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hippiepilot Samba Member
Joined: June 18, 2008 Posts: 455 Location: Sarasota, FL
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Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 6:25 pm Post subject: Heater box / heat exchanger Meltdown pics |
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Hello Samba scientists I'm in the process of rebuilding my 2.0 and ran across this melted heater box / heat exchanger. I currently live in FL and don't really have need for heat and was thinking I could possibly get away without the right side heater box having the aluminum innards. My concern was proper air cooling of course, I wasn't sure if this setup would cause a "hotspot" back in the engine bay. The left side heater box, of course, looks new. Thoughts, suggestions, any advice would be appreciated.
I was able to cut, grind, pry, tap, hammer all of the melted aluminum out.
I was hoping I could just seal her back up so I could get the van back out on the road until I found a heater box to replace the damaged one.
_________________ 83 air-cooled Westy
91 Carat (daily driver)
http://www.changeisland.com |
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Wildthings Samba Member
Joined: March 13, 2005 Posts: 50260
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Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 7:25 pm Post subject: |
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I would guess that someone ran the engine with no air flowing through the heater box. Maybe one of the plastic hoses that moves air from the alternator to the heater box was left off for some reason. After all none of this stuff is really necessary at least in some peoples minds. I am not sure what affect not having the aluminium fins on the one side would have on head temperatures. Maybe none, but maybe enough to be of concern. |
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hippiepilot Samba Member
Joined: June 18, 2008 Posts: 455 Location: Sarasota, FL
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Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 7:48 pm Post subject: |
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The engine was leaking oil when I purchased it, but I didn't know the extent until I starting driving her and the heat that was radiating from the back was not normal. This is my second air-cooled, shame on me.
When I finally had the time I started working on the van I noticed that this part was non-existent. Uh kinda important.
I have spent a lot of money for parts for the rebuild, including AMC heads, and I don't want to fry them. So that was my concern as well. Will the lack of the aluminum fins affect the head temp? How much do they disperse the heat? Are they there the help heat the van? _________________ 83 air-cooled Westy
91 Carat (daily driver)
http://www.changeisland.com |
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GreenMachineVW Samba Member
Joined: August 08, 2008 Posts: 645
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Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 7:59 pm Post subject: |
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If you are about to do a rebuild, and live in Florida, I would hope that you would be very prudent and reassemble the heating/cooling system with the utmost attention to return it to new, stock configuration ... Thanks for the photos of the heat exchanger: I always wondered exactly what they look like inside.
I believe that there is a recycled parts vendor in Georgia, or near there, that often lists air-cooled parts, including heat exchangers. |
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SCM Samba Member
Joined: January 26, 2011 Posts: 3102 Location: Bozeman MT
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Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 8:04 pm Post subject: |
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I might be way off base as far as Vanagons go but it's VERY common to swap the heater boxes for "J-Pipes" on Beetle engines. Since you live in Florida, maybe there is a similar option for you. _________________ '91 Westfalia GL Automatic (GTA "Turbo" Rebuild w/Peloquin) and 2.3L GoWesty Engine |
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hippiepilot Samba Member
Joined: June 18, 2008 Posts: 455 Location: Sarasota, FL
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Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 8:21 pm Post subject: |
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What are "J" pipes? _________________ 83 air-cooled Westy
91 Carat (daily driver)
http://www.changeisland.com |
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Wildthings Samba Member
Joined: March 13, 2005 Posts: 50260
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Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 8:36 pm Post subject: |
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On a Type 1 engine a "J" pipe is a j shaped pipe that replaces the heat exchanger. The "J" pipe for a Type 4 really isn't j shaped at all, in fact it looks just like the stripped guts to your heat exchanger, pretty much because that is what many actually are, T4 heat exchangers with no fins or covers. Don't actually know if running J pipes affects head temperatures, this topic gets debated from time to time and few have really done any testing. |
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