Cracked valve?

[sciroccodriver]

On this head I bought from Peter, I was looking over it a lot closer today than I ever had before and one of the exhaust valves appears to be cracked. Theres no signs of any of the valves hitting anything. The head is at TDC and the valve is closed. Can this head be pressure checked or something if I take it to a machine shop??? If its bad enough to be leaking or if I definitely need to replace it, can I just replace the one valve and move on? Can I do it myself or do I need special tools? Suggestions? Anybody wanna help cause I don't have head tools. Arrrr... perhaps I should buy some generic tools for compressing the valve springs??? Gimme ideas/suggestions...

[gerich]

I haven't found any generic head tools that work well with vw heads. I have the Lisle universal spring compressor and it works pretty well. Let me know if you need to borrow it. I think you might be able to get away with just replacing the valve. Might not be a bad idea to lap the valve but I have heard pros/cons on both sides of whether valve lapping is good or not. your call I guess. anyway let me know.

[evan@absolute]

you certainly can replace just one valve. You certainly need to replace it if it even ooks cracked. You should have the seat cut and the valve installed correctly. If you take it to a machine shop they would probably do just one valve for $20. A lot cheaper then doing what you are doing over again.

[pinky]

i agree, take it to a machine shop.

[sciroccodriver]

Werd.. thanks guys. That's what I'll do. I was figuring that I'd need to. I was almost finished cleaning it up and was about to sit it on the block and bolt it down when I thought I'd look at it one more time. D'oh! I guess its better than having that valve come apart later on and end up doing a lot more damage.. that would be fun... NOT.
So... as far as Greensboro.... Carquest???

[pinky]

carquest does offer machine shop services...

[sciroccodriver]

I'm just thinking its gotta be quick... ie I can't take off work to take it over to Raleigh or Charlotte....

[evan@absolute]

total thread jack here but what is the diameter of the intake valves? I don't have it on my laptop and i want it for some calculations.

[blue02]

On my last car, I took ALOT of engine parts over to a place in Winston-Salem off of peterscreek pkwy called 'Golden Shamrock'. They do any type of work you'll need, and they do excellent work.

Brian

[pinky]

evan,

Product ID: 109.126
Intake Valve for 1.8T OEM
(26.9mm, 6mm Stem)

from techtonics tuning website

[evan@absolute]

thanks Kevin.

[sciroccodriver]

Jamie's Machine Shop is still working on it. Its supposed to be done today. He ended up finding 2 cracked valves and one that was leaking good. He's putting it back together with new seals/guides and everything cleaned up and sealing good. Its almost a rebuilt head..... and fortunately his prices are decent in my opinion. I haven't had to deal with a many machine shops but this guy seems quite honest and easy to deal with.

[a4wdhybrid]

ive heard good things about him as well