Date:         Mon, 3 Aug 1998 15:38:45 -0700
Reply-To:     Joe Beckham <jbeckham@MARCO.ISWNET.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Joe Beckham <jbeckham@MARCO.ISWNET.COM>
Subject:      Re: Cooling problems / engine swap
Comments: To: "Vanagon@VANAGON.COM" <Vanagon@VANAGON.COM>,
          Ari Ollikainen <Ari@OLTECO.COM>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

There has to something that is very wrong, my 85 westy will run stone cold on a hot day with a bad thermostat. There must be some blockage or mis connected hose or something like that. The vanagon cooling system is way oversized for the engine H.P. Maybe just a loose belt to the water pump. The engine will always run hot with no thermostat in place,  the thermostat is also a restricting orifice to control flow rates in the system for proper cooling.

Joe B.
Mechanical Engineer
85 Westy 209K

----------
From:  Ari Ollikainen [SMTP:Ari@OLTECO.COM]
Sent:  Monday, August 03, 1998 2:37 PM
To:  Vanagon@VANAGON.COM
Subject:  Re: Cooling problems / engine swap

At 1:56 PM 8/3/98, Preston Lewis wrote:
>My '84 Vanagon has perpetual cooling system problems.  I've replace the
>radiator, removed the thermostat, replaced the water pump, flushed air out
>of the system, and checked for leaks but can find nothing wrong.  Seems
>like there is not enough water flow.  Engine will be boiling hot but the
>radiator will be cool (even without a thermostat).  Does anyone have any
>ideas what could be wrong?
>
        Did you pressure test or replace the pressure cap of the
        coolant reservoir? Are you running 50/50 mixture of anti-freeze
        and water?

>If I can't solve the cooling problem, I want to swap the engine and I don't
>mind switching to the 2000cc Type 4 Air Cooled engine used from '78 - '83.
>Could anyone please tell me which engines (other than the waterboxer) will
>simply bolt into the existing motor mounts and transmission system (4 speed
>manual)?  If the Air Cooled engine fits without major changes, I'm tempted
>just to buy a rebuilt one for $1000 and slap that puppy in.
>

        You won't be able to legally replace your wasserboxer with an
        aircooled Type 4 engine since California Air Resources Board
        rules require the replacement engine to be the same year as your
        vehicle model year OR newer. There are no 2.0L Type 4 aircooleds
        that were sold in California in 1984...:-(

        Your choice would seem to be any of the 2.0L Golf inline fours.
        Search the archive for recent and past discussion under "swap",
        "conversion", or "transplant".



      OLTECO                         Ari Ollikainen
      P.O. BOX 3688                  Networking Technology and Architecture
      Stanford, CA                   Ari@OLTECO.com
      94309-3688                     415.517.3519