Vee Dub Nut's 74 Bay Transporter (& Subaru EJ25 Swap)

[vwwestyman]

My radiator is in about the same spot as your original mount, but I have a scoop that is open to the front, which then shoves air up through the core.

This works well to cool the engine and, at least in my imagination, provides some protection to the radiator from rocks or whatever.

As you mentioned, it did warm up the floor back there, but I put some Reflectex against the underside of the floor and I think that helped quite a bit.
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Dave Cook

President, Wild Westerner Club

1978 Champagne Edition Westy, repowered to '97 Jetta TDI
1973 Wild Westerner
My Thing

[Vee Dub Nut]

[vwwestyman]

Can you reverse the directions of your fans? Sounds like they are set up as "pushers" currently. Many are reversible. Mine is above the radiator, very close to the floor, set up as a puller. From my reading, most fans are more efficient when pulling rather than pushing.
_________________
Dave Cook

President, Wild Westerner Club

1978 Champagne Edition Westy, repowered to '97 Jetta TDI
1973 Wild Westerner
My Thing

[captincanuck]

[Sloride]

I tried a variety of angles and wanted to keep the rad tucked up out of sight. Finally settled with it slightly below the frame rails. The foam pipe wrap helps seal the rad so air has to go down through it rather than escape on the sides. Works much better that way. I have the fans pushing down. What would be ideal is some sort of lift and lower mechanism kind of like the rear spoiler on a corrado. Drop the rad on a clear highway cruising at high speeds and lift it when cruising slower.

Again I wish someone was doing an off the shelf version. My rad has been working fine for 5 years or more but I’d like to go all alluminum and reposition the inlet outlets like you’ve done.

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1972 Westfalia - 1.8 VW in-line h2o conversion
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Link to the engine swap:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=565304&highlight=

1964 Ruby Red Beetle

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=705757&highlight=ruby+red

[Vee Dub Nut]

[Vee Dub Nut]

[Vee Dub Nut]

[Vee Dub Nut]

So I worked on this a little bit more today. Mostly on the conceptual side and chasing down parts. Dropping down the front of the radiator proved the point on how to fix it (i.e. air flow), and confirmed the current short comings of how it was mounted.

So thinking more today, and trying to balance the aesthetic versus functionality, I decided to try and split the difference. What I did was flip the radiator saddles from being mounted above the frame to being mounted below the frame. In addition, I added a 1" spacer between the saddles and frame. This lowered the whole system down by about ~1.25-1.5" overall.

At face value this doesn't look like it changes much, but where it makes a big difference (at least potentially) is the radiator core to floor support clearance. The first picture below is a repeat shot of the one I posted yesterday taken over the top of the frame rail just below the floor. The second picture is taken looking up at the leading edge of the radiator. Much more room between the radiator and the floor supports now, and hopefully a big enough space that I can scoop air up into effectively.

Tomorrow I plan to work on some of the shrouding/sealing of the radiator, as well as figuring out the least obtrusive scoop I can and come up with. Hopefully I can test it piece by piece to figure out what I absolutely have to have, versus what I can pass on.

Fingers crossed on this one. I certainly like the appearance of this much more over dropping the front of the rad down. Trying to make it as non-noticeable as possible. Here is a further away shot with it down lower now. Visible, but not obvious.

_________________
Fightin' Texas Aggie Class of 2006

67 Beetle (TBD)

74 Transporter (EJ25 Swapped) - Build Thread: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0

See all my VW pics on Instagram @ vee_dub_nut

[Sloride]

That doesn’t look bad at all. I took a can of flat black and sprayed the side of my rad. Makes it blend into the frame rails more.

For a scoop I just walked through the local scrap yard and took a front spoiler off of something. Plastic hangs down much lower than the rad so I know if it is rubbing I need to keep an eye on things.
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1972 Westfalia - 1.8 VW in-line h2o conversion
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Link to the engine swap:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=565304&highlight=

1964 Ruby Red Beetle

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=705757&highlight=ruby+red

[richparker]

Don’t paint it, won’t see much weather damage in Texas and it looks nice all shinny and shit.
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’71 Westy build
Adventure thread
’65 Deluxe Build
’63 Deluxe Build

[mack00]

Man I need to check back more often. Adam your conversion is inspiring. Nice score on the re-geared 091. Hope the builder did things right.
Our radiator setup is similar. Mine being a bit more ghetto. Only driven around neighborhood so I don’t know how well it will do. No tags/insurance yet. Need tires/brakes. Just started babystang disc install. Hope to meet you soon.
Jon

[Vee Dub Nut]

[Vee Dub Nut]

[Vee Dub Nut]

[mack00]

Yes I plan on a scoop if needed. Maybe bend up some sheet metal as an experiment. Also sealing up the sides should help. It will be nice to see if this config will work so I can do a better install - get rid of the all thread and clean things up. I also wonder if electric water pump and stand alone controller might be effective.
Hope my assistant (wife) can help get the brake bleeding done this weekend. Then I’ll get some tires. I got 15 inch split bus rims. Also installed an 091. Between the taller tires and better gearing the rpm should be a bit better but will probably re-gear at some point.
Yes It would be great to have you over. You probably need to look at my install with one eye closed so you don’t go into shock. Not sure what your schedule is like but I work early and usually home by 2:00. I’m around most weekends. East side of Marietta. If you ever do caffeine and octane. Stop over afterwards might be another option. I’d like to see how a swap should be done-yours.

[Vee Dub Nut]

[Vee Dub Nut]

Taking full advantage of this time off work for Christmas break. After spending most of yesterday doing work on the house, I snuck back out to the shop today and worked more on the cooling system.

First up was making shroud/fill plates to box in the radiator to the frame. Here are a few pics of the process. I built them from some 26ga (I think?) galvanized sheet metal. Took measurements from the Bus for rough size, and then used a piece of wire to bend up the profile so I could see how it would fit between the rad and frame. After that was verified, it was just a matter of cutting out the pieces, and then bending them in my HF sheet metal brake using the wire template as a guide. They are attached to the radiator using captive nuts and sheet metal screws through some factory holes on the radiator core.

Used a cheap HF shear to cut down the sheet metal. Makes easy clean work of it.

Post cut curly-ques

My wire "template". Makes it easy to check actual profile on the Bus between the rad and frame, and then doubles as a good tool when using the brake to bend the correct angles

Bender' up!

Profile shot

And finally fitted up

After the sides where done, I moved on to the rear panel. Similar process. A couple of rough measurements, cut out a panel, and then 30+ up to the bench and down under the Bus moves trimming little by little to fit the panel. What a pain in the neck, but worth the effort.

Here is the rear panel on the bench after its final trim.

And fitted to the Bus (temporarily held on with C-clamps to test before I drill holes in the saddle).

After I got done with the sides and rear pieces, I took it out for a test drive to see what those and dropping the rad 1.5" did. Results were very similar to what I saw when I tipped the nose of the rad down the other day.

With that good news, I did some longer extended driving to see how things did over a longer time span. The new arrangement is a BIG improvement from where I started. That said, I still thought that a scoop was likely time well spend to force air up to the top of the rad. Back to the shop I went, where I spent the rest of the afternoon banging out this.

A shot of the entire system

Its still a work in progress. I need to finish it out yet, but just wanted to get the basics together to test it out. The side plates of the scoop are bolted to the frame, and are made from some thicker 16ga (I think?) steel. The scoop itself is made from the same sheet the fill panels are made from. The scoop will be riveted to the side plates once complete. I actually drilled a couple of different holes in the front hole of the side plates so I can adjust the angle of attack on the scoop. Overkill, probably... but easier to do now than later

Here is a side shot with the scoop attached. Unfortunately it is visible, but its barely poking down and doesn't stand out all that much. The side plates will need to be painted since they are un-coated steel, so I'll paint them and make them blend in the with the chassis to make it even less noticeable.

All in all I'm happy with how it looks. The scoop is still higher ground clearance wise than the engine hanger/oil sump, so no worries there. I'm anxious to go take it out for a drive tomorrow and see how much of a difference it might make.
_________________
Fightin' Texas Aggie Class of 2006

67 Beetle (TBD)

74 Transporter (EJ25 Swapped) - Build Thread: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0

See all my VW pics on Instagram @ vee_dub_nut

[khh48]

Very nice work done.
Maybe a guage like this will help you. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Manometer-Digital-Air-Pre...kT0_xyC-kQ

[Vee Dub Nut]