Do I need to use a thermostat?

[Bobnotch]

[KTPhil]

I found a scrap piece of plastic that I wedge into the "screw slot" I cut. It acts as a flag to show the position easily.

I imagine one could use a suitable bent pocket clip from a pen or mechanical pencil to grip the end and show movement more easily. Whatever works!

I check it on tune-up day when I first start the car. As it gets older, I may make a habit of checking for "open" at each gas stop.

[Glenn]

[Bobnotch]

[Randall]

[OGSquare]

[gt1953]

Now that is has turned cold here in the high country. So glad when the engine was down this summer repaired the T-stat flaps assembly. Warms up fairly quick.
_________________
Volkswagen: We tune what we drive.
Numbers Matching VW's are getting harder to find. Source out the most Stock vehicle and keep that way. You will be glad you did.

72 type 1
72 Squareback
({59 Euro bug, 62, 63, 67, 68, 69, 73 type ones 68 & 69 type two, 68 Ghia all sold})

[Clatter]

[gregson1]

I tore down an original mid-'63 engine years ago and learned a little about the earlier engines in the process. I didn't find a thermostat or any provisions for one. No flaps, no shaft for the flaps...nothing. The fan shroud doesn't even have the boss for the flap shaft bearings. The flaps didn't start until the '64 model year (August '63). The Workshop manuals discuss the parts needed to retrofit the thermostat to earlier engines.

It seems that the engineers originally thought they could get away without putting the thermostat/flaps on the Type 3 engine. Fairly early on VW apparently found that it was better to have them in place on a stock mass produced engine that would potentially experience every climate under the sun. Here in Denver, I'm going to run the thermostat/flaps on my Type 3 engine. My opinion is that if I lived in more consistently warmer climates, I might even consider them optional.

I don't currently run the thermostat/flaps in my wife's Type 14 and it does take about 10 to 15 minutes for things to warm up well. I worked with a Fluke 62 MAX IR gun last summer to find the various temperatures around the engine where it started running well--and where it started behaving badly, even when shut off (fuel percolation issue). I feel I have enough evidence to determine that the thermostat/flaps are going back onto the Type 14 this Winter. In conjunction with temperatures, the AF meter I hooked up also proved to me why I need the later style Ghia decklid for better cooling and carb breathing at high speed--which are considerations at the other end of the spectrum from the thermostat/flaps. Plan to go through the same drill with the Type 34. I'll at least have a benchmark across the spectrum to help determine what is 'normal' for my cars.

NOTE TO TRAM: Maybe you already know this--but I didn't. The #2 Main bearing in that original '63 engine was NOT steel backed. I guess the steel backed #2 didn't start until the 'K' engines in Aug '65?