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Tue Nov 18, 2003 3:06 pm

Where can I get these? Wolfsburg has plastic ones, but I want real metal repros.

Tue Nov 18, 2003 3:08 pm

Try classifieds/ebay?
Looking for new or old...year?

Tue Nov 18, 2003 3:21 pm

I've only seen plastic and fiberglass scoops. The only metal ones I think are home made units.

Tue Nov 18, 2003 3:25 pm

why do you want side scoops? there's no reason you should need them unless you just think they look cool.

p.s. the ones that were on my bus were fiberglass.

Tue Nov 18, 2003 3:29 pm

JP of New mexico has the only set of metal side scoops I have ever seen. He used deep cooking pans!

Tue Nov 18, 2003 3:34 pm

Side scoops are so lame! The factory vents provide perfectly adequate ventilation for the motor. Keep in mind that the fan is there to PULL air in from the side vents.

Tue Nov 18, 2003 3:43 pm

Come on Kevin, you know better!

Tue Nov 18, 2003 4:30 pm

I have to chime in here...
Kevin, it is your bus. So in the end do what you want to do. If you think it looks cool that is one thing. (I don't agree, but opinions are like assholes) If you are doing it because your engine is running hot, there is something wrong with your engine. Think about that before you drill holes in your bus.

Tue Nov 18, 2003 5:07 pm

Nate from Nate's Water Art, if I remember correctly, has designs for metal side scoops which clip onto your louvers without marring the finish.
He had some pretty good data about performance of the scoops as well.
If you are out driving in temperatures over 95 degrees, you may want to consider them. I personally just bought a IR temperature gauge with a laser sight, and use that to monitor engine heat. It really helps when you know for sure what your temperature is.

Also, before using the scoops, try making sure that your engine tin is all installed correctly and sealed up properly. I converted my standard oil cooler engines to "doghouse" style, and cleaned up the gaps in the tin at the same time. Bought me a good 10 degrees in lower engine temp.

Tue Nov 18, 2003 5:35 pm

Kevin, I must second the motion, if you like the look then go ahead and knock yourself out! However, as far as getting "extra" cooling is concerned they don't help unless you are cruising at speed. While sitting in traffic they actually hinder the natural flow into the engine compartment.

8)

Tue Nov 18, 2003 5:48 pm

Kevin everybody has there own taste. A while ago I was thinking about some polished aluminum scoops for my Velvet Green Riv. Ever see the
scoop for a early ghias with a judson supercharger? Like that but polished.

Tue Nov 18, 2003 6:10 pm

please don't do it. please.

Tue Nov 18, 2003 6:33 pm

[quote="KevinCompton" but I want real metal repros.[/quote]
Repros. of WHAT ???AHH to be young again.
Kevin, mostly what these guys are saying is-DO NOT DRILL HOLES IN YOUR BUS!!! yes scoops help, in highway driving, not in town traffic, if your bus needed them , they would have come with them on it.
I have a set of white plastic scoops that came with a box of J.C.Whitney crap from my father-in-law, been setting there for a couple years,don't know what to do with them, guess if I lived in the city they would make good pooper scoopers........... :lol:

Tue Nov 18, 2003 6:49 pm

I made some. The info is on my site here:

http://www.aircooledtech.com/custom_scoops/

I've never done any tests while sitting in traffic, but I have never over heated just sitting, so. . . I know that they work while the bus is in motion and net around a 15F-20F drop in temps across the board. In the summer months, I use them. When it gets cold, I remove them. Pretty painless. :D If you like 'em, run 'em. To hell with what other's say!!

Tue Nov 18, 2003 6:54 pm

Besides air, they also pull in other stuff. I bought a bus from a smoker and inside the engine compartment were tons of cigs in the corner.

Tue Nov 18, 2003 8:08 pm

Put a vacuum gauge in the engine bay.

You'll see the stock louvers on the side of a bus do not provide enough airflow for a DP 1600 with doghouse shroud. It gets progressivley worse with larger engines. Any sign of vacuum in the engine bay, shows there is a restriction, ultimatly on the cooling fan and engine. Can you say "Cavitation"? That's what a fan does when the restiction of airflow causes the air to spin with the fan, rather than get pulled through it. On the highway, the fan pulls in the neighborhood of around 1200 CFM. A 1600 engine spinning away at 4000 rpm is taking over 800 CFM more. If you measure the opening area of the stock louvers on a split bus, it comes to IIRC, about 100 square inches. Someone in the heating and air conditioning business had a chart that showed how many square inches of opening was needed for a certain CFM. The figure of 1300 CFM needed more surface area than a sheet of paper (about 100 sq. in).

The fan and engine can only pull so much air through a restriction. Look at the Beetle for a great example. The stock louvers under the rear windows provided enough air for the stock SP engine. As soon as the doghouse shroud came into play, VW added two more sets of louvers on the rear decklid. After a couple years, they decided more louvers were needed (less restriction) so they put in two more sets of louvers. By the time VW was done, they also put ANOTHER set behind the license plate that opened thermostatically. It's this last set of louvers that I find especially cool. Keep in mind, this was for a stock 1600DP with a doghouse shroud.

VW only installed (up to) 1500 SP motors into the split window bus. Bay window buses have much larger air intakes, and they are also somewhat 'scooped' for better airflow on the highway. VW knew the only way to get the sufficient amount of air into the engine bay, without rather large ugly louvers was to scoop them somewhat, to in a sense, use 'ram-air' principles.

Now i'm not saying I think scoops look good or bad, but they do work, plain and simple. A SP 1500 with non-doghouse cooling was the limit for efficiency for the split bus. Have a bus that runs nice and cool while driving around in traffic, but runs hotter on the highway at 65mph? This is why.

Tue Nov 18, 2003 8:21 pm

Eric, thankyou for the well thought out post. I hadn't considered the fact that most people (including myself) are running a bigger motor than was intended to go in a split bus. My bus is a 1600 dual port, but I don't have a temp gauge so I don't know how hot it is getting. However, I do have a pretty good idea that it's not running too hot because it doesn't lose oil pressure after long periods of driving. Also, I can tell when I go to check the oil after driving for hours I can still hold on to the dipstick!

Tue Nov 18, 2003 9:06 pm

You know what's funny is that alot of buses are driving around with little holes drilled around the vent area from pre-existing scoops. 3 of my buses have these tiny drill holes holes. How about yours?

Tue Nov 18, 2003 9:47 pm

Eaallred wrote: Put a vacuum gauge in the engine bay.......

Damn, Eaallred...blinding me with science.

Wed Nov 19, 2003 3:12 am

plus the carbs havto compete with the fan for air. Dual 44s on a 2 liter suck alot more air then a stock carb im sure. Thats what im running so i am making an inlet that resides under my bus as the main intake for the fan.

Plus i probably wont run a rear apron, its to hard to fit a turbo in there with it :lol: