Hi all,

As you will have gathered I am new to Aussie Vee Dubbers so here's a quick hello.....................................hello!

Right my query is this - I'm soon going to be travelling Australia, and I have decided that my wagon of choice will be a VW Kombi. I hope the vehicle will be a 2ltr kamper and I will stab at a model age range from between 1972/79. Now being from England I rarely experience the delights of warm weather with thin humid air during my summers and I appreciate that the air cooled lumps in classic Kombi's seriously suffer in this climate.

I was wondering if any of you guys could advise me further as to the best way of getting both more air into the engine (any custom duct/vents available??) and indeed more hot air out? Also as this would be my first Kombi VW I would like any imput as to the durability & reliability of a Kombi for a potential 20,000kms + trip across the southern hemisphere? any potential problems or pitfalls that I should look out for or prepare for? I will service the vehicle every 5k kms to help prevent any unforseeibles including a huge service with all belts and fluids at the beginning of the trip!

As I currently reside in Japan I get to see many Japanese vans and campers style vans which would be readily available and reliable in Australia - however I had a '72 1302 Beetle and loved the car and its character, hence why I fancy a Kombi for my trip! The problem is that realistically I won't be able to afford to choose an unreliable or expensive to maintain vehicle so I hope that any quaint issues with a VW Kombi would be minimal and easy to prevent/sort out

Any advice would be grately appreciated.

Many thanks

Matt

mate welcome, and i am sure you will enjoy your time out here. there are plenty of people on here who will be able to answer your questions and point you in the right direction. s'pose you will just have to work out which people and direction to listen too.
enjoy mate.:beer

every 5 kilometres:o

5k means 5 thousand anthiron.
he says 5k 'kms'.

lol yeah i re read it now....hah im a fool

You can always stick two corners from a plastic washing up bowl over the air scoops at the back!!

see http://www.aussieveedubbers.com/forum/viewthread.php?tid=22842 

That's what the previous owners did to Shrek!!

Cheers guys

If you have any other ideas please feel free to post.

make sure u have the cylinder heads checked for valve guide movement and valve seat recession most vw speacialists can get a fair idea simply by unclipping the rocker covers. this will be the most likely cause of a cool trip turning to shit in a 2l or 1800 kombi. if i was going round aus in a kombi i'd get a reco motor or at least new heads and fibreglass scoops on the intakes for those desert missions.

Cyl heads can be a problem... get them reco'd, make sure you have valve seats done and set up for ULP. Then fit a large capacity oil cooler. Make sure all engine air seals are in good condition. You can fit a larger aircleaner if spending a great deal of time on dirt roads, altho the standard one is fine if cleaned daily when on dirt all day. Airscoops are available but I consider them unnecessary. Spose they may help a bit and good for piece of mind if nothing else. They can be purchased fairly cheaply from most VW after market suppliers (about $50/pair I think).
Enjoy this wonderful country
Tony g

Some people fit elephant ears (scoops on the vents).

Some people fit oil coolers.

But the best way to not overheat is to slow down a bit! Just knock 10kmh off your speed and the engine will stay cool and you'll save a fortune in petrol.

It's a good idea to have an oil temperature guage just in case - so if it starts overheating you can slow down or stop before any serious damage is done. There are different types of oil temp senders (dipstick, tapped into the case, or just glued underneath) with different response times and accuracies - it doesn't really matter which you have as long as you keep an eye out for the temperature going up more than it usually does with your setup.

Have a great trip!

Cheers for all the help guys