Diesel Newbie Rebuild Question

[grapegrower]

I bought a vanagon with a thrashed engine (timing belt broke). I have pulled the engine and started disassembly. I have a good head from a 1.6 rabbit. If I have to have the cylinders bored twenty thousanths can I use the stock head and head gasket? Or do I need to have it flycut twenty thousanths? Thanks in advance for the response(s)

[Fatmobile]

The only thing different about the head gasket might be the thickness.
One headgasket fits all bore sizes,... unless you are going tot he 1.7 pistons.

[grapegrower]

Thank you. In the past I've rebuilt some old 40, 53 hp aircooled vws
and a couple of old v8s in the 60s. But diesel is new to me. Thanks again.

[libbybapa]

Actually, fatmobile, the diesel vanagon head gaskets are the same thicknesses as the golf/jetta mechanical 1.6 gaskets, but they are specific part numbers for the diesel vanagon. They actually had differently sized holes for the cooling channels in order to compensate the flow for the fact that the vanagon engine was tipped an extra 35°. That being said, only one of the diesel vanagon gaskets is shown as still available from VW (two notch IIRC). Additionally, lots of people have successfully run golf/jetta headgaskets in vanagons without any perception of problems.

Andrew