1800 heads on a type 4 2 litre motor

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marcw
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1800 heads on a type 4 2 litre motor

Post by marcw »

Hello,

I have come into two 1800 heads and am thinking of putting them into my type 4 2 litre CU engine. I have read this is a straight swap however, have learned that there is never any such thing.

1) is this a good idea?

2) Is it a simple swap of the heads to put them in? (The first issue I know is that the exhaust ports are different but I need a new exhaust manifold / heat exchange in any case. My square port heat exchanges are paper thin. )

3) if it is, what needs to be done from jets in the carbs to timing etc etc

Long story short, I had the air mixture screw from the little third idle carb rattle out when driving home from the Kruger. The engine then obviously had lots and lots or air coming in from this carb. It ran extremely lean for about 500Kms at 4000 RPM (the high revs meant it was not noticed until it was too late).

I have blown the seats on the current 3/4 head so I need to either fix the head (welding) or replace both with new. A set of 1800 heads fell into my lap hence the question.

Marc


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Tony Z
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Re: 1800 heads on a type 4 2 litre motor

Post by Tony Z »

the 1800 heads are supposed to be the best of all the T4 heads.
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Re: 1800 heads on a type 4 2 litre motor

Post by marcw »

Okydoky - I will attempt to put them in - thanks Tony

Will keep the pictures etc etc on this post as I progress
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Re: 1800 heads on a type 4 2 litre motor

Post by fig »

I don't know if they're a staright fit without modifications, but 1800 can definitely be used on a 2.0l engine. 1800 heads are popular because they had the biggest stock valves on a type4 engine. 2.0l engines had smaller valves.
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Re: 1800 heads on a type 4 2 litre motor

Post by sean »

Hi Mark. Please post pics of these 1800 heads.

They will fit straight on to the 2.0 motor, but I feel it’s not correct to make a bastard motor with mixed parts. If it is a CU casing, it should have CU heads and exhaust.

Also remember it is quite easy to fit the bigger valves into the 2.0L heads. When replacing the seats, just simply fit the bigger 1800 ones. I have done this, but quite honestly it did buggerall to the way it drives. The 1800 type 4 motor is the nicer motor of the batch, but it works in harmony in conjunction with the stroke, piston head design, cylinder head design and cam that all differ from a 2.0L.

Your story regarding the running lean causing a valve seat to come out is rather strange. I don’t think that could have caused that. Possibly poor fitment thereof when your heads were reconditioned.
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Re: 1800 heads on a type 4 2 litre motor

Post by marcw »

Hi Sean - thanks for that, I would think the Germans knew what they were doing when they designed the engine although I do often wonder where all the petrol goes in my old buss.

The engine did run lean for 7 hours under heavy load and 38 degrees temperatures and my thinking was that it got really hot because of this. I may be wrong.

The possibility of poor fitment is exactly why I am a little loath to put new seats in the old heads. I have now had three sets of heads in 10 years fail on me (she is an every day runner). The experts keep telling me that the heads are fixed. New valves, new valve stems, new seats all done in the current heads 25Kms ago. This is too soon for failure in my book. Heads should last hundreds of thousand kilometers not 25K.

The 1800 heads have never been welded which is a first for me and I am hoping that they will therefore be a little stronger.

But once my old heads are off I will know more. I am tired of replacing heads on this type 4 engine of mine. This time I have already purchased a temperature gauge.
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Re: 1800 heads on a type 4 2 litre motor

Post by Tony Z »

VW's original heads when new were only rated for 80 000km, after that, it was a replaceable part. You are using old cores with soft aluminium... I dont think 25000km is too unreasonable when you take this into account
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Re: 1800 heads on a type 4 2 litre motor

Post by marcw »

WoW Tony that is so sad if true. I will need to purchase an hydraulic lift soon so that it is simpler to change the heads once a year. :-)
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Re: 1800 heads on a type 4 2 litre motor

Post by marcw »

I think I should also then have all 6 of my heads rebuilt by McDonalds so that I have spares for the next 6 years.
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Re: 1800 heads on a type 4 2 litre motor

Post by retrovan »

A correctly reworked head should be better then the 2nd hand head as they have not been exposed to overheating and loosened up already.

When you now have the heads fitted, get the carb on the 3-4 pistons set slightly rich to help cool the number 3 as this is always the one that overheats 1st

The guys do not heat the heads high enough and freeze the seats enough to give a over spec interference fit.

The normal engineering spec is far too low for the type 4 head and should be nearer double standard fit.

ie, even at these temperatures , the seats must not fall in place but would still need pressing.

Also If I remember right they had a slight angle to them, so they cannot come out when loose.

Good luck with your heads, the type 4 motor is worth it.

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Re: 1800 heads on a type 4 2 litre motor

Post by sean »

Oh no, 25 000km is way to low. For sure any VW part is not going to last hundreds of thousand of km like a Mercedes, but you should at least get 100 000km out of the heads. I have had 2 type 4 motors that I myself did more than 100 000km without having to remove the heads.

Both motors I could have classified as tired when they past the 100 000km range though. It was certainly more than just the valves, cams and cylinder wear were also quite noticeable.
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