Esteamed Listees:
When you go for a rebuild, watch out! The quality of the gaskets is way
underrated as I am figuring out.
Here is the complaint I have sent to the machine shop that rebuilt my diesel
a year ago:

Dear Ram Engine, Spokane, Washington:

Last year I purchased a VW Diesel short block(bronze) from you. At the time
I complained about the low quality of the gasket set I was forced to accept
by your policy.

Now it has been 12 months later and 12K miles. I have replaced 4 gaskets
including the head gasket which blew out in San Francisco.

Here is a photo of the most recent broken gasket:
http://internet.cybermesa.com/~bludevil/BrokenGasket.jpg
Notice how it was literally was pushed out of its two surfaces!

Here is a close up:
http://internet.cybermesa.com/~bludevil/GasketDetail.jpg

The gasket I replaced it with was an original Volkswagen thick gasket but
notice the broken one was paper thin!

Obviously the gasket set included with the engine was deficient, since each
gasket I replace is much thinner than the Volkswagen original. I am now
anticipating replacing the entire set incrementally.

I am not making a warrantee claim on this but you should know the poor
quality of your gaskets has turned me into a dissatisfied customer and I
will not recommend your machine shop.
I will also post to my internet Vanagon group the poor quality of your work.

http://www.Gnarlodious.com/Vanagon/Vanagon.html
Rachel's Vanagon Page