What kind of aftermarket stuff do you guys use to aid in the cooling of the Air Cooled VW? I had a 69 Bug with a 1835 in it. It would do wheelies. It was very fast and reliable, but it would get hot. If I drove around town or drove on the freeway it would get hot.
2006-12-21 06:35:26 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Cars & Transportation ➔ Car Makes ➔ Other - Car Makes
Had to include a video for the VW haters...
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2693579925489383229&q=vw+bug&hl=en
2006-12-21 06:37:22 · update #1
Just like a lawn mower, it uses cooling fins to keep the engine cool.
Pretty much most of the time these fins get plugged with debris.
1) Remove the blower housing, and clean the fins.
2) Make sure the drive belt is in good shape, and tight enough.
2006-12-21 06:42:15 · answer #1 · answered by Mr. KnowItAll 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The problem is that those bigger pistons mean there's less room for the cooling fins on your cylinders (since you can't increase the distance between piston centers). I've got a '61 356 with 1776cc pistons and have been told the same thing -- watch out for overheating, especially climbing long grades.
The classic solution is to add an oil cooler -- you've seen them on the back deck of Baja Bugs, I'm sure. Or you can do the 356 Carerra thing and stick an oil cooler in the front, behind the horn grille, and run nifty Aeroquip lines from the motor. If I did more than putter around and grin in my slightly shabby mild outlaw 356, I'd probably do that. (5.5" chromies... no bumpers... mildly lowered... man, I've GOTTA get that car back on the road!) But I really want to stick a pair of rally lights in my lower horn grilles. :-)
Another classic solution is the deep-sump conversion I've seen on vintage-race 356s. I had the enjoyable volunteer task of doing tech inspection at the Portland Historics a few years back and got to crawl under some VERY nice high-dollar Speedster race cars. Nearly all of them have the mod they call the "tuna can" -- it's a cylinder that fits under the sump, bolts up to the same bolts that hold the screen cover in place, only it drops about three inches below the case and has cooling fins on it.
The idea as far as cooling is concerned is twofold -- first, it holds about another quart of oil (giving you 20% more oil to dissipate the heat), and second, it sticks out into the airflow a bit more and sheds heat that way. (It also keeps the oil from surging to the sides as much during hard cornering, which is a problem on boxer engines in two ways: first, as with all engines, because you can suck air instead of oil and spin your bearings; but second, because on a long hard corner you can slosh the oil out the pushrod tubes and into the valve covers, where it either leaks, spills, or gets sucked into the engine and fouls a plug.)
And finally... never screw with the tinwork on an aircooled VW. EVERY piece of sheet metal on that little pancake is there for a reason that The Good Doctor thought long and hard about. It's ALL designed to move things in a precisely controlled sequence. Now, getting more air INTO the engine compartment isn't a bad thing, of course, which is why they went with the twin-grill engine cover on the T6 cars. But once it's there... don't mess with the tinwork.
2006-12-21 06:57:46 · answer #2 · answered by Scott F 5 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Try to locate a smaller fan pulley to make the cooling fan turn faster, and be sure all the shrouds are in place and not plugged up with something.
2006-12-21 06:46:17 · answer #3 · answered by eferrell01 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
i own a shop,and there's an after market fan that could be added to these to replace the original ones,,it had different fins on it,,and cooled a lot better than the original ones did,i used one once,and it worked really good ,i had it on a little baha we built,,good luck,hope this help,s.,have a good x-mas.
2006-12-21 06:46:09 · answer #4 · answered by dodge man 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
awsome video
good luck with the '69
2006-12-22 13:43:12 · answer #5 · answered by ___ 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋