Cylinder Head

The cylinder head is, of course, the 16-valve engine's major departure from Volkswagen's other four-cylinder engines. Its crossflow design features four valves per cylinder, versus the usual two, operated by two overhead camshafts. The result is more efficient air flow into and out of the combustion chambers, and an engine with greater efficiency and power over a wide rpm range.

The cylinder head is an aluminum alloy casting with sintered steel valve seats. The press-fit valve guides are replaceable, while the bearing surfaces for the dual camshafts and the bores for the cam followers are machined directly into the cylinder head casting. Fig. 1-2 shows the 16-valve cylinder head and its four-valve combuston chambers.

Fig. 1-2.

16-valve cylinder head showing orientation of intake valves (top) and exhaust valves (bottom).