Howdy List, This may have been covered but I thought another reference wouldn't hurt. When I installed my Boston Bob 2.0 Air-Cooled motor last year I went over every component and replaced/refurbished as best I could. That work included wrapping the exposed header pipe that runs from the heads to the heat exchanger cover. I see this sort of wrapping on a variety of engines, especially of the high-performance flavor so I figured it had to be a good idea. I also had hopes of warmer cabin heat since more heat would be transferred into the heat exchangers and I had hopes of cooler heads (maybe). What ended up happening was that the header pipes melted and cooled repeatedly. A week or so ago I developed an exhaust leak which turned out to be a cracked header (under the fiberglass). When I tapped on that header it crumbled. I pulled both heat exchangers and all 4 header pipe sections that had been wrapped were easy to tap holes into and chip/crumble to bits. I have since learned that I am not the only one to experience this problem on an air-cooled VW. A local air-cooled VW machinist reported of hearing about similar melting headers when wrapped. If anyone wants to see pictures I have a few that I can p-mail or post somewhere online. Jonathan Poole '83 AC Westy |
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