AA Industries Cylinder Heads

[Jeff Geisen]

I put a pair of these heads on my 1600 s/p engine rebuild 1500 miles ago. I noticed symptoms of a pulled or broken cylinder stud so I got busy and had a look this morning. Maybe you can spot the problem. This looks like a slam dunk warranty issue to me, I’ll let y’all know what they say.

I don’t post this for advice or recommendations. I bought these heads on purpose. I know what some are thinking. The thing is I have a backyard shop, built for personal and family use. Inevitably some ACVW work finds me. I don’t advertise, not interested in booking much work. I decided to take a chance on these as a way to road test and live with them myself before I put them on a client’s VW. Even if AA warrantees the head I highly doubt they’ll send extra funds to cover my time for labor. Worse, I’d be mortified to have to charge a client twice for a job because of a poorly made part. Hey, at least this one is mine, right?

We’re all going to walk down this road sooner or later. I’ve given up on VW making new heads.
_________________
I Corinthians 4: 1 thru 5

‘63 ragtop - ‘68 single cab

[SGKent]

that's a shame Jeff. But, somewhere in it there is a purpose that only the Lord knows what it is.
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“Most people don’t know what they’re doing, and a lot of them are really good at it.” - George Carlin

[airschooled]

Don't post that in the performance forum or you'll be tarred and feathered for over-torquing your heads…

Last set of no-name single port heads I saw had a pinhole leak in one of the intake spigots. Unreal what's coming out of mass production these days…

It looks like you replaced the valve springs, keepers, and retainers, no?

Glad you didn't have to do double work on a client's car.
Robbie
_________________
Learn how your vintage VW works. And why it doesn't!
One-on-one tech help for your Volkswagen:
www.airschooled.com

[volkybus]

Junk....junk..junk... nothing new here..U get what you pay for.
Or sometimes u pay to get screwed...bad karma?? overcomers!!
Good luck...at least u get to fix it yourself...it stinks though when you get a defective part .. many are the trials of the righteous but the Lord delivers us from them all..


These busses are all so old now...we tend to forget how old and drive them like modern cars...Did you really ever go far in a 36hp bus...top speed was ,48mph..a53hp maybe 65.. when new.
.ain't any of us getting any younger.


Good luck and remember if u wanna go fast..hey a modern car.. Or take the plane..Bill... Puerto Rico and VT


.





Junk

[timvw7476]

I'm stacking some aluminum washers on that & driving it for six years.
But I also have driven on a piston I re-contoured after an intake valve seat
dropped. (It was all my fault & my bus so...........)

[volkybus]

Good man keep em rolling however u can.... Bill

[skills@eurocarsplus]

[Abscate]

In the trade you have to either jack your labor rate to 180 or have that heart to heart with your customer that parts suck, and if you need to repeat work, you need to get paid for it at the standard rate.

The customers choice is to have the work done or do it yourself.

If your customer won’t agree, they get fired.
_________________
.ssS!

[Jetfxr69]

Im glad I held out, and was eventually tipped off on getting the Mahles I was looking for after seeing this. Was close to buying the AA’s, but was waiting for more feedback. I like you, have a backroads, home garage, and am helping several friends with their engine and bus work. I would be devastated if this happened to one of the motors I put together for someone else.

Would put questions in my friends heads whether I was a competent mechanic or not, although no fault of my own.
_________________
You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline. It helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer. Zappa

‘77 westy Seamus
‘76 tintop Crusher
‘77 westy The Judge
‘72 tintop bastard westy Hudson

[Wildthings]

[Jeff Geisen]

I’m thinking that AA will say I over torqued the head, we’ll see.

The thing is like many of you, I have torqued cylinder heads for decades, never had a whole corner break off like this one. If you have experience engine building you’d know the nut at the broken part of the head is # 7 of 8 in the first torque sequence, then on the final pass it’s #8 of 8. I have always torqued big stud nuts to 20 ft. lbs. final torque after starting with 10, then 15.
_________________
I Corinthians 4: 1 thru 5

‘63 ragtop - ‘68 single cab

[skills@eurocarsplus]

[volkybus]

Yup, that sounds great... something I'd do..but I've learned the hard way.. sometimes I spend a quarter to save a nickel...My kids all adults now remind me how cheap,fugal,consertive I am...New Englanders are that way but it's refreshing to know we're not alone..If U ever get east shoot me a email @ we'll get a coffee or a beer...Bill... PR and VT...We have some nice VW shows n camp out here. Thanks

[Abscate]

[airschooled]

Looking from my phone here... but is the opposite side of the head beginning to show a crack in a similar location?

Robbie
_________________
Learn how your vintage VW works. And why it doesn't!
One-on-one tech help for your Volkswagen:
www.airschooled.com

[SGKent]

[skills@eurocarsplus]

[Jeff Geisen]

Chinese head 1st
VW head 2nd

This engine is Chinese from the pistons out. I’m testing all this stuff...
Oil cooler
Fuel pump
Oil pump
Carburetor
Distributor
Alternator
Clutch disc/pressure plate/t-o bearing



As well, AA pistons/cylinders

I’m not going to stray more than a few hundred miles from home till I can click off about 10k without failures as a result of using basic repair parts most are having to use out there.
_________________
I Corinthians 4: 1 thru 5

‘63 ragtop - ‘68 single cab

[SGKent]

hard to tell Jeff, but it looks like on the VW head the vertical reinforcement runs continually from the bottom to the top, but on the AA head it stops at the fin below the one that broke.

_________________
“Most people don’t know what they’re doing, and a lot of them are really good at it.” - George Carlin

[Jeff Geisen]

You’re right, not enough meat cast in that area.

I found some VW heads locally. Now, they’ll cost twice what the AA units did.

Let me be the example here, learn from my mistake.

As well, the t/o bearing lasted about 300 miles, so I replaced all clutch components with Sachs.
I could not live with the dizzy either.
_________________
I Corinthians 4: 1 thru 5

‘63 ragtop - ‘68 single cab