AllStage Cylinder Heads - "man in the shed"

[MikeH]

I originally found this guy after some folks on ClubGTI wouldn't share his details, so I did a bit of digging and found him on my own.

He's the supplier to TSR, C&R, Stealth, and many of the other well known VW Tuners, for cylinder head work. He also supplies rebuilt standard heads to most/all of the front runners in the Golf GTI Race Series. If you want to pay someone to do the whole job, including fitting to your car, then you're better going to one of the tuners, but if you want to buy a head at trade prices, and DIY your engine build, then you can save a good bit of cash by going direct.

I don't really want to publish numbers on the net, but if you're serious about having a cylinder head work done, then drop me a PM and I'll pass on some details, and maybe I can answer some questions for you.

I might be out of date on prices, but last I heard, prices were from (and all on an exchange basis)
8v Ported & Polished Head on Std Valve sizes - £250 + VAT
16v Ported & Polished Head, std valve sizes - £350 + VAT

Larger valve sizes get significantly more expensive, as it's a lot more work, but you'll get good gains on std valves - 5-10% power gain on average, but it depends a lot on the rest of the engine spec.

Note: I over the last few years I've got to know Dave (the man in the shed) fairly well, through running the group buy I set up for Club GTI, but I'm not affiliated to his business in any way, or getting any sort of commission for passing people on.

Examples of his work - this head is currently on one of my road 'roccos. My track car also has one of his heads on it. I did have a 16v head done as well, but can't find any pics of it.

[Funky Diver]

Mike, does hte port n polish include 3 stepping hte valves, or is that extra?

I have an 8V head that I'm looking to get done, and considering the local place (who apparently do a bloody good job) lost my valves forcing me to buy another head to get the bloody thing done I'm kinda reluctant to go back there.

What is hte turnaround time on the work being done (not that it bothers me, but might be handy for folks thinking of having a man-in-a-shed-head done.

Cheers matey

[MikeH]

Good points, Funkmeister.

- Yes, the work includes 3 angle seats and back-cutting/reprofiling the valves to suit. It also includes a light skim to make sure the head face is flat and clean. Heavier skims to up your CR can be done to your requirements.
- Heads are dipped in a caustic tank, so normally come back looking much newer and cleaner than you last saw them, they also get a full wash after machining to remove any swarf.
- Valve guides are replaced if needed
- Stripdown and assembly of the valvegear, but only valves/springs

What's not included is:
- any repairs to your head for broken studs, corrosion, or other damage.
- valve stem seals, simply because there's an assumption that you'll be buying a head set of gaskets anyway, so if you provide the stem seals out of that it'll keep the costs down, as you've already paid for them!
- Shimming of solid tappet cams, although this can easily be done. He has all the tools and a large stock of shims.


Turn around time is normally a couple of weeks, but it depends how busy he is. He normally works 6 or 7 days a week, and has never had to advertise to keep busy. He likes working though, and tends to fit things in if the work's there.

Hope that helps - any more questions, let me know.

BTW, if someone lost my valves, I'd expect them to find a replacement!