Help with BHW head gasket on ALH

Upgrading to BHW pistons in my ALH and can't seem to find the measurements for the BHW head gasket I need.

The highest protrusion I saw was .040" or 1.016mm, does anyone know which gasket will work for me or can you tell me where I can find the ranges for the 1, 2, and 3 hole BHW gaskets?

Also, does it matter if I am running arp head studs with final torque of 70 ft lbs?

Thanks!
Paul

Why only torquing your head studs to 70? IIRC mine were at 125 ft/lbs.

To answer your question,
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=306773
says a 2 hole ALH head gasket should do the job, and they're at 1.53 to 1.57mm depending on the manufacturer (only looking at rockauto here)
looking at a bhw head gasket (2005 passat 2L TD application), their 2 hole ones are specced to the same thickness.

No idea if it has the right holes in the right places, I seem to remember another thread on it a bit ago, so you've probably already got that answer in your head.

[486] thanks for the reply and the reminder about the torque on the arp studs, I was using a really old thread for the 70 ft/lb spec but I do remember the 125 ft/lb being correct.

I did see a thread (http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=427652) talking about the holes but as far as I know I should be using the BHW head gasket.

This thread (http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=327177) shows "before compression" measurements but I was wondering how much clearance your supposed to have between tdc piston to head.

If I use the 2 hole 1.53mm the clearance would be around .53mm right?

You need more than 0.010" (theoretical thermal expansion of the piston)

OEM runs 0.017"-0.026" on an ALH and BEW for reference

I'm running about 0.015" on my engine with ceramic coated pistons without issue

Fix_Until_Broke said:

You need more than 0.010" (theoretical thermal expansion of the piston)

OEM runs 0.017"-0.026" on an ALH and BEW for reference

I'm running about 0.015" on my engine with ceramic coated pistons without issue

Click to expand...

So I could use a 1 hole? Is a 1 hole 1.45mm on a BHW?

Never mind looks like 2 hole is best bet for me, thanks!

assuming BEW is the same specs as BHW

I can't tell you the differences between BEW and BHW - You'd have to look up the specs for that and compare with what hardware you're using.

Fix_Until_Broke said:

I can't tell you the differences between BEW and BHW - You'd have to look up the specs for that and compare with what hardware you're using.

Click to expand...

Ya I was hoping someone on this forum could tell me if BEW specs were the same as BHW

Huh, strange that your chart doesn't line up with the thickness of the BEW gasket that I saw on rock auto. Their supplier might just be crossing over the ALH gasket to reduce the stock they have to keep.

ETA: To go off on a tangent, on my engine with two bent rods and a lot of miles afterwords, the two with excessive piston/head clearance had a bunch of carbon buildup, and the two that were normal did not have any buildup. Might be a case for arguing against lowering CR with a thicker gasket.

[486] said:

Huh, strange that your chart doesn't line up with the thickness of the BEW gasket that I saw on rock auto. Their supplier might just be crossing over the ALH gasket to reduce the stock they have to keep.

ETA: To go off on a tangent, on my engine with two bent rods and a lot of miles afterwords, the two with excessive piston/head clearance had a bunch of carbon buildup, and the two that were normal did not have any buildup. Might be a case for arguing against lowering CR with a thicker gasket.

Click to expand...

I was going to order the 2 hole, you don't think it will work?

RCPaul said:

I was going to order the 2 hole, you don't think it will work?

Click to expand...

No idea. Go by the thickness measurement listed rather than the number of holes. Seems that they aren't the same from engine to engine.