I recently bought a 79 VW Rabbit with what looks like a 1.5 or 1.6 8v cis gasoline engine. Took the head off the block to replace the head gasket and timing belt but looking for a replacement head gasket has turned into a dead ache. Can anyone help me find apart # for a replacement head gasket? I have tried different auto parts stores and nobody seems to have a matching head gasket.
The picture is identical to my rabbit cylinder head.
Go to www.germanautoparts.com
Edit: never mind, they don't have. Hmmmm?
Rsjparts.com
The parts place
Tectonics Tuning - talk to a legend named Colin
There are a ton more good folks to help out than mentioned here. When hunting online type your question/key words and add vwvortex.
I always check RockAuto before I buy any car part. Autohaus is also good.
As for gaskets for the 1.5, 1.6, & 1.7, things like head gaskets would be the same part over the many years they were sold.
Just curious are you just rebuilding it to stock specs or trying to hop it up? If trying to hop it up unless you are going to turbo or supercharge it it's not worth the effort. Easier to drop in a 16v and get the hp that way if you are looking for that and keeping it n/a.
FCP Euro seems to have them too. I recently ordered from them and had a good experience.
Thanks for the great info guys. It might seem that i might have a heron engine stuffed in my rabbit, well that's what a couple of guys who i spoke with said. Any VW expert have any info on these heron engines?
The heron head has no combustion chamber. It is dead flat and the dish in the piston is the chamber.
The head in the pic you linked is not a heron
Can I ask what your end goal is here? If it's oem original perfection carry on.
If it's affordable good solution I would strongly suggest you make a coffee table out of that block and move on.
A 1.8 cabby motor is nearly identical visually as a drop in for scrap money.
You can put a 2.0 aba in it for 300-500 and have literall twice the hp, tq, and fuel economy without cutting anything.
A 1.8T swap for 300hp is more involved but not that much more.
Just an FYI on the Henron head. I owned/own 4 different Ford Fiesta's so I'm familiar with that design of combustion chamber. It was used on a number of other Ford engines that most here wont' be familiar with. Such as the 430 & 462 MEL v8's as one example.
In reply to Junior_Jose :
Junior - is that the ACTUAL picture of your head? If so, someone put some BIG valves in there, and likely a lot of work on other parts (pistons, cam, etc). Before the 1.8 8V 'GTI' engines came out, that was the only option.
However, like most people said, going through the trouble to do this engine is not worth it unless you are perfectly happy with a work-a-day 1.6 or 1.7. Compared to the 1.8, they are anemic and gutless. One of the 1.8's with 10:1 compression, a mild cam and a better intake and exhaust, and you are in the 120+hp range, which makes a Mk1 really fun. Other than a coolant hose, they bolt right in, too! These can be had for $100-300 all day long.
For a little more work and effort, a 2.0L 16V is the perfect engine to swap in. You need to do the different CIS injection and ignition, but it's pretty straight forward. Or, you could put some cycle carbs on it and run a Saab 900 (I think, been a while...) distributor. I ran a Rabbit Truck with a mild 2.0 16V for YEARS and it was super fun.
Oh, and the Heron heads were only on the early Euro 1.6 GTI engines. We never got them here in the USA, though they were sold through some speed shops back in the 1980s as upgrades, though not for long, as the 1.8 GTI heads flow as good or better.
Actually the 16v will run on the current cis in the car that's if it is fuel injected.
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