Wolfsburg West Okrasa heads/kit

[jays58s]

[gzaharatos67]

Just adding a note here to check your valves on the Wolfsburg West Okrasa kit when they arrive.

I spent a lot of time chasing down other potential leads for my rebuilt engine that wouldn't start, stupidly thinking that a $2000 kit wasn't going to come with valves that leak ....

https://photos.app.goo.gl/5hh2nRuqHs52etCKA

[Vedderism]

[gzaharatos67]

I spoke with Tony over at Wolfsburg West today who tested one of my heads and he said that it's fine. Here's the video that he sent:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/BxYYCCsKX1fwDL8w9

I'm just looking for a second opinion. Does this amount of air leaking out of multiple places seem fine to you all?

When I had these installed on my engine I had spark and fuel but couldn't even get a cough as I was trying to get this engine started for the first time. I reasoned that it was because of low compression which I was measuring at around 50 psi per cylinder.

Anything that you guys see that might be helpful?

[motofly196]

For a brand new cylinder head? Unacceptable...but these have been a problem for over a decade. Lap the valve to the head. The air leak down will probably go away. If not you're going to need to cut the seats, and still lap in the valve. This is standard practice on ALL aftermarket heads now days unfortunately. Quality control just isn't there any more.

[gzaharatos67]

Ok thanks. I'll bring them to my shop when I get them back. Why is WW telling me that they are fine? That's crazy.

If I have to have the valve seats cut it's going to bring the valve stems out even further and I'm going to have even more trouble with valve lash clearance......

[PeteSC]

[gzaharatos67]

I got my heads back from WW and took them to my local guys. They said the valve seats just weren't right. Seemed like they set up the machine to cut one valve and then just ran them all through it without adjusting the hight/depth.

Anyway, Eddie at Painters Grinding took care of, like he always does, and now my engine is running for the first time!

[kintail]

Given all the comments on the WW Okrasa kit with my engine build just starting, took the new manifold and heads to my machine shop to get them checked over. The intake manifold flanges were warped with welding slag internally. Here's what they found.

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Scott

August 1954 Beetle Canadian Deluxe

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[Bub]

Well-- what's the alternative to the WW kit? Should they double the price of the heads and 'make them right" -?
What's the solution most people would like to see- because if original Okrasa heads are the only alternative it doesn't seem terrible, even being what it is.
Just trying to be fair.
Do we know how precise a set of NOS Okarasa heads are out of the box? Has anyone torn a set of new ones down and evaluated and compared them to what WW makes? What would an NOS set of Okrasa heads cost in the condition the WW heads are when all the work is done and they're 'fixed' ?
I assume the Okrasa heads would be north of $2500-3k with no guarantees, and decent chance they 'could use' some tweaking. So..$3500 for the next best alternative makes the WW heads seem not terrible to me.

Another alternative is Okrasa valves in stock heads, when all done on a stock engine you're damn close to Okrasa specs and barely anyone would notice at a fraction of the cost.
I'm just saying I don't think the WW heads are terrible for what you get and the cost. The fact that they could use some work shouldn't be a huge surprise, they're not going to be perfect. And if you're building a *precision* Vintage speed 36hp down to the details some extra cost must be expected.

And we all know that even IF WW made them 'perfect' they wouldn't be good enough for some people. Everyone has different standards and expectations..

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Ether way your still gonna be paying alot more do to the fact if they heads have problems someone has to fix them our else the engine won't run right ...most shops charge different and can be expensive fixing the problems..now I can see if person can fix them by them self at home all it would do is add time ok fine but not everyone has the tools to fix them at home ... I believe they "ww" should at least check the valves and guides better to see if they are no non issue..yes i get you can't please everyone 100% ....now I see this as a non issue if a person is gonna add bigger valves ,porting so on so on since your making them to your standards ok fine no problem...but most just want stock valve train for their simple vintage build.. in which ww should have these 100% to go ....wolfsburg west should sell these heads with problems as builder heads or bare heads so that a person who was or wants to add his bigger valves or custom work there's no miss understanding...as is the solex 32 carbs most of them have shaft problems.... so that's also another experience....

[AlteWagen]

Im guessing Autolinea is making the heads for WW? The Autolinea heads of the past (GO1, GO2 and GO3)all had the same problems that are described here. Soft seat material, poor sealing valve jobs, low quality springs/valves/retainers/keepers etc. Did they run? Yes and that is all that the manufacturer cared about. If you want it to run well you are on your own. Even though they were an OE supplier the key is in the QC
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[jbannon]

It seems crazy to me that brand new heads don't work out of the box. Some say we should accept this given orignial Okrasa heads cost more, but that does not make any sense. If you are selling a product for a premium price, it should work out of the box. No exceptions. The fact that one has to have head work done on new heads is bonkers. Perhaps its time for WW to find a new manufacturer for their heads.
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[Bub]

[kintail]

First of all thanks to the Samba for providing this forum to share information regarding this kit. I took it to the machine shop knowing pretty well what needed to be checked and possibly redone...... speed costs $$. Likewise if I had bought a used Okrasa kit it would have gone to the machine shop as well for the same treatment with money spent. The shop rate here is around $125/hr and so far have spent $1K.

Had I installed the kit right out of the box and chased these issues for awhile, costing additional time and money .....I would naturally been more than upset. Apparently WW has replaced defective parts in the past to address the issue with customers.

As pointed out re-building a stock head also costs money but the expectation with these new heads is obviously higher. Not having this reproduction of the original Okrasa kit to VW enthusiasts is also not desirable. My one suggestion for improvement would be a better quality control scheme going forward knowing this might also increase the end cost per unit, but with a goal of higher customer satisfaction.
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Scott

August 1954 Beetle Canadian Deluxe