Who to go to for VR6 head work?

Hi all.. back again.
I'm helping a friend out with a VR6 Passat.
The head gasket has gone and with the engine at 110,000 miles and having inspected the cylinder head I have advised that its time to have the valves, guides and timing chaines replaced.
But... who to take the head to in the Coventry for new guides and valves along with a skim?
Thanks all.
MG

 

Anyone?

MG

 

At risk of starting another slanging match, Designa dubs replaced my head and then rebuilt the one they took off to resell. Looked good from what I saw of the rebuilt one!

 

Does Designa dubs have a machine shop?


I went down there a month ago and it didn't look like he had the stuff there to do it... might ask him if where he takes stuff to.


Thanks


MG

 

Stealth are prob nearest to Coventry and usually have replacement/exchange VR6 heads on the shelf.
HTH

 

Whatever you do, you do not need to skim the head - I have come across a skimmed VR head and it caused a lot of problems

 

Er... Chris if the head is warped... what else do I do?


MG

 

if the heads warped enuf theres IS only 2 choices:
get it skimmed or replace it.
Every model has its horror stories. If the vr6 was really un-skimmable, we'd all know about it by now!

 

Rumour has it that Designa Dubs use the mysterious 'man in the shed' that we're not allowed to name in person. Legen has it that does heads for a lot of the VW specialists, so shop around for the right price, and ask for detail on specs of what you're buying, or ask to see an example.

I got mine from Bill Blydenstein (www.blydenstein.co.uk - 10 miles south of Cambridge) but he's expensive if you want bigger valves, rather than just a porting job (when his prices are pretty competitive). Tidy work, if un-flashy - no polishing, which he doesn't believe in.

I heard good things about Grant Motorsport (Bristol), but have never used him. I've also heard he takes a long time to do the work as he's very busy.

Just re-read your post...I was assuming you wanted a bit more poke at the same time, but now I'm not sure.
Edited by: mikehorsb

 

I myself, in person have tried to assemble a VR engine that has had the head skimmed - it was in the paperwork of the car - the end plates didnt sit right to start with.
Think of it that there is no chamber in the VR head as there is in a 8v or 16v head - if you skim it, you cant 'eat' into the dish of the chamber

If the head is warped, you have no choice in my opinion but to replace it. Address the problems that have led to it becoming warped

 

DD dont name that person because he asked not to be named - if once co he supplies to charges a significant amount more there is going to be problems for him. The 'legend' is true, he does the heads for most if not all of the VW specialists.

I also heard this week that Blydenstein is not doing much work personally these days, his health getting the better of him in his twylight years, but he is using another local co to him to do his jobs - they are following his technical drawings and he is inspecting the work to make sure that they are up to his standards

 

i feel disheartened that vw would engineer a head like this.
Up to their no good money making tricks again!

 

Go to stealth!!! The man in the shed is sh"t hot... and quite cheep if u know where to find him.... not toooo far from cov, but like mikehorsb says he does flowing ect ect... He does quite a lot of the heads for the tuners....

 

Man in the shed


Edited by: GVK

 

Michael Ghia --->





Do u know any of the beetle boys from nuneaton?

 

When you have the VR heads skimmed you need to bolt the end plate to the head and have them both machined at the same time (same as BMW heads etc), you can get away with just the head if it only needs a light skim to clean the surface. Because the VR heads are prone to corrosion a good tip is to use a rotary type wire brush in a die grinder or drill on the corroded areas first, if not when the head is skimmed (using a fly cutter with single tool) the cutting tool drags the pieces of the corrosion across the head so the surface looks badly ridged after the corroded areas. Skimmed loads of VR heads without any problems. Also because of the design you can reincarnate badly warped or badly corroded heads as the VR heads will stand loads taking off them as they are a flat head (no combustion chamber)



remember though that if you skim loads off the valves may need to be cut quite heavily to sit them back into the head and because the VRs have a fine tolerance for the tappet operating range then the valve stem needs to be stem ended. Measure the depth of the valve head before skimming and then after to work out how far to cut the valve/seat and also measure the depth of the valve stem below the surface where the rocker cover fits. some high mileage VRr do suffer from the tappets pumping up when revved from cold with the oil thick and by just cutting the valves and seats this makes it worse, seen two like this which had been done and needed the head removing and sorting. If you need it I think I have the stem depths somewhere.

Daz

 

the only 'problem' I have with the man in the shed, and lots of others including the one I have used in the past, is the proof - you dont get flowbench figures for before and after. I am not trying to suggest that the gains arent there or are minimul, but I would like to see proof

 

other problem is who wants to admit they spent a fortune on there engine for very little gain, also there mind thinks its faster. direct relation to lightening of wallet

 

You're right that Blydenstein doesn't do all the work himself - and he's quite open about it. I don't know if this is partly related to his health. He seemed pretty sprightly to me, if a little hard of hearing (not surprising having had his head under a race-car bonnet for the last 50 years).

I do know that part of the reason is some of his machine tools are impossible to get spares for now, so he has to contract those bits of machining out or buy new machines.

 

Whae is this mysterious 'man in the shed'? Is it D.C. in Oxfordshire? Somebody PM me as I need a BVH.