Re: Snaking the Thermostat's Pushrod

Hmm. I do not have that little dam, Sam I am.

It appears that the gap I am looking for is indeed between the two fins that join 1 and 2.

Thats it from the bottom obviousely Rocky. I just did this operation too.look down from above with flashlight it will be clear to you then. I bought a new rod and thermostat from CIP. That rod like the pulley I got were Pieces of Ssheidt. I got an old thermo rod from a cadaver engine. It was bent differently. Well anyway it slid down easily and doen't bind. Good luck kiddo...it will only go on one way. Also the rod fits onto the flap rod side toward the front. NOT the middle of the shroud...Eric Ghia and bug verts

Hmm. I see one in the pictures you posted. But it seems to be under the 3/4 head!

It actually goes thru the head. There's a little square cavity it drops down into. Pressed into the bottom side of this cavity is a little steel plate with a diagonal slot in it. The rod should come out thru that slot.

----------------------------------------------- Jim Adney snipped-for-privacy@vwtype3.org Madison, WI 53711 USA

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!!! I'll be darned. Didn't notice that at all. Now what the heck is that thing doing over on that side of the engine?!?

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Hmmm... then you'd better put them in. They are a critical part of your cooling system. Without them you can measure a significant pressure loss in the plenum above the cylinder heads. It takes a significant amount of pressure to force the cooling air down through the fins nearest the exhaust valves. Anything that reduces that pressure results in a loss of cooling efficiency.

For an illustrated How-To, see:

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I assume you'll have to paste that together. The CYLINDER HEAD AIR DAMS folder is in the PRACTICE ENGINE file in the files archive of the Fly5kfiles Group over on Yahoo. Text is attached to the photos.

You can use a solid air dam on the 3/4 side but in a vehicle you'll need a hole or notch on the 1/2 side for the thermostat rod. (Airplane engines don't have a blower; don't use the thermostat, hence the dam is solid on both sides.)

-Bob Hoover

On Wed, 31 Mar 2004 17:58:25 -0800, "Mike Rocket J. Squirrel Elliott" ran around screaming and yelling:

get one, make one, steal one, whatever you have to do....you do NOT want to run the engine witout it....small but VERY significant.... JT

Tin snips, here I come!

Like my wife.

The Wonderbus is getting a pair of air dams.

First time I've heard about those thingies.

Whoever assembled the engine, swapped the heads from side to side for some reason?

Jan

You can do that? I wouldn't know if they were interchangeable or not. It would be the nice folk at VW Paradise who claim to have assembled this as a new engine and charged the PO accordingly. Nice to note that one of the upper engine tin mounting bolts next to the left intake port is snapped off flush.

The metal end of the broken bolt is pretty worn-looking for something that is claimed to have been installed only 3,000 miles before I bought it. This thing has lots of old parts on it -- even the heads, near as I can tell, given that snapped-off bolt. What is the definition of a "new engine" anyway?

Sigh. Maybe I should check the compression. Engine's out, won't be able to turn it over until it is re-installed. Shoot - should have gone out, bought a compression tester thingy, and done that before pulling the engine.

Yes you can. And if you are not paying attention to the finer details (such as the thermo rod plate wedged into the underside of the head, because you never had any intention to fit teh rod in there, much less the thermostat itself...) then this can happen to you unnoticed. .

Have said it before, and will stick to it forever: The worst thing that can happen to your car, already has. The Previous Owner. Can't trust anyone anymore.

Part of it all is caused by the very thing that made these cars so popular: The engine is easy to fix and repair by just about anyone who can hold a wrench in his hand. No matter how horribly you botch it up, it will still RUN. (Just how well, and for how long, will be a gamble)

"WOOOHOO!!! I got me a nice new engine!! Was darn cheap too! The seller said it ran great 10 years ago when he hit a deer with the car and pulled the engine, and he kept the engine stored away safely ever since. On his back yard. Under a tree. "

Jan

It's nice to get the technical definitions for these things.

snipped-for-privacy@aol.com (Veeduber) wrote in news:20040331221042.05579.00000423@mb- m25.aol.com:

Zoinks!!!! Never seen or heard of those little beasts. I know my bug does not have them. Another valuable nugget gleaned from RAMVA!!!! Good thing I got my engine out for a going over.

Damn, talk about some casting flash. Where'd you get those things?

-Chip

I dropped by the local ACVW FLAPS on my way home today to get some points and shims. While there I asked if they had any of those little air dams that go on the underside of the heads. All I got was a strange look.

:: sigh ::

Max

Your Wife has Air Dams????

How much did they cost?

What?.................

Remove "YOURPANTIES" to reply MUADIB®

No, no, no -- you're quoting me out of context. Joey said (of air dams) that they were "....small but VERY significant...."

To which I said, "like my wife."

She's only 5' 2'', but means a lot to me.

When new, BOTH heads had this plate installed.

Bob Hoover has explained that these little plates are actually important, just like lots of other little pieces that are often left out of an engine....

The proof of quality in an engine rebuild is NOT how well it runs, but in how long it runs well. Little details like this eventually add up.

----------------------------------------------- Jim Adney snipped-for-privacy@vwtype3.org Madison, WI 53711 USA

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