removing the cylinder head!!!

[abstractduk]

ive been driving my mk3 abs grannymobile(auto) 7000 miles with a blown head gasket and im fed up of replacing hoses and being sprayed in the eye with capuccino.
ive recently have had god seize my fan for me in standstill traffic on the motorway with my mother in law in the back seat-first time i met her-very classy....

so i need to replace the fan and the cylinder head gasket-cylinder head i'll get skimmed if it look at all wonky and ill be fitting the a mattress size low compression gasket to minimize the chance of blowing again.

would love to hear of any short-cuts anyone has(not liquid glass thanks) but more specifically if there are any VW specific tools i might need to do the job?

thanks in advance-you loverly peeps •* )

[SammoVWT]

Not sure of any shortcuts, but you might want to check the crank bearings for wear driving it with a blown gasket for that distance. A standard gasket should be ok, but depends on how much the head needs skimming.

Usually hg problems are from lack of coolant changes, or wrong/mixed coolant. Worth checking to see if the head has gone bad. But with your fan failure must have been a nightmare!

That's not saying the gasket might not have broken due to weakness, but worth checking over rather than doing all that work rebuilding it with a possibly corroded head.

[Housemaster300]

If you need a good head ive just put one on ebay complete with manifolds in good working order,would just skim it.For a 1.8ABS