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Need to fill hole in Air Cooled tin - what do I need to know?
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mcarlson_sb
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 04, 2021 9:31 am    Post subject: Need to fill hole in Air Cooled tin - what do I need to know? Reply with quote

My 1980 Air Cooled, California engine, once had a dealer installed A/C system. Now it has a big hole in the tin right over the catalytic converter.

Recently on a long trip I watched my oil temp gauge and noticed how much of an effect this has.

I want to seal the engine compartment to "keep the hot side hot and the cool side cool" - However, those tin pieces seem to be NA

I'm willing to fabricate my own. But, want to know what's important about the specs. Is it just "seal it any way you can" or are there important gotchas?

Thanks for any feedback
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MarkWard
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 04, 2021 9:34 am    Post subject: Re: Need to fill hole in Air Cooled tin - what do I need to know? Reply with quote

From memory it was a complete panel that got modified. I would think you could find a good used one with some looking around. There's nothing really special about it though. Mock one up with a manila folder as a template and then transfer to your peice of sheetmetal. The factory part did have some contours. I'll look in the classifieds for you.

edit:


No luck sorry.
Part number is 071 119 521 Search Google images for an ideal of what it looks like. There was also a shield under the tin work, but above the muffler.

Basically you need to keep all engine heat from below migrating into the engine compartment. Perfectly sealed, it should hold a piece of paper against the D pillar vent.
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lcolon
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 04, 2021 7:47 pm    Post subject: Re: Need to fill hole in Air Cooled tin - what do I need to know? Reply with quote

On my bug - I used a couple of pop rivets and a piece of sheet metal to close the hole that used to go from the front tin to the hot air input on the air cleaner (when I went to dual carbs)... Could that not work for you to cover the hole up?
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mcarlson_sb
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 05, 2021 11:08 am    Post subject: Re: Need to fill hole in Air Cooled tin - what do I need to know? Reply with quote

lcolon wrote:
On my bug - I used a couple of pop rivets and a piece of sheet metal to close the hole that used to go from the front tin to the hot air input on the air cleaner (when I went to dual carbs)... Could that not work for you to cover the hole up?

Something similar is what I may end up doing.

Just making sure the collected knowledge didn't have a "you need to consider" that I hadn't considered
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mcarlson_sb
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PostPosted: Sat Feb 06, 2021 7:34 pm    Post subject: Re: Need to fill hole in Air Cooled tin - what do I need to know? Reply with quote

lcolon wrote:
On my bug - I used a couple of pop rivets and a piece of sheet metal to close the hole that used to go from the front tin to the hot air input on the air cleaner (when I went to dual carbs)... Could that not work for you to cover the hole up?

That is in fact what we ended up doing today.
Took a 12x18 piece of 25 gague aluminum, cut to pattern and shaped it, then pop riveted it down.

I haven't taken it for a test drive yet to see if it helps. But the van now passes "the paper test" where enough air is being sucked in from the vents that it holds a piece of paper to it while idling. I have high hopes.

The ribbed seal is pretty old and deteriorating - so it's not a perfectly air tight by a long shot - but much better than it was.

Thanks everyone for the help
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mcarlson_sb
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 07, 2021 2:32 pm    Post subject: Re: Need to fill hole in Air Cooled tin - what do I need to know? Reply with quote

Success!

My wife and I just went for a test drive, at noon on hot pavement, on a run with pretty good and long ups and downs.

The engine did *much better*
Oil temps stayed about 20° cooler
The engine was slower to heat up and faster to cool down.

The same run two days ago had oil temps at 240° +
Today they stayed at or below 220°

General running temp in town seems to have dropped not as significantly. From 180° - 220° it's now 160° - 210°

Very happy with those results from a $16 piece of aluminum.
(And my wife's masterful help patterning and shaping)
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

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djkeev
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 07, 2021 4:32 pm    Post subject: Re: Need to fill hole in Air Cooled tin - what do I need to know? Reply with quote

Bravo!
Good job, you got it done.

Dave
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