Hi all.One of my heads needs replacing.I have a really good head on the shelf but I think it's off a type 2 camper and it has a small step round the combustion chamber.Old head was just flat.Could I use this head or will it affect the running. Cheers

Are you 100% there is not an aluminium sealing ring stuck in it.

Are you sure that your matching head can't be repaired? Guides and valve seats can be replaced and cracks can often by welded.

The ally ring isn't stuck it's part of the head.Old head looks like valve seats are loose.The actual step is about 3mm thick

You'd need to measure the capacity of the combustion chambers to see if they match.

That sounds complicated..I'm hopeless at maths😂

Easy easy
Use a measuring jug full to a mark, 500ml say, and fill one chamber with water. Mark the level in the jug.

Refill the jug to the level and repeat for all 4. They should be about the same.

Easy easy
Use a measuring jug full to a mark, 500ml say, and fill one chamber with water. Mark the level in the jug.

Refill the jug to the level and repeat for all 4. They should be about the same.

I use a Perspex disc the size of the hole in the cylinder head (cut from an old number plate). It's got a hole drilled in it and I fill the combustion chamber with something like paraffin or diesel with measured amounts from something like a syringe until it gets to the top.

That's the proper way to co it but just to see if yhe heads are similar my crude way shuld be enough to maybe rule them out. If they're close then use David's method to make sure

Some replacement heads come machined flat with a steel shim to fit if needed to match a standard ridged head. These shims are available from the usual suspects.

Cheers guys I'll give it a go

All I remember is if I needed a head change or anything else it was off for a 20 minute drive from my hometown to Northallerton where a guy who became a true mate to me and my best pal, (couldn`t do a trip there without my best pal coming  )   The guy we went to see had a bungalow and huge barns with fields full of old Beetles, Campers, Panel Vans and everything type 3. He had boxes and boxes of stripped parts piled up inside and outdoors.  Wanted a part, say a cylinder head to keep in topic, you picked one up and he took a bit of cash or sometimes a few hours donated to stripping stuff down and off home. Old head off and replacement on and away you went. Think this sort of instant changeability without running hiccups was down to all the Beetles my pal and I could afford were old junk hence pre 1960 or very early 1960`s and the engines were 1200cc with a massive 34 bhp. These engines just went on and on no matter how mistreated they had been, Jesus.. I need help to get my head in the real now world         Miss all that going home up to the eyeballs in old black engine oil and what was once grease but had become mixed with road crap and water...   

Paul we had a guy like that in town down the marina he brought type 3 VW for breaking and had 3 or 4 he used but had load of other stuff for beetles the prices were related to the number of whiskies he thought the bits were worth. there were a few buildings full of stripped parts as they came off used him a lot in the 70's and early 80's before the family sold up and he moved down south to the coast. Thinking back you realise how fast these things rotted out and got broken up.

Paul we had a guy like that in town down the marina he brought type 3 VW for breaking and had 3 or 4 he used but had load of other stuff for beetles the prices were related to the number of whiskies he thought the bits were worth. there were a few buildings full of stripped parts as they came off used him a lot in the 70's and early 80's before the family sold up and he moved down south to the coast. Thinking back you realise how fast these things rotted out and got broken up.

Guessing Keith that these type of guys must have been in all locations across England and Wales. There was certainly no shortage of scrapped Beetles back then. I cannot recall ever having a Beetle back in the 70`s that at the very least had a completely rotted out section just below the spare wheel or the bottom two wing bolt holes that had the captive nuts that just spun around and fell appart as the ring spanner came close. Do you remember driving a Beetle on a wet rainy day and pushing in the windscreen washer button located in the center of the wiper dash switch just to find out that the spare tyre was totally flat and had no air left. The short flat wiper blades were not exactly 100% effective as the blade rocked over each sweep but it was what it was and I never gave it a second thought - just drove on - sometimes with squinted eyes trying to see ahead