Hi all,
Well, finally doing it, I've been collecting conversion bits for the last couple of years, and I guess I've been a bit afraid of the unknown and put off starting this.
But I've got much inspiration from the likes of Helbus, Sunnyjim, and karman141, Joel etc.
Going to run twin radiators in the engine bay.
Please, don't be afraid to comment, especially if you see me doing something wrong!
This is a big learning curve for me.
Cheers Johno
chelliJ
congrats on making the move
where abouts are you? I am in brisvegas
post some pics on what you have and take it from there
good advice will come from all angles
Looking forward to following it.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXwh4z8d66o
SUBARU ea81, VW auto, Detour camper
My ex girlfriend said "its me or a trike". Her big mistake.
There is a broad opinion on what is 'doing it wrong'. Just ask plenty of questions, read a few of our build threads, put up pics of what you are doing, and it should go along pretty smooth. But it won't, it will fight you a bit, but be strong, and make it happen.
First up I pulled the engine from the liberty, purchased in Canberra for $500, 200k on it, drove it home, ran beautifully
Engine came out fairly easily, wiring harness wasn't much fun, a quick call to Alan at AM autos steered me in the right direction. He told me what he needed and how to get it out.
Here it is all boxed up, sent it away 10 days ago, Miles called me yesterday to let me know it was on its way back, quick service.
I bought this sump from small car.com back when our dollar was better than the US.
Fitting was pretty straightforward, just had to make a 15mm spacer to lift the dipstick tube up.
Bought a volks conversions kit off ebay, hadn't been used. It fitted up quite nicely
Pulled the old engine out on Saturday
Couldn't wait to slot it in there and get an idea of where everything's going to go, couldn't believe how small the suby engine is, and how well it fitted.
Take a tip from Volkswagen and put the radiator up the front.
Also copy the cooling system from the Subaru as you have the car .
😂🤪😂🤪😂
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. 🥲
Plenty of people have made the twin rear rad setup work.
Coming along well Johno, keep us updated.
be interested to see the oil capacity of the sump.
Joel wrote:Plenty of people have made the twin rear rad setup work.
Coming along well Johno, keep us updated.
be interested to see the oil capacity of the sump.
yeah that sump looks small , wouldn't think you needed a small sump on a kombi .
put one radiator at front and it works.
no need to put two in rear and try and make it work.
😂🤪😂🤪😂
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. 🥲
take the sump off, walk to the edge of your property & throw it as far as you can. Let it be someone else's problem before it becomes yours.
With the amount of work you are doing yourself, you seem more than capable to make your own with the correct oil capacity, if not more capacity like I did.
Engines back out, just playing around with the radiators and lower crossmember.
Got a question, whats the electrical plug pictured, is it some kind of ancient diagnostic plugin? Where do all the wires go and can I remove it? Or should I just move it?
Cheers Johno
Jak Rizzo wrote:take the sump off, walk to the edge of your property & throw it as far as you can. Let it be someone else's problem before it becomes yours.
With the amount of work you are doing yourself, you seem more than capable to make your own with the correct oil capacity, if not more capacity like I did.
Did you use one Jak and have problems? Seems to fit pretty well and is the stock oil capacity. Interested to know what the issue is with it.
Cheers
ian.mezz wrote:Joel wrote:Plenty of people have made the twin rear rad setup work.
Coming along well Johno, keep us updated.
be interested to see the oil capacity of the sump.
yeah that sump looks small , wouldn't think you needed a small sump on a kombi .
put one radiator at front and it works.
no need to put two in rear and try and make it work.
I'm hearing you Ian, but not really interested in starting the whole radiator debate, plenty of posts on this forum about it already!
Cheers
That plug is the VW diagnostic plug from the day. I just left mine where it was in our beetle but not sure what would happen if it was just turfed.
Yogie
Great idea putting the radiators in the engine bay, A friend of mine has the same set up using twin Porsche boxter radiators and has no issues for over two years in all types of weather, I see all the ugly front mounted radiators and it just kills the looks of the car, just have to make sheet metal panels around the radiator so all the air from the cooling vents pass through the radiators.
johnno
great work
what rads are u using?
I'm using the same radiators that the busaru guy on YouTube used.theyre honda civic ek/ej.
They're triple core so hopefully will do the job. Size wise, they fit snugly between the chassis and top of the engine bay.
I've just taken them this afternoon to have the caps welded closed.
Got the wiring loom back today, feeling a little more confident about the wiring after seeing it, looks reasonably straight forward.....I think.
Ordered a throttle body reverser from RJES, that was getting posted today.
New clutch arrived today too, it's all happening.
I'll through some pics up tomorrow.
Cheers Johno
you should be up and running in a few months
😂🤪😂🤪😂
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. 🥲
you probably have to move one of the radiator out let fittings so the water flows from the top and all the way down to the bottom so its gets to cool correctly, the same way as it would when the radiator was mounted in the donor car . it the picture the bottom half of the radiator aint doing nothing with the outlet half way up the side of the tank. 🥲
😂🤪😂🤪😂
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. 🥲
ian.mezz wrote:you probably have to move one of the radiator out let fittings so the water flows from the top and all the way down to the bottom so its gets to cool correctly, the same way as it would when the radiator was mounted in the donor car . it the picture the bottom half of the radiator aint doing nothing with the outlet half way up the side of the tank. 🥲
Yeh Ian,
I've got the same concern re the outlet placement. I'll see what it does initially and worst case pull it out and move it.
Cheers
chellejohno wrote:ian.mezz wrote:you probably have to move one of the radiator out let fittings so the water flows from the top and all the way down to the bottom so its gets to cool correctly, the same way as it would when the radiator was mounted in the donor car . it the picture the bottom half of the radiator aint doing nothing with the outlet half way up the side of the tank. 🥲
Yeh Ian,
I've got the same concern re the outlet placement. I'll see what it does initially and worst case pull it out and move it.
Cheers
move it before, then you wont have to root around. as it was in the other car in one end and out the other end. not hard to see.
you need to look and see how car radiators work, its best not to just put one in sideways and see what happens . that half the trouble with the cooling systems, people don't under stand how a cars cooling system works.
😂🤪😂🤪😂
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 Johno,
I would'nt be to concerned about the location of the radiator inlets/outlets - gravity has nothing to do with the flow. The cooling system is pressurised and driven by a pump - some people just can't accept that radiators in the engine bay work.🤓
My first radiator actually flows in the bottom and out the top. As long as they are in series it won't be a problem. The only problem you may have with the outlet location is bleeding all the air out of the radiators. Just make sure your header tank/filler is at the highest point.
Looking good.
Cheers.
1961 K Ghia - Porsche 5 sp, EJ20T, Brembo's, Dble A arm susp
1974 L Bug - Porsche 944 brakes, Boxster 16's
1974 Bay Camper - EJ20, twin radiators, Boxster 16x7's
Half Beetle trailer with Boxster 16x7's
2011 Tiguan TDI 4Motion
2010 LR Discovery 4 TDV
karmann141 wrote:Hi Johno,
I would'nt be to concerned about the location of the radiator inlets/outlets - gravity has nothing to do with the flow. The cooling system is pressurised and driven by a pump - some people just can't accept that radiators in the engine bay work.🤓
My first radiator actually flows in the bottom and out the top. As long as they are in series it won't be a problem. The only problem you may have with the outlet location is bleeding all the air out of the radiators. Just make sure your header tank/filler is at the highest point.
Looking good.
Cheers.
Appreciate your comments karmann141, to be honest it was your posts that finally inspired me to go with the radiators in the engine bay.
I will leave them as is at the moment, as for the filler, I'm going to fit it in the top tube that joins the radiators, that's the plan anyway.
Cheers
Got a couple of questions fellas,
Need to change the fuel tank outlet barb, but having trouble finding the right one, pretty sure Helbus did it but I need to know whether to change the whole fitting or just the barb?
If I use one of the two fuel tank breathers as the fuel return line, do I just connect the fuel return line directly to the tank inlet by drilling a hole thru the firewall panel? I don't connect to one of the breather pipes in the engine bay do I?
What's the black wire on the left side of the engine bay that connects to the coil and has an inline fuse?
Black wire with the inline fuse is the power for the reverse lights
65 Meyers Manx
68 Country Buggy (KO 367)
68 Country Buggy (KO 669)
68 Country Buggy (KO 789)
68 Country Buggy (KO 815)
68 Baja Bug
76 Baja Kombi Twincab
The outlet off my fuel tank had a thread I was able to fit a screw on barb with a hose size to suit a VL Commodore type EFI fuel pump. The return was put on one of the engine bay breather pipes.
