Date: Fri, 17 Dec 1999 09:10:19 -0500
Reply-To: Bulley <gmbulley@BULLEY-HEWLETT.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Bulley <gmbulley@BULLEY-HEWLETT.COM>
Subject: It's not about scoops, really
(For those on the type 2 list (whom I have cc: on this note) we on the
Vanagon list have enjoyed/tolerated a lengthy discourse on the
advantages/disadvantages of adding scoops to the air intakes of our vans.)
That SCOOP thread got a little fetid, didn't it? I have to tap the
collective wisdom on one last point about cooling air flow (for air-cooled
motors) in the Vanagon body specifically. Please bear with me.
In the OLD Splittie buses the engine compartment was cavernous, and the
flow from the side vents to the intake fan was a circuitous, low-velocity
meander. With the 1970's bays, the route was straighter, from the vents to
the fan, with few obstacles in the way but the spaces were still LARGE,
thus, lower velocity.
In the Vanagon, not only are the cooling-air intake duct diameters smaller,
but the bottom duct area, where the air makes a 90 degree turn is smaller,
and the deck lid is much lower, making velocity, and obstructions to that
velocity an issue, (in my estimation). With all of that as background...
My question is, has any of our ilk played with "cleaning" the flow from the
vents down to the cooling fan? I have in mind such things as
filling/rounding the 90 degree turn at the base of the ducts and removing
the useless clutter from the incoming air stream (my 1982 has a couple of
ill placed junction boxes, etc.)? My thoughts are that scoops may help push
air in, but the path from the scoop to the fan is a cluttered mess. Once
the fan gets the air, it is a well-directed, tight trajectory through the
motor, but prior...ugh.
Also, has anyone (with a 1980-1983.5) experimented with using the heater
fan output (from the fan on the alternator shaft) to force additional
cooling air down onto #1 & #3 cylinders during the summer? Seems like a
no-brainer to add a 5 cm tin duct fitting to the back edge of the tin
behind #1 and #3, and run the unused output from the heater fan to cool
these hot cylinders in the summer. In the winter, you just swap out the
ducting, and cap off the fittings.
Thoughts?
G. Matthew Bulley
Bulley-Hewlett
Corporate Communications Counselors
www.bulley-hewlett.com
Cary, NC USA
888.468.4880 tollfree
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