Erm!!!

wait till some who know VVC mechs comes along.

"Paging Dr Dave, calling Dr Dave"

 

not being funny, but if you need instructions I wouldnt attempt it. :err:

 

I don't see how everything could stay timed up if you need to remove the cams.
Who says it needs skimming?

 

If it should need to be skimmed,why not ask the machine shop if they can do it.
The machine shop I use generally take the head complete,skim and then rebuild.
Steve

 

The machine shop may well be able to help me out if I get really stuck, I guess they'll just charge me a bit more.

It needs skimming because I'll be using a Land Rover head gasket, which is 0.2mm thicker than the old one, so to keep the compression ratio it'll need skimming.

 

Where did you get that info?

The LR gasket has been used on a fair few VVC's without skimming, mine included without any problems at all.
No running problems, no idle problems...same as it was before.
I wouldn't skim for the sake of it.

 

There have been no reports of any issues using the LR HG on a non skimmed head. So unless you have any warping or pitting to remove then I personally wouldn't skim.

 

I work for LR as a mechanical development engineer and know some of the people who worked on the k series head gasket improvement, so got the info off them.

I calculated the compression ratio with the thicker gasket would be 10.3:1, as opposed to 10.5:1, which is still inside of manufacturing tolerances for the engine. I was considering taking it back up to about 10.8 for a bit more performance and economy .... the truth is that difference it will make is probably un noticeable on the road, but I've become slightly brainwashed by the various places I've worked on engine development where gains as little as 1% are considered to be worthwhile!