Date:         Fri, 25 Jun 2004 03:19:05 EDT
Reply-To:     Oxroad@AOL.COM
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Jeff Oxroad <Oxroad@AOL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Which Radiator The SA or German
Comments: To: antelopewesty@ADELPHIA.NET
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

In a message dated 6/23/2004 5:45:33 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
antelopewesty@ADELPHIA.NET writes:


> BD carries a SA version and a
> German version.  Anyone have any experience with the SA unit.

I bought a radiator from the VW dealer at a discount for about $400 a few
years back. It was genuine VW manufactured in South Africa. It works swell.
Obviously now they can be had a lot cheaper both from VW and list vendors. I think
Ken at www.Vanagain.com sells the genuine VW part for a lot less than the VW
dealer. This I'm not sure of so check with him.

As for the question of whether VW of South Africa modified the radiator from
it's original German specs brought up in this thread--I've gotta say for my
money the temperature changes from one place to another shouldn't really effect
the cooling system on a vehicle to any significant degree. An adjustment to
the termostat or radiator fan switch should be the only change required in a
modern vehicle and this only in EXTREME conditions. But to a properly functioning
cooling system--ie. good water pump, unclogged radiator, properly functioning
thermostat etc--100 degrees F. isn't all that different than 40 degrees F.
Add to that the climate in South Africa and Germany are about the
same--although the seasons are reversed-and I'd find it hard to believe VW altered the
configuration of the radiator in any substantial way.

Best
Jeff
83.5 Wesfalia
LA,CA