TDI into '78 Bus Build Thread

[vwwestyman]

[tristessa]

My head came from an '84 GTI, which had a factory water-cooled oil cooler above the filter. The coolant flange has an "extra" port on the bottom to run water to that oil cooler, which is currently feeding my heater. For oil temperature I've got a 48-plate external cooler fed by a Wahler sandwich adapter with an 80C thermostat.

I'll see if I can get pictures later but honestly it's not much to look at.

[trevorbrady]

[vwwestyman]

Trev-

I never realized that I accidentally double-posted the pics of the boxes! So I edited that post to show the pics of the parts out of the boxes.

Unfortunately, the thing doesn't look much different than the last pic. I haven't had time to work on it recently, with a bunch of other projects that ended up higher on the priority list.

However, I do have some time off work in a couple weeks, so I may at least try to get the hanger* built then, and work on the wiring.

*It appears the carrier bar needs to mount lower than just up against the frame rails. There must have been a mounting piece similar to what the bus used that I don't have, or the frame rails were changed along the way.

So my plan is to build something that will attach to the frame, which will allow the carrier bar to be mounted, as well as me to build a trailer hitch, and remount the bumper, which has been off for a very long time, due to rust on the passenger side right where it bolts up.

[Aville]

[trevorbrady]

[vwwestyman]

[vwwestyman]

And here are some details of the frame "beefing"/engine carrier/bumper mount/trailer hitch.

Basically, the frame will be beefed up with some 1/4 inch thick 4x3 angle iron.

The angle iron will be mounted to the frame with 1/2 inch bolts. Two will go through the old engine carrier mounts, and three others will be added, one using another existing hole.

The new engine carrier bar mounts a few inches toward the front of the bus compared to the old carrier mounts. So a piece of angle iron will be bolted to this carrier to mount the engine. This will allow a little bit of adjust-ability.

The old bumper mounts have some rust and the passenger side are totally unusable, so the far back of the new will have large captive nuts welded to mount the bumper brackets to.

Flat plate and box tubing will be utilized for the trailer hitch portion, with the receiver being just below the bumper.

Drawing of the design:

Bumper bracket captive nuts welded. Others will be welded in, in a similar fashion as appropriate (such as for the through-frame bolts to screw into and engine carrier).

The "inside" of the bracket. This is the passenger side. The long narrow notch on the bottom is cut so that it will bolt up flat to the frame, and clear the lip that is present on the frame.

And this is the "outside" of the bracket. It will be bolted up against the frame.

[trevorbrady]

[vwwestyman]

No, that center mount is not used on the Mexican buses. I hear that it (or at least parts of it) are present on the bodies, but the bell housing has no provision for it.

Just the carrier bar and front trans mount. The Mexican front trans mount is a bit different, though I have been told it shouldn't make too much of a difference.

[vwwestyman]

Worked on my frame supports for the hitch, bumper, and engine carrier today. The holes I had drilled weren't placed just perfectly, so I had to enlarge them a little bit.

I also decided to drill one extra hole so that I can use the factory-installed extra bolt hole that is just in front of the original bumper holes. That is the only one that was intact on the passenger side of the bus.

Pic of the bracket installed on the passenger side of the bus:

I'm debating whether I really need to drill the extra two holes in the frame to mount it, or whether the current holes/bolts are sufficient. If I drilled extra holes, I would drill the one just above the front of the bumper bracket and the one just above the two that are utilizing the old engine carrier bracket mounts. The one between them was an extra hole drilled unintentionally.

The two on the right are what I will attach the engine carrier to. The frame will be opened behind them, and captive nuts will be welded to the bracket on the inside.

Little bit of rust on this side! Yikes! Luckily all the areas the bolts are are still solid!

First time in over 10 years since the rear bumper has been on the bus at all! (Not bolted in, just wanted to see it sitting on the bumper brackets.)

[vwwestyman]

Been pretty busy lately, with recently becoming a foster parent to two teenage boys! Yikes!

But they were at a friends for the afternoon both yesterday and today, so I got the chance to work on the bus. I got the engine carriers cut and set up to hang the engine. This is a good step in the right direction.

It is basically a chunk of angle iron bolted to the frame, and to the Mexican carrier bar below that, though I had to do some measuring and cutting to make that happen. I also welded captive nuts to the inside of the frame support, and had to cut a window into the bus frame to accommodate the nuts.

Engine finally hanging from the bus! No jack needed!

[archemitis]

That looks great sitting on the tube cross member, I like how they notched the oil pan so you still have alot of ground clearance.
My rear coolant flange clearance keeps me up at night, I also did the same thing this guy (http://viewfromabus.blogspot.com) did, but Im pretty sure your 1z/ahu style is different from my alh style, same spot though.

[vwwestyman]

Decided to take a little time off work today to spend some time on the project.

I cut the bracket for the air filter out. I ordered an aluminum two-pass radiator, a high-powered fan, and adjustable temp fan controller. I'm going to still try to get it to cool with a rad on the right side of the engine compartment.

I'm thinking of cutting out the area that housed the computer to expose more radiator area. I'm also thinking about creating a vent/opening from the wheel well to the area to encourage more air flow that way while driving.

Thoughts on if that would work/help?

Remember, I'm not hacking up a pristine, rust free stock bus anyway. I'm hacking up a rusty, already not stock bus.

[Stuartzickefoose]

_________________
Stuart Zickefoose

2011 Jetta Sportwagen TDi 6 speed manual

206-841-7324
[email protected]

[mojogoat]

A water injection system could add the extra cooling if you are borderline on hot days. And add some hp if you mix a little methanol. I put a system on my diesel motorhome that had a 3 gallon tank. It really worked in the desert on hills to keep the exhaust temps manageable. I used below 0 degree washer fluid and distilled water. Can't buy it CA anymore though, they sell it in most other states. It has the methanol, CA has glycol in it now.

[vwwestyman]

[Stuartzickefoose]

[Skyline]

So air flow through the radiator is what you are after. High pressure on the front side and low pressure behind causes flow though the rad. If it is open to still air, like the engine compartment on the back and the wheel well on the front then there will be little flow when the fan is off. Think about this, very simplistically, the more velocity the air has when it hits the radiator, the more flow you get through it. Find an area where the air velocity is high and pipe air from there to the rad. This is where most rear engine cooling solutions fail.

[vwwestyman]