Engine Assy; Copper Gasket Between Head & Cylinder? Options

[vesnyder]

I received a set of copper gaskets with my new AA P&C's and I assumed they go between the heads and cylinders (they fit perfectly inside the heads around the valves) but after I torque up the heads there looks like there is a space between the head and cylinder the same thickness as the copper washer - did I put those in the wrong place?

I watcehd Jake's video and he mentions nothing about a gasket here?

[toon1]

Oh boy, here we go!!!LOL

cap'n say's YES to the gasket, Jake say's NO.

Your choice, either will work.

My last top end rebuild I used them and after6000 miles noticed that a couple had sucked in twards the center of the cyl. . The engine ran fine.

My .02

[orange914]

Oh boy, here we go!!!LOL

cap'n say's YES to the gasket, Jake say's NO.

Your choice, either will work.

My last top end rebuild I used them and after6000 miles noticed that a couple had sucked in twards the center of the cyl. . The engine ran fine.

My .02

vw also came out with a tsb bulletin saying no gaskets between heads/cylinders

[Cap'n Krusty]

Oh boy, here we go!!!LOL

cap'n say's YES to the gasket, Jake say's NO.

Your choice, either will work.

My last top end rebuild I used them and after6000 miles noticed that a couple had sucked in twards the center of the cyl. . The engine ran fine.

My .02

vw also came out with a tsb bulletin saying no gaskets between heads/cylinders

See? The information is true, BUT, it's for bus pistons, REPLACEMENT bus heads, and bus compression, running different EFI. (And running an EGR to keep the combustion temps down!) NOWHERE does it say information pertaining to 1976 and newer VW BUSSES applies to 914s. By the year to which the bulletin applies, the 2.0 engine was the only 914 engine available, and it has different pistons, different cylinders, different heads, and a different compression ratio. Sure, apples and oranges are both round, both fruit, and both grow on trees with roots, trunks, and green leaves. Does that make the same TSBs apply to both? Do they have the same growing seasons, grow well under the same climatic conditions, and look and taste the same? Take the same fertilizer? Maybe not. I'll buy Jake running engines without head gaskets, for his own reasons, and with his own experience, but I'll NEVER buy applying a totally irrelevant TSB as a reason for doing so.

Put it another way: California specifies a white reflectorized license plate with blue lettering. Does that mean everyone in every other state should run out and paint theirs those colors? Are their cops gonna give 'em tickets if they don't?

I REALLY wish this urban myth would die an appropriate death. How many people who cite this TSB have actually read it, and IN CONTEXT? What about the rods? Read that one? If you're gonna cite TSBs, at least cite ones that apply.

The Cap'n