Now not to be outdone by a certain other subabug owner I'll also do a Valla trip report....
I'm really happy with how it went all weekend.
I convoyed from Ballina to Grafton before sitting on 75-90 got too much and i left them behind.
Filled up at Coffs and that tank got me from there to valla, all the weekends running about and back to Grafton and was still half full.
To my amazement it returned 7.1L/100km on that tank
Surprised me cos I sat on 110km on the highway and gave a few people some joyrides taking if faster in 3rd gear than a 1600 bug can normally do in 4th
I filled it with premium on that tank too but i dont think it would have had that much effect as it was already half full of regular.
But I decided to try for an economy run between grafton and ballina so just took it easy sitting on 100km/h and not nailing it passed all the slow cars and got 6.7L/100
I dont think it would get much better than that though, that was scone gobbling it too the extreme.
anyway It seems to have a thing for the number 80
water temp sat consistantly on 80-82
and the oil temp on the same and 80psi oil pressure
They are impressive mileage figures.
Sharpbuilt V2, EJ25, Subaru 5 Speed, Falcon rear discs, Heater & A/C, Rack Steering
Pfft highest wins, doesn't beat my 20L/100km.
Is 80 degree water temp not too low?
Joel wrote:Now not to be outdone by a certain other subabug owner I'll also do a Valla trip report....
I'm really happy with how it went all weekend.
I convoyed from Ballina to Grafton before sitting on 75-90 got too much and i left them behind.
Filled up at Coffs and that tank got me from there to valla, all the weekends running about and back to Grafton and was still half full.
To my amazement it returned 7.1L/100km on that tank
Surprised me cos I sat on 110km on the highway and gave a few people some joyrides taking if faster in 3rd gear than a 1600 bug can normally do in 4th
I filled it with premium on that tank too but i dont think it would have had that much effect as it was already half full of regular.
But I decided to try for an economy run between grafton and ballina so just took it easy sitting on 100km/h and not nailing it passed all the slow cars and got 6.7L/100
I dont think it would get much better than that though, that was scone gobbling it too the extreme.
anyway It seems to have a thing for the number 80
]
hahaha I was doing a bit more then the 110 speed limit
😂
and noboby past me up a hill
😂🤪😂
to get 7.4
😊😂🤪😂🤪😂
car forums. where a lot of peoples good intentions end up taking a good old car off the road forever never ever to see the road again. 🥲
80c water temp is spot on optimal, the thermostat opens at 78c, anything below that is too cold, but the thermostat never lets it drop below that anyway
Proof though that you dont need a big radiator when it runs temps like that even with a tiny 1.5L mazda aluminium core rad
That probably wasn't a fair mileage test as almost any car would do well on that stretch of road
Its pretty well dead flat between Grafton and Ballina and no need to stop for anything, just slow down for a couple of 60 zones, i didnt even get out of 4th gear from one servo to another.
Id bet a 1600 vw motor would probably get similar but I guarantee a 150hp vw engine wouldn't 😂
Joel wrote:80c water temp is spot on optimal, the thermostat opens at 78c, anything below that is too cold, but the thermostat never lets it drop below that anyway
Proof though that you dont need a big radiator when it runs temps like that even with a tiny 1.5L mazda aluminium core rad
That probably wasn't a fair mileage test as almost any car would do well on that stretch of road
Its pretty well dead flat between Grafton and Ballina and no need to stop for anything, just slow down for a couple of 60 zones, i didnt even get out of 4th gear from one servo to another.
Id bet a 1600 vw motor would probably get similar but I guarantee a 150hp vw engine wouldn't 😂
Wait until you put that Subaru top end cleaner in it
😂🤪😂🤪😂🤪😂
car forums. where a lot of peoples good intentions end up taking a good old car off the road forever never ever to see the road again. 🥲
Funny you should say that, got 2 cans of the stuff here ready to go
Hmmmmm..... somethings missing ❗
i dont get it?
So I guess noone worked it out 😂
Although a "before" shot might help
I've got my new stealth radiator setup in
My existing radiator was only ever temporary, I wasnt putting lots of effort or $$ into the cooling system till I knew the conversion was a success
I guess it passes for that now so a new radiator that didnt take up so much boot space was going in.
Aside from the room the space saver takes up my boot space is now back to normal superbeetle
The radiator for those that can't pick it is from an Alfa 33
It looks tiny next to the 323/Laser radiator but its double row, so in terms of capacity its actually about 25% bigger than the Laser one.
The two 9" fans cover alot more area than the single 14" fan aswell, although I'll only be wiring one for the cooling system, the other will only run on A/C request same as the standard setup
I'm pretty sure once the coolant gets over a certain temp after the main fan has cut in the computer will bring on the A/C condensor fan as well
Its the same rad thats fitted to Pauls old blue rexxy Lbug and if that one can handle the heatload of a chargecooler rad in front of it whilst doing laps of the track then I'm sure mine will be fine
the Laser radiator has proved to be way beyond adequate by the fact my fan has only come on 3 times now in 6000kms and everytime its when I'm stationary for more than 5 mins and this one is bigger again
I just have to finish off the enclosure for it
I went the waterproof ply again as its easy to work with but mainly theres no heat transfer at all
It will have a hinged lid like the other one for easy access
Whilst the coolant was drained I also made one other change
the only one weakness with my plumbing layout was the rubber elbows that went under the bulk head hung down very low
The left one has already had a brush with something at some stage
Eventually I'll end up stuck on the side of the road somewhere with a big green puddle underneath so I've replaced the rubber elbows with stainless and put the rubbber joint up above it out of harms way
The way I should have just done it in the beggining
I've also gained abit more ground clearance by doing this too
You should of ask me, as we used a radiator like that in Joshes vw toooooo 😂🤪😂
😂🤪😂🤪😂
car forums. where a lot of peoples good intentions end up taking a good old car off the road forever never ever to see the road again. 🥲
Hi Joel
That looks great, where did source the Alfa radiator from? Did you hook up the heater yet?
Steve
I found an Alfa enthusiast only about 10kms away from me who had 3 of them sitting in his shed, one had been reco'd and only used for a couple of hours running in an engine so I grabbed that one
and a few days prior to that I won one on Ebay as well.
I couldnt find a second hand one anywhere when I was first looking, talk about one extreme to the other
I Actually gave up on project heater for the time being.
Reason being mainly the worst of winters done now, and I;ve survived the last 3 years without heat, but also Ive had a change of mind with my layout
This was version one with the commodore heater tap and beetle vent cable.
I had originally planned to put it under the backseat and duct into the heater channels but my placement of the ECU there foiled that plan so i was just going to mount it in the parcel tray area
But Ive dropped that idea now as the A/C evaporator unit im fitting i can get with a built in heater core for an extra $10 and the heat coming out of dash vents and window defrost vents like im used to in the mainstreamer anyway would probably make for a more effective heater
You've been bussy Joel! Nice work.
Of course I totally aprove your radiator choice! 😎
I thought you might 😂,
Actually it was seeing how well yours fit that made me realise how perfect they are for a superbeetle.
Oh yeah i forgot to mention, it's now even easier to fill the coolant up.
These radiators don't have a cap, just an air bleed hose on the top left tank, so all I do now is lift the hose on that up above the level of the header tank and fill it till the header tanks full, no bleeding needed, only took about 5 mins.
Heres a pic of the other radiator I won on ebay for those who want a closer look
You can see the air bleed port on the top left
These radiators don't have a cap, just an air bleed hose on the top left tank, so all I do now is lift the hose on that up above the level of the header tank and fill it till the header tanks full, no bleeding needed, only took about 5 mins.
Yep, that's how I do it too, works perfectly (I use a bit of duct tape to attach the hose to the opened front decklid).
Only I have to squeeze some coolant hoses a little bit to make the water move around. Then the level slowly goes down in the header tank.
Must be because both my coolant pipes run over the engine to the front.
If the system is full I plug the bleed hose that's connected to the radiator and put it away somewhere on the side of the radiator.
Hey Joel, what are the physical dimensions of that radiator ?
Sharpbuilt V2, EJ25, Subaru 5 Speed, Falcon rear discs, Heater & A/C, Rack Steering
Hi Mark, I'll get the exact measurements for you next time I'm in town, my bug is in the shed at the oldies place at the moment but you should be able to get a rough idea from this
Core Size: 545x245x34
Cool. No big rush, just curious.
Sharpbuilt V2, EJ25, Subaru 5 Speed, Falcon rear discs, Heater & A/C, Rack Steering
Oh yeah, another radiator with similar dimensions I looked into as well was from a SB Barina
or Opel Corsa for the oversea'ers
Theyre a little bit bigger but would have been overkill in my case
Core Size: 680x260x26
Hi Joel
Your new install looks so good that I'm thinking of ditching my cut down Ford Transit radiator.
The other ones that I've thought about are from Audi 100 & 200s core is 570 x 305 x 42. They come from a heavy turbo 5 cylinder car so they should be up for the job.
On my old bug the ECU controlled the fan but once the motor was off the fan stopped, I like to have a fan after run if the motor is hot enough, I used a separate sensor and only powered the fan relay when the key was removed via the extra circuit in the ignition switch.
Steve
Theres a few other cross flow rads out there that are very low profile
the 4L Jeep Cherokees have a 250mm high rad but it's very wide and probably total overkill for a sub 2.5L engine
I always just make sure my fans cycled before I shut down, one of the joys of having a fan pilot light on the dash
I am running a standard Impreza radiator and it does the job very well. The fan has come on a few times on hot days when I am stuck at lights and it comes on when at Stockton after going for a hard run....but that is to be expected.
Excuss my ignorance Steve, but what is the advantage of having the fan run when the motor is off, since there is no water flow, the cooled water in the rad will just sit there until you start the motor again.
Sharpbuilt V2, EJ25, Subaru 5 Speed, Falcon rear discs, Heater & A/C, Rack Steering
Hi Blue V2
Most European cars have the fan running after shut down, the coolant will still circulate via thermo syphon, it gets rid of hot coolant around the heads etc.
I used to have an Audi 200 turbo, it had a whole symphony of things happening after shut down depending on coolant temp, an electric water pump, radiator cooling fan and cool air blowers on the injectors.
Passers by would often tell that I left my car running
Steve
Thanks Steve. That makes sense.
Cheers,
Mark.
Sharpbuilt V2, EJ25, Subaru 5 Speed, Falcon rear discs, Heater & A/C, Rack Steering
I used to get the same thing with the Scoupe.
I didn't realise people thought the sound of a thermo fan resembled that of a petrol combustion engine
I'm sure it works well ina front engine arrangement but i dont know how much effect there would be when the engine is 3m down the pipeline
we had a mix up with Joshes small Radiator
, the radiator hose fittings Were in the wrong position so he crossed pipes over under the back of car so the flow went the same way as it did in the subaru.
😂🤪😂🤪😂
car forums. where a lot of peoples good intentions end up taking a good old car off the road forever never ever to see the road again. 🥲
With a cross flow radiator it doesnt matter which side is in or out
With all engines the hot water outlet always comes out the top of the engines and the return to the waterpump is always down pretty low near the crank
So when the radiator is right next to the engine to keep the hoses short is the only reason a cross flow rad has one hose up high and the other down low
I've got my rad hooked opposite to what it is in the Alfa, makes no difference
This only applies to crossflow rads though, the other type have to flow top to bottom
Joel wrote:Hi Mark, I'll get the exact measurements for you next time I'm in town, my bug is in the shed at the oldies place at the moment but you should be able to get a rough idea from this
Core Size: 545x245x34
I've got the measurements of mine:
Dimensions: 34 by 62 cm or 13.4 by 24.4 inch (widest points).
But my radiator looks a little bit different. De lower hose connector is not pointing to the side a bit, but points straight back.
See:
Yours is the series 3 (91-94), the series 1 and 2 79-90 had the different ones like I've got.
Think Alfasud were the same as well I'm pretty sure.
Probably the only part of the car that didnt disintegrate on one of them
