Welding VW Heads - worth cost?

[MarkZee]

I have a pair of German? VW Dual Port heads that need work. Crack between valve seats, and a crack at spark plug hole. One plug hole has thread insert. Each has a fin corner broken or cracked. Do heads in this condition have any core value - do some shops do these repairs - or is cost of fix to high to be worth doing?

[gt1953]

To be honest with you here is my take on your issue.
Yes you can have them welded.
Keep in mind the rest of the head has been thru how many heat/cold cycles?
With the price of new heads not much more then rebuilt ones opt for new heads.

http://chircoestore.com/new-dual-port-head-with-valves-85-5-each-air-cooled-vw-engines.html

http://www.secarpart.com/cylinder-head-dual-port-043101355ck-secarpart-p-1282.html

Just a few examples of head pricing.
_________________
Volkswagen: We tune what we drive.
Numbers Matching VW's are getting harder to find. Source out the most Stock vehicle and keep that way. You will be glad you did.

72 type 1
72 Squareback
({59 Euro bug, 62, 63, 67, 68, 69, 73 type ones 68 & 69 type two, 68 Ghia all sold})

[MarkZee]

[ROCKOROD71]

It's a catch-22. I bought heads made in USA, and the castings weren't that good either. Took several hours to clear material from between the fins to allow proper airflow, clear a path for the thermostat rod, etc. However the valves, guides, etc seem to be of good quality and are holding up well a few months into use on a fairly new engine build. Valves have rarely needed adjustment so far. Driven daily.
The Chinese AMC heads from what I've seen personally and have read in the forums have really good castings, but all the hardware they come with is junk, so it's best to replace the valves, springs and whatnot.
The best solution I've come up with for my future purchases is to buy OEM VW heads while they are available. Or getting VW heads rebuilt, but with multiple cracks and broken fins, yours are not the best candidates to start with. I have a really good used pair sitting on my shelf waiting to be gone over. No cracks, no broken fins, probably just need to be cleaned, lapped valves, maybe new springs, checked for deck height, etc...
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1971 STD BEETLE- DD-1st car, 1st love. keepin' it stock! 1600DP, Solex 34-3 Mexi Bosch SVDA Dist NOW w/POINTS
1977 WESTY "KrustyKamper" 2L FI

[MarkZee]

[ROCKOROD71]

I can't remember what hardware has been deemed "junk" on those Chinese heads, beyond the valves themselves. Do a search on "AMC heads" and you will find your answers.
The gist of my post was that many "new" heads still require some work before installing for optimal results, one way or the other. The only way to ensure you get bolt-on ready to use heads is to get NOS or OEM VW heads. Even then, you probably have to do some measuring and whatnot, lap the valves, etc. They are still available from some vendors or here in the classifieds for about the same price I paid for my "new" heads, except I had to pay several hours of shop labor to make them useful. If I could turn back time...I would have just got the VW heads.
Lucky for us VW guys, there are a ton of options when it comes to heads, but it's a lot of murky water to wade through to find the right fit for your application.
Good luck!
_________________
1971 STD BEETLE- DD-1st car, 1st love. keepin' it stock! 1600DP, Solex 34-3 Mexi Bosch SVDA Dist NOW w/POINTS
1977 WESTY "KrustyKamper" 2L FI

[Tim Donahoe]

I think Rock has the best solution--get OEM--or have OEM rebuilt.

We have a guy here in town that does them for under a hundred bucks per head. He comes highly recommended by our local VW supplier.

I had good readings from a recent leak-down test, so, hopefully, it'll be awhile for me.

Tim
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Let's do the Time Warp again!

Richard O'Brien

[modok]

Scrap!! And sorry, welding does not fix the problems. Or to be more accurate the amount of work to fix them correctly far exceeds the cost of buying some that aren't cracked.

[awreed]

Even the expensive CB heads have casting material that needs to be cleared from the heads to ensure proper airflow around the fins. Still better quality than a welded head that has gone through decades of stress.

[andrewvwclassic]

I dont know about the cracks but I have just recently ettempted to mig weld a head with aluminum wire and argon gas. it seems that it would be a reasonable option to tig weld them or even mig weld them. I was attempting to fill in 2 exhaust stud holes and redrill and retap them and fill in some pitting in the cc's. what they above are saying is correct. which is not exactly fully correct on the other hand. its not the heat cycling you have to worry about its the fact that the heads are cast aluminum and whatever your using as filler is not. to remake your filler into cast you would have to reheattreat the head. im with the other guys on this, steer clear.