Well it was cold when I left Scone and picked up the other 4 beetles at Singleton Maccas
Had breakfast
then down the Putty Road..
[its NOT really Down - a lot of UP, and 35kmh Corners
Winding all over the place..]

I was soon overtaken by the other beetles
when my beetle started to lose power...
then stopped completely at the crest of a hill [Mountain]
on double yellow lines..??

I checked the engine and found the inlet manifold from one side to the other plus the carburetor was a block of white ice....

Luckily I had thrown some masking tape in the boot...

I had better explain, that a few months ago, I had taken the doghouse fan shroud and oil cooler out and re installed My Original fan shroud , then i fitted a very large external oil filter over the top of my engine
and I couldn't close the engine lid.. I had to leave the lid open - as it had been...

So, I masked all the vents up, including the ones in the engine lid plus the gap between the lid and the body..
I took this off when I arrived at the Nationals...

The Sun was still shining when we left, and everything was fine until we got into the cooler afternoon air on the Putty Road....
so, as soon as the engine coughed a couple of times
I stopped and wrapped up again with the masking tape..

Here is a photo...

Now, If there had been a category for the most taped up VW..

I'm sure i would have gotten the prize... lol



Lee

PS: the oil cooler will be relocated shortly along with an Oil thermostat and the engine lid will be closed.. Lee

Does the carby have a pre-heat tube?

For a minute there I thought you had gotten out and painted it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was a relief to see the tape!!

Yes,
and it worked perfectly until a few months ago when I replaced the gearbox...

I even got some carbon/rust/soot out of it...

I think I'll have to find another one...

maybe I blocked it up trying to clean it out... lol

LEE

Hi Lee

I used to have a Holley bug spray and a whale tail on my 1302 many years ago, it was a bugger for icing up.

Do you still use a stock air cleaner and do you still have the steel tube that pokes through the rear tinware?

I cured my icing problem on the Holley by fitting a plastic ice cream container upside down over the air cleaner and directed the warm air up from the steel tube into a tube at the side of the air cleaner, that way it sucked mostly warm air.

Steve

Another way of sorting it out is to move to Queensland

shit ill be in trouble here with me baja ,as we get down to -15 ,,i think ill need a little more tape though,,,

Lee, why do u need an external oil cooler on a stock engine in a stock bug when u live in one of the coldest parts of the state?

even with mine bored out and worked and fitted with a blower in summer it'll cruise on 115 and not get hot enough to need one

not trying to knock ur work but that oil cooler is probably doing more harm than good

re ur icing problem im working on making a batch of electric heater elements same as i had on my old single weber in a few months when work slows down abit
i loved mine works better than factory preheat cos its hot almost instantly

Well
I do have the original air cleaner
and i also still have the hot air collector pipe that hangs under the engine tin..
so that will probably be the next thing to fit...

My Son has a holley on one of his cars [Baja]
and it ices up badly in the winter...
He bought one of those electric manifold heaters from the UK.. but didn't think it worked...

I decided to go back to the original fan shroud but I didn't like the design of the early oil cooler
and decided to add the remote oil cooler
but at the time I was still fitting up the semi auto stuff after I changed gearboxes
and wasn't sure where it would go..
I also have a 90 degree thermostat to fit in the oil line to the oil cooler..
then close the engine lid... lol

Hopefully one or all these things will work.....

LEE


PS: I also have an auto choke to fit to carby....

Move to Melbourne where the Ice on your windows is so thick, the ice on your manifold is nothing by comparison!

And don't even think of washing off the ice as we have water restrictions as well!!!!

at least I have a good heater

although I found it doesn't work as good when the temperature gets down around 0C...

but the windscreen didn't fog up...

Lee

Quote:

Originally posted by ancientbugger Another way of sorting it out is to move to Queensland

I'm surprised anything can ice up in that engine bay, the colour scheme burns my eyes every time. Put a thermostat on the cooler Lee. Do it now. It would look great in a nice peachy colour. somewhere between the red and yellow. Or do you need to go to the opposite side of the colour wheel (im not arty) Jay! input required!

Serioulsy though, either get one of the ones that go between a full flow filter and its bracket or you can get inline ones from revolution racegear. A brave move taping the vents up. Oil temp not necessarily an indicator of head temp. Your head temp can shoot up quickly but the oil would take a while, especially now that you have increased the capacity. One long hill and you could have had a lot more to worry about than an iced manifold!

Yes,
I have an oil thermostat to put in tomorrow
plus a spin on oil filter..
and the oil cooler will be going under the car

and the engine lid will be getting closed...

as the temperature here isn't getting any warmer

but its the first time I've driven My beetle in very cold temperatures...

All I've been thinking about is how to keep the engine cool... lol
not how to keep it hot.. lol

I also have a hot air pickup to fit to a standard air cleaner

cheers

LEE

Quote:

Originally posted by Adsman well don't run 40 or 44 IDF dellortios in the morning as they start to freeze up. At 5 am I can't get the beetle to run as the manifolds go too cold............Cant drive my car to work anymore as I drive 30 km and still cold as......bearly 40 degrees.

Lee, I dont think it matters how much you stop air from getting in the engine bay. Its the physics of the air rushing thru the manifold that causes the icing. Happens when ever you get moving air speeding up thru a restricted place.

You could end up with a fried engine and still get icing. Sorting the manifold pre heat is the only fix. Also worth buyiing an electrical heating element also. These wind around the manifold just below the carbie. Connect to the positve coil wire. I bought from Mick at Australian VW Performace Center for my old Oval. Sorted the icing and hesitations out nicely.

Here the contact details. Ask for Mick
Australian VW Performance Centre
Unit 10 25- 35 Lusher Rd Croydon VIC 3136 - map
ph: (03) 9725 5366

grey, i had one of those on my old weber cos the preheat was cut off
worked brilliantly but ive never found anyone who sold them so i was gonna start marketing my own cos there'd be a demand for them going by the improvement it made on my car
i blew the fuse once and the differnce and running and mileage was terrible
worked better than stock cos it only took 10 secs to heat up and stayed hot

Quote:

Originally posted by DUB74L grey, i had one of those on my old weber cos the preheat was cut off worked brilliantly but ive never found anyone who sold them so i was gonna start marketing my own cos there'd be a demand for them going by the improvement it made on my car i blew the fuse once and the differnce and running and mileage was terrible worked better than stock cos it only took 10 secs to heat up and stayed hot Yep thats the thing.

other thing is that I used twice as much fuel to go down

than come home...

Freezing up can cost dollars..

One of the other beetles than came down with Me said His oil temperature was 60 degrees....

so it WAS Cold...

LEE

Just had a re-read of your post at the top. Fitting the original air cleaner with pre-heats will definely help too.

Yes,
I've found out that VW did things because they worked.. lol

I remember reading about [Larry Perkins] a famous V8 supercar/Bathurst winner years ago saying that VW spent a lot of time and money on the VW thermostat...
so it should not be disconnected..

He was using a beetle in Rallying at the time...

LEE