness of the gasket. If the liners have not been removed / changed, then the same gasket thickness from before can be used.

A thinner gasket will possibly allow the head to slam into the top of the cylinder liner (not compressing the gasket properly) while a thicker gasket may leave a space between the top of the liner and the underside of the head, exposing the gasket leaves to cylinder pressures - and almost certainly causing leaks.

Given the option, I would have preferred a copper-wire fire-ringed gasket instead of this design, but we don't get what we want here. The proper size has to be used.

Mike92104 · **Posted:** Sun Oct 05, 2014 12:25 am

geordi wrote:

Resurfacing the head changes NOTHING about the head gasket selection on this engine. The measurement of the cylinder liner protrusion from the block deck is what determines the thickness of the gasket.

Head gasket thickness is determined by measuring the piston protrusion, and not the sleeve. The sleeve just has to be between 0 and .05mm above the deck height. Admittedly, piston protrusion would be affected by the cylinder liner protrusion. I suspect the gasket thickness has more to do with getting the compression ratio within spec rather than mechanical clearance.

The 2006 FSM says the head can not be resurfaced, but i didn't see that mentioned in the 2005 manual. It did give this bit of info:
INSPECTION
Use a straightedge and feeler gauge to check the
flatness of the engine cylinder head and block mating
surfaces.
The minimum cylinder head thickness is 89.95mm
(3.541 in.).

geordi · **Posted:** Sun Oct 05, 2014 12:37 am

You'd be incorrect about that. This is an interference engine, and if you have the wrong gasket and the height is as you describe it... Then your piston will smash into the bottom of the head on the first go-around.

This might actually lead to an explanation on what happened to my second engine - I do not know if the head had ever been removed from it (used engine) and I didn't know enough about the motor at the time to work out the protrusions before it was installed. Under hard acceleration, perhaps the compression WAS higher than it was supposed to be / the chamber was smaller, and I somehow bent a rod or the rod bearing just failed again from improper lubrication. I don't know, and that is the primary reason why I'm not crazy about ever owning one of these engines again. I don't know why it failed and how to prevent it from happening again.

Mike92104 · **Posted:** Sun Oct 05, 2014 1:21 am

geordi wrote:

You'd be incorrect about that. This is an interference engine, and if you have the wrong gasket and the height is as you describe it... Then your piston will smash into the bottom of the head on the first go-around.

This might actually lead to an explanation on what happened to my second engine - I do not know if the head had ever been removed from it (used engine) and I didn't know enough about the motor at the time to work out the protrusions before it was installed. Under hard acceleration, perhaps the compression WAS higher than it was supposed to be / the chamber was smaller, and I somehow bent a rod or the rod bearing just failed again from improper lubrication. I don't know, and that is the primary reason why I'm not crazy about ever owning one of these engines again. I don't know why it failed and how to prevent it from happening again.

We might both be wrong. The gasket thickness may affect piston to valve clearance, however the cylinder liner protrusion does not determine the head gasket thickness. The thickness is determined by averaging the four PISTON protrusion measurements, and considering the wide range of measurements you might get to come up with that average, I believe the gasket thickness has more to do with proper compression ratios than mechanical clearance.

Also, as long as the sleeve protrusions are within spec, they shouldn't be able to move within the block regardless of the gasket used because all of them sit on the cylinder sleeve shoulders.

In the case of a resurfaced head,I would be tempted to add the amount of material removed from the head to each of the piston protrusion measurements before determining the average just for peace of mind to make sure the valves will still clear. However, if it was only a couple 1000th's of an inch, I doubt it would make much difference.

I am not a machinist, so my info is probably not worth much.

diesel_guy86 · **Posted:** Mon Oct 06, 2014 1:26 pm

I don't remember the exact amount, but he only took off a couple thousandths to remove any surface irregularities. Also had a valve job done along with new seals at the same time. Slapped it on with arp studs and engine runs so much smoother and happier. But I did some other upgrades so I can't credit all the smoothness to just the head work.

greiswig · **Posted:** Mon Oct 06, 2014 3:11 pm

DOC4444 wrote:

(SNIP)BTW, makes no sense installing used lifters if you are expecting not to touch the motor for 100K miles.
DOC

I've heard this statement from a few people, but I have no idea what their/your expertise is in this matter. It seems to imply that they are a wear item with about a 250k replacement interval on them, and/or it assumes that the used ones replacing the old ones already have a lot of miles on them.

If I measure the radial play on the roller bearing at .002" to .003", and there is very little wear on the rocker tip (polished area, no lips or grooves), and the HLA is operating properly, it seems tempting to put them back in. I know, I know..."as long as you're in there this far..." The trouble I have with that reasoning is that there HAS to be an end to it. I mean I was looking at the engine bay yesterday, and thinking "sheesh, it would be a relative cakewalk from this point to pull the block. Then I could replace all bearings, seals, and so forth." But realistically, what else on this vehicle is likely to give out in the next 100k anyway?

flman · **Posted:** Sun Oct 12, 2014 6:42 am

Well it looks like some loser, some where on the planet messed it up, they will no longer take credit cards or paypal for more then 250 pounds, so I had to make a transfer via Western Union. I guess they got burnt?

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