Help please! 82 Diesel Radiator needed in Damascus, VA ASAP

[VR6zamboni]

Hello,

I am in Damascus, VA and am stuck with a blown radiator on my 82 Diesel Vanagon. I am running into trouble finding the correct one as the 83 and up ones will not work. It seems that places are selling the part number I believe I need 068121253D but are actually selling 068121253E which will not work.

Here is a link to photos of it: http://www.flickr.com/photos/atflickr/sets/72157629788213590/

Also I had to break off the fan shroud so if you could help me in finding one of these as well I would really appreciate it. And a late model expansion tank.

Call me if you can 813-347-2781

Thanks,

Ryan

[Leebo]

Ryan,

I wish I could help, but too far away. Have you tried the Vanagon Rescue Squad? Here is the link http://www.vanagonauts.com//index.phtml?catid=74

Good luck!
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'84 Westy
1.9L w/'89 tranny

[MarkWard]

Ryan, the later one can be adapted relatively easily, but being on the road does not help. I have the one from my 82 with the shroud and fan, but it weighs a ton and would be a pain to box up and uber expensive to ship.
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[VR6zamboni]

Thanks guys,

Didn't find much help on the Vanagon Rescue Squad. I did find this thread: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=297989&highlight=068121253a which gives me hope on upgrading to the newer rad. But a more specific parts list would be nice to have on the conversion.

RSXSR - can you give me a price for want you would want to ship it?

[r39o]

I understand urgency, but this is not the venue.

Wanted ads belong in the classifieds.

Please do not post wanted ads in the forums.

Please PM any offers.
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[EverettB]

I decided to open this back up in case anyone can provide some help or someone local wants to state they are helping out or so the originator can post a resolution to let people know they are set.

Obviously if you have part(s) this guy needs or can help in other ways, it would be best to contact him directly as we don't want the Forums to turn into a classifieds area.
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[Wildthings]

Can you just do some kind of patch job to get you home again? Bars Leak is wonderful stuff at times. Maybe drill a relief hole in the pressure cap and run at night?

I have a Diesel radiator I would part with but am even further afield being on the west coast.

[morymob]

Not familiar with the diesel one ,whats the diff??, shouldn't a reg gas wbx one work, it has the capacity for sure and aren't the mounting points the same??

[mwsnow]

[Mike Robinson]

I had my '82 diesel rad rebuilt.

I think the only advantage with the '82 design is it can be rebuilt.

Find a radiator shop in the yellow pages and phone and ask. Mine was done in 24 hrs


Mike

[danfromsyr]

I believe you have to have the 83.5-85 front rubber rad hoses to match (any) WBX Rad to the Metal coolant pipes in the Diesel chassis.

I've had just fone luck with the aged & used hoses in this location.. especially to defer initial conversion costs and replace in a year/2.
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[VR6zamboni]

Thank you for re-opening this post! :- )

And thanks for all the info everyone,

I spent 8 hours on Friday scouring the internet for the diesel rad. I finally got a hold of Ken at www.vanagain.com who knew exactly how to slove my problem. Either a new rad from Germany or retro fit the newer style. I decided to go with the retro fitting of the new style rad. and am currently waiting on them to find a fan shroud to complete the swap.

Does anyone know of any more places were I can find some detailed instructions on completling this swap. I have read this one which is great but I was hoping for a little more detail: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=297989

Once again, thank you for your concern and re opening this thread, your site is a trip saver for many people!

Ryan
82' AAZ Westy w/retro RAD soon to be.

[MarkWard]

Sorry for the delay, but I was away from the computer. When I upgraded, I had snagged the upper radiator support from an 86 vanagon along with the fan and shroud. I ended up not using the upper radiator support, but made two aluminium "L" brackets that attached to the rubber studed mounts the diesel has in the top. They don't have any load on them with the new radiator, just keeps it square. I did have the two lower radiator supports that I did use. The bolt pattern was identical in the valance.

For hoses, I purchased new radiator hoses for the later model. I then bought some aluminum reducers to "shrink" the later hose down to fit my 1 3/8ths chassis cooling tubes. A member pointed out a good place to buy them. http://www.jagsthatrun.com/Pages/Parts_Cooling_TransHoseSplicers.html

In hindsight. The radiator actually has outlets that match the diameter of the early coolant tubes. You could use a straight length of hose for the straight hose without buying the factory one. For the one with the 90, It too is the correct diameter and is flared only at the tube end, I probably could have cut it short and used a straight barbed splice and kept the diameter correct. mark
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[ZanaEvyPapa]

I just performed this retrofit with the help of the above samba post. I did as rsxsr did and used the adapter from jaguarsthatrun.com. They are awesome and inexpensive. They go between the below OEM hoses and your coolant pipes coming from the engine.

I drew up this diagram which might help explain:

I used 1.25" to 1.5" adapters, not 1 3/8" to 1.5". I'm not sure which one is correct, but the 1.25" did work although I think I remember it being tight. An eight of an inch won't really matter on cooling power. This system is really overkill for the diesel engine anyways, so, either would work.
One thing to consider is that it'll be easier to find 1.25" hose than 1 3/8" hose. Make sure the coolant hose splicer that you get from NAPA is as short as possible. You also might have to trim the ends of the OEM hoses to make everything fit. You are basically adding the length of the JTR adapters to the entire length of the run from the coolant pipes to the radiator. You have to take that length out of the OEM pipes for it to fit. I would only trim what you need to by putting it all in and eyeing it.

you need these two oem hoses:
http://www.secarpart.com/radiator-hose-lower-251121083h/
http://www.secarpart.com/radiator-hose-upper-251121082/

I got the angle brackets from HD/Lowes hardware/shelving section(Brackets were Stanley brand) and it takes finding the right size bolts and nuts to get everything to fit. Trial and error is best here. I also had to modify the brackets a little by drilling new holes as the provided ones didn't line up right. I'd get stainless all throughout.

The rubber mounts for the top of the radiator: http://www.vwvanagonparts.com/product/803121273MY.html
you should be able to reuse your old ones, but one of mine was busted, so I had to order one.

The lower mounts:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=1273414
you should get some rubber washers to go between the nipples on the new radiator and these metal mounts as seen here:

These mounts will bolt right into your frame. The holes are already there. see here:

buy a new radiator:
http://www.secarpart.com/radiator-068121253e/
$160, cheap, superior, done.

reuse your fan, get a new-to-you fan shroud. This is the one you want:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=1273415

The wiring is described well in the above post. If you hit any snags, feel free to message me your number and I can walk you through it.

I was in your boat and thought I could never pull this off, but once I got into it, it all eventually made sense. I hope this post gives you a head start on the learning curve.
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82 Diesel Westy
03 Jetta TDI
Gainesville, FL

[MarkWard]

Now I am not too sure on the tube diameter after reading this very informative post. I am poor at documenting things, but the above looks exactly what I did and tried to explain. While I like the idea of a rebuildable diesel radiator, having a readily available replacement in the future has more advantages. Trying to find radiator shops any more is next to impossible. Many of them closed as a result of the problems with EPA and something about the solder used in old radiators.
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[morymob]

When u get rad replaced and filled i would set idle a bit fast and with press cap off look into tank for air bubbles,diesels do get sudden head gasket leaks and this excess press into the cooling sys can pop hoses, radiators.

[VR6zamboni]

So I completed the install of the new radiator and everything went well. Drove for 60 miles and then it started over heating again. I purged the system again and it over heated again. I then took out the thermostat and it is still continuing to over heat and the cap keeps popping off the expansion tank.

Is it possible that I could have connected the hoses to the wrong inlets and outlets? Can someone clarify which one goes to which.

Thank you all for your help.

Ryan

[danfromsyr]

you could have (most likely) done permament damage to the diesel headgasket.. this will explain the cap popping off.. well that could be damaged as well.

headgaskets were a common loss in overheating our old VW rabbit diesels back in the day.
sounds like you have more time and $$ to toss into it.. sorry.

I lost my turbo diesel headgasket from a loose waterpump belt in a torrential rainstorm w/o a temp gauge... so bad in my case that I broke the piston rings and it didn't have any compression even after a new gasket installed..
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[DubNuts]

Are you working with Ken From Van-a-gain.. If so he asked me if I could pull these parts from one of my parts vans for the conversion and ship them to a guy. Are you that Guy?
.

[morymob]

AS mentiond in a earlier post, a leaky hd gasket into the water will show up as air bubbles you can see at a fast idle with press cap off, also the temp guage kind of follows the road, up grade it climbs and drops on level or down grade.60 mi was probably the time needed to force enuf water into o'flo bottle lowering eng water enuf to start overheating.Where is your current location??