Baja, cooling question...

Apr 06, 2004 8 Replies
V

My wife is insisting that I baja her bug. We have all of the fiberglass and steel bumper/cage parts, but I'm hesitating due to fear of an overheating engine. I know that to baja a bug correctly you should install an external oil cooler along with a scoop to get some air into it and the engine.



Is it possible to baja a bug without doing all of this and have the engine survive as a daily driver? She's not going to be ripping through the woods with it, at least not yet. I'm just not sure how far I need to go with cooling it. Is an air scoop on top mandatory? Is an oil cooler mandatory?



My bus overheated quickly once with the rear apron off during a test drive... but then again the entire engine wasn't open to the air as it would be in a baja.



It's a T1 1600 Sp.



Thanks!



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S

I never used an air scoop or an oil cooler and mine ran just fine as a daily driver until I sold it. Mine was a little 1200 SP. Here are a couple of pictures and stories about it...

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"I can hammer it back into shape later."

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M

Bajas make excellent daily drivers In ordinary daily-driving a stock engine does not need an external oil cooler. Of course, your wife may just like the way it looks. ;-)

Go to

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and select the Baja link. Other than twoACVW projects, this is my only car. It must get me to work every day aswell as anywhere else I need to go. It is an all season, all weathervehicle. I have used it in temps ranging from -10º to +95º and the onlycooling problems have been _over_ cooling in the sub-zero weather. Itdoesn't much like gusts of 40+ mph, though. Particularly from the front. Max

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M

Are you talking about those big doofy scoops/coolers for the roof? Who told you that, the guy at the swap meet trying to sell that "tree limb" magnet?? And if you mean to simply put a cooler under that "engine cover" that is usualy found on baja's, well thats a terrible place for it too!

Thats a farse, if you stay away from huge heavy tires, it'll probably run cooler baja'd.

An external oil cooler is one more thing that could easily get damaged ANYWHERE ona baja (other than inside the car) out in the bush!

Mark Detro Englewood, FL

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V

Well, from here:

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A book called "Baja Bugs & Buggies". It's actually a VERY good book, however it's geared towards baja racing, so additional cooling is mandatory for that purpose.

-tom

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K

Shaggie Pliskin "thought you were dead" your missin the VW scene huh? "come back to the dark side" you know you want to.

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M

Yes I have that book too and I highly recomend it to anyone thinking about about building an offroad VW! But read on in that section where he talks about "doghouse" shrouds etc..

Mark Detro Englewood, FL

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S

"I heard that one myself. Hell, I even thought I was dead 'til I found out it was just that I was in Nebraska."

"I can hammer it back into shape later." :wq!

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R

Never overheated my Baja, stock 1500 or 1600 SP engine (except for header). And actually tends to run cool, and yes it does have functioning thermostat and flaps. I wouldn't worry about any external coolers on a stock engine.

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