at the end of the day its your call.. but with a wider gasket (normal g40) you should really use g40 head bolts which are longer too. (vag only btw)

And really expensive for the set too!

The G40 bolts are longer due to the gasket being thicker on a G40. As i said on a previous thread, there is a bit of play to get the gasket aligned correctly with the metal version. That play affects the coolant channels the most if you have a look next time. Best to scribe/paint the locating holes (dowle holes on the mk4) on the block before you start.

g40 bolts are only 2mm longer?

i cant see that making much difference?

am i wrong?

Yeah your right, no difference. They did it for the grin!

they did it so you can pay the priveledge of having genuine G40 parts. :lol:

taking it one stage further, if the head gaskets are the same thickness and the torque is the same as other engines its possibly over engineering.

on that basis once you start upping the power levels shouldn't you need even longer longer bolts too, just in case you strip the threads in the block due to the amount of power being produced?

no the gaskets are thicker apparently thickest of mk3 ones

but not 2mm thicker than a normally aspirated 1.3, and when you take into acccount that the counterbore/chamfer at the top of the threads in the block varies in depth, the difference in head gasket thickness will make sod all difference.

For anyone thats interested - problem solved

master cylinder leaked into the brake servo - filled it with brake fluid

this was sucked into the car via the vacuum pipe / one way valve straight into the air inlet manifold...........

g40 bolts are only 2mm longer?

i cant see that making much difference?

am i wrong?

VW obviously thought it made a difference or they wouldn't have gone to the expense and effort of sourcing different bolts for the g40 model. And no offense to anyone on here but I trust VW's multi-million pound reasearch department before anything I read on the Internet!

g40 bolts are only 2mm longer?

i cant see that making much difference?

am i wrong?

VW obviously thought it made a difference or they wouldn't have gone to the expense and effort of sourcing different bolts for the g40 model. And no offense to anyone on here but I trust VW's multi-million pound reasearch department before anything I read on the Internet!

i thought G40 bolts were 2mm shorter????????

although i'm probably wrong about that , i always used standard size bolts anyway, never had a problem

no they're longer because the head gasket is thicker.

no they're longer because the head gasket is thicker.

good call....

so ..

if using the metal gasket, use normal bolts

if using normal gasket, use the longer g40 specific bolts.

dont shout at me for this, but i dont think it really matters. the first g40 i did a headgasket on is still running as it should (...9 months later)