Hi All,
A few months ago I was with a friend in his car which is not an ACVW but it is an aircooled boxer anyway, a citroen 2CV (600cc 2 cyl boxer engine in the front). The guy told me that in cold winters he had to put some sort of screens in the air intake scoops to limit the air entering the engine, so it wasn´t too cold. It was about 5ºC.
So far I always though that the cooler the better, but maybe there is an optimal coolness for the aicooled engine? does anybody know?
Ant
The Citroen aircooled engines (2CV or GS) have not a thermostat to block the cooling air when it's cold. Since they are located in the front of the car and get more cooling air when the car is at speed, they are overcooled in the winter, which is a bad thing and accelerates wear. I am not familiar with the 2CV engine, but I ran a GS, and yes, you had to block the grill on the face of the car with a restrictive screen on the winter. This screen was supplied with the car, not as some extra accessory.
In your ACVW, if you have the flaps and thermostat installed and operating properlly, you don't need to block the air intakes. VW provided a restrictive screen too for the air intakes under the rear window, for use in very cold climates (temperatures well bellow freezing).
Bill, '67 Bug.
There is definitely an optimum temperature for air cooled engines, keeping this optimum temperature is the designers challenge, VW tackled it with thermostats on the engine and carb to control air flow before giving up and going down the more stable water cooled path (as did Porsche eventually). I would say an ambient temperature below 10C the carb will freeze up with the throttle open for a long time - like on the motorway.
--Steve
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