Blown Head Gasket, can it be changed in the car? Options

[fatlando]

I haven't been able to take pictures yet, but everybody I've talked to said it sounds like a Head Gasket.

Is this painful $$$$

[Cap'n Krusty]

QUOTE (eric914 @ Jun 27 2005, 12:49 PM)

The tech bullitan does not say the heads have been redesigned. It says the following modifications have been to the remanufactured engines. As for longer rods and cylinders, why? The bulitan clearly states use a larger aluminum shim on the block side to compensate for the removed gaskets. As for not lapping cylinders and all that expensive machine work, do you lap valves after all that expensive head work? Of course you do (or the head remanufacture did it for you). As for this being only for type II's the following is from the PET. 039 100 031 X SHORT ENGINEEXCHANGE74 KW, 100 DIN-PSWITHCYLINDER HEADOIL COOLERFLYWHEEL 1 039.GB

The rods aren't longer, they're different. Look at the bulletin. The new haeds come with a tech note right in the box that addresses the redesign question.
As for lapping the valves, you're spinning a SINGLE valve in it's seat, which has been centered on the guide. When you lap the cylinders, you're holding each cylinder, one at a time, in your not-so-calibrated hands and spinning them in the precisely (and expensively) planed spigot in the head. And you're gonna hold that plane? Maybe not.
As to the replacement engines, I've never heard of ANYONE ever buying a reman 2 litre 914 engine from Porsche. I do concede it's probably happened, though. Note that the suffixes "B, C, and D X are on the list, the "plain" isn't. The suffix is the final delineator of the part number, and is conspicuous by it's absense. If it is in fact an engine rebuilt after the date of the tech bulletin, and is covered on the list, then it has the revised rods and pistons. Unless you have those, the changes don't apply to your engine. The Cap'n