A4 ALH Head Rebuild

I need some advice on re-doing the head for an '03 ALH (valves, lifters, guides, etc - long story). I'm looking for a list of reputable places to buy a new bolt on head or have someone rebuild.

-Jon

You came to the right place!!! Franko6 is the go to source on head rebuilds for the TDI's. He's located in St. Louis area (Lockwood), MO.

Contact him via telephone at - 417-232-4634

Beware of any inferior parts or rebuilders that you may find on ebay or elsewhere.

Not really close to Saint Louis, but... as racka said, Frank Irving in Lockwood, MO is very highly regarded when it comes to these cars - especially with regard to rebuilding cylinder heads!!! (BTW: he can also supply you with all the other needed parts when putting the engine back together - timing belt kit, cylinder head, cylinder head bolts...) http://forums.tdiclub.com/member.php?u=31923

If you want some help closer to home, contact Herm Pasker (UserID "Herm TDI" here...) http://forums.tdiclub.com/member.php?u=7130 He's in Richmond, ME, a superb mechanic... he could possibly recommended someone local, but most people here would just send the head to the Wild West...

All the best,

Yuri

Idparts sells a complete head for $1099, any one have any experience?

IDParts is a fine vendor here and I've purchased from them several times, but as for myself, I would ONLY use frank06's services when it comes to TDI heads. I have gone to him for work twice, once to have him rebuild a head on my old 98 Jetta and once I purchased an ALH head. I would only have him do the rebuild or have him supply an OEM Kolbenschmidt head. He is an incredible guy to deal with, does top notch work, and the work is reasonably priced.

I would also recommend Frank.

Actually the AMC heads are pretty good for the TDI. I've seen several go a couple hundred K miles. The Kobleschmidt heads are VERY good but a few hundred $$ more.

I've had varying results with the AMC heads. One thing is for sure. Dollar for dollar, I make heads worth the money. I do occasionally have an outright head for $795. Or if you prefer, most of the time I fix your cylinder head and return it to you. Head repair is usually in the neighborhood of $600-$650. Depends on what is wrong and how many valves are bent, etc.

I also can provide a 'one box ship'. Everything you need as a reassembly kit to put it all back together, nothing missing; quality parts, aggressive pricing.

Actually rackaracka, I'm closer to Joplin, MO then I am to St Louis, but thank you, one and all for the high compliments. I appreciate them.

I think AMC heads are poor. The castings are fair enough, but the components they use are not necessarily the best, but I admit I have never had any experience with an ALH head. The older diesel heads they built had wiped out valve guides after 25k miles, and used very poor quality springs and valves. Our local machine shop can fix them with proper parts, but why have to go through all the trouble on a "new" head?

The waterboxer AMC heads are complete crap, those things would have horrible valve issues in short order, too.

I would be curious to see what a new AMC ALH head is composed of, parts-wise. There are a lot of knock-off bits floating around out there for VAG products largely due to their popularity in China and South America. There are some lifters I have seen that you can tell easily by holding one in your hand is nowhere near as well made as a genuine INA part. I'm sure Frank can share some horror stories of Chinaloy parts as well. The AMC heads are still made in Spain, I think.

Personally, I'd rather have a professionally redone genuine VAG cylinder head, with known quality parts like TRW valves, INA lifters, etc. And if for some reason the head is so bad it cannot be properly put back into service, I'd find a used VAG head to rebuild or just buck up and buy a new Volkswagen head. It'll only be about $300 more for a complete genuine reman head, which is as good as new anyways (and they often ARE actually a new part).

That picture on IDparts website looks like a KS head, actually. AMC heads will have "AMC" in the casting right in the middle, above the spot where the original VAG part number would have been.

The AMC's I've seen for TDI's are pretty good. I would NOT rec them for the more common thing I see them for, inline 6 motors from Mercedes and BMW. Total garbage there....

Not knocking Frank at all, he does quality work.

Hay, Frank, do you do older 1.6 heads as well?
Also, if I have a warped head from overheating, do you mill or do you use the heat method to repair?

The head bolts appear to have a 12 point torx style head, can anyone save me some time and tell me what size they are (10mm?) and where I can easily buy a socket?

Not Torx... Triple-Square, usually called XZN... 12 mm for the cylinder head bolts... Most well-stocked hardware places should have them... Lowes, etc... occasionally Auto-Zone, etc...
www.metalnerd.com has all sorts of specialty bits and tools for VWs...

Yuri