Air - water cooled conversion

[57'ovalProject]

I'm in the process of planning for a water cooled swap into my 57' beetle. I'm looking for advice and expertise from anyone who's put a water cooled engine into a beetle. Not looking for reasons to not do it! Any constructive tips and experience is appreciated. Thanks!

[57'ovalProject]

Looking for success' and failure as far as plumbing the radiator, installing a performance oil cooler, carb/efi setup, exhaust install/quality parts sources, ect. Any thoughts or comments are appreciated

[TDCTDI]

What engine are you planning on? The only engines that will fit without cutting the body up (too much) are a Mazda 12a/13b, an early Subaru 2.0?/2.2 or a wasserboxer (maybe).
_________________
Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.


GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!


An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.


Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it.

[57'ovalProject]

I pulled a rotary from an 85' rx-7, as terrible as it is to say I'm not sure if it's a 12a or 13b. Read that there's an identifier plate through reading after wrapping it up to weather proof and mouse proof till we're ready for the engine rebuild & swap. We're refining all the plans before we cut anything on the car.

[TDCTDI]

That 85 should be a second gen car with a 13b (I'm not a Mazda guy but I think that's correct). I don't think any cutting is necessary to fit the engine. With that engine you might be able to stuff the rad in the engine bay above the engine at an angle pulling fresh air from the stock vents & discharging over the top of the engine & maybe with some stand offs on the deck lid. Or possibly cutting the rear parcel tray out, building a new firewall & mounting the rad in the space above the trans. The only other option would be to cut out the spare tire well, mount the rad at an angle almost parallel to the ground & pull air from below the apron & let it discharge through/around the front beam.
_________________
Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.


GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!


An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.


Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it.

[57'ovalProject]

The plan so far was to actually modify the spare tire compartment, basically make a scoop in the bottom about 1/2"-1" and direct it right back out the back. I've read that it's about the only place for the most efficient cooling. But the area we've figured is only about 20"x12" without cutting into the bumper brackets or anything else. Then the plan is to put a plate over it to enclose the compartment to make sure air isn't going where we don't want it.

[TDCTDI]

you might be able to run a larger rad if you were to install it above the engine at an angle & seal it to the deck lid, you could pull air from the stock air intake vents & force the warmed air over the engine. That way you wouldn't be pulling air directly off the hot asphalt, running the rad up front will also interfere with lowering (assuming you wanted to) & would also eliminate some of the demons of bleeding a cooling system that runs the length of the car (check out the process for bleeding a vanagon or other mid/rear engine front rad vehicles).
_________________
Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.


GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!


An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.


Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it.

[57'ovalProject]

I understand the logic behind it, but I think typically asphalt/concrete are gonna be cooler then the engine. And fresh air being run through from the front "should" be cooler then the air that's circulating in the engine compartment. And the idea in plumbing that distance is to run hard pipe (ie. Stainless) and then stainless flex from the pipe to the radiator/engine. And also have an electric water pump instead of solely the mechanical one powered by the engine, and an electric radiator fan to reduce the horsepower loss from a mechanical fan. And I do intend to lower it a bit, but that's why I'm only planning roughly a 1/2"-1" for a scoop

[57'ovalProject]

The other down side is, the previous owner closed a few vents. So unless I get a new vent section the air flow is even worse then stock.

[76VwBug1600]

I have a few Rx's and Rotary motors They are hard to keep cool. Plan on a massive radiator and fans
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1976 Fuely Bug
1973 Super beetle with 26k Original miles.
1968 1600cc
1973 1641cc
1966 Rat-rod
1981 VrRabbit

Not Just our cars.. They are our best friends.

[57'ovalProject]

So far the plan is to go bigger then the stock radiator, electric fans, a deep sump oil pan, and a bigger oil cooler. I have a 1600 in a 71' beetle I got that has a problem with getting hot so we're trying to cover all the bases before we get going. Aside from what I mentioned, do you have any other suggestions or ideas to improve cooling?

[veedubman72]

I've heard some of those rotary swaps can be temperamental. There's a guy here in NorCal who just did a subie swap on his '64. It's pretty awesome. I think there's a lot of info on water-cooled swaps in some of the volksrod forums too. Try looking there for help. Good luck with your project!

[TDCTDI]

Big radiator wher the gas tank was & big NACA ducts in the hood?
_________________
Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.


GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!


An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.


Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it.

[57'ovalProject]

Turns out the motor is a 12a, I've read that not not a lot of people like to convert the 12a from carb to efi, but seeing as this 12a is a bare motor I would prefer to set it up efi and take advantage of a blank slate.