i have a 1970 bug should it have vents in the rear deck lid.
i have noticed that it has tin inside the lid to catch water but no vents WHAT THE !

We had an original 1970 'Standard' Beetle and it had a 1300 and 4 wheel drums and no vents in the engine lid

70 was the first year they started putting vents in
they had 2 sets, but they werent enough for twinport doghouse engines so they went to 4 vents in end of 71

trouble is people swap the decklids due to rust or accident damage

if its still got the original single port engine it will be ok but if a later duel port engine's fitted then the bigger doghouse fan doesnt get enough air

thanks guys

it is a 1500 and sound like at some stage the deck lid has been changed. i am try to keep this bug original so i will start looking for a vent lid.

thanks

Elton

thats abit earlier than 76 Lee

from late 74 they all had black plastic number plate light housings with ribs on top
mines 9/74 and had it but my 8/74 1300 didnt
76 had no script either, plus all 76 and some 75 have the thermostatic flap that opens up under the number plate light housing

thats what the sqaure indentation behind the number plate is for

Joel, wow never seen that before ... what does it look like on the outside?

If you had a ventless decklid on a bug that had a 1916 or bigger engine and had decklid stand-offs would it still over heat. I rather the look of no vents and stand-offs.

looks like i will be sourcing a new decklid for my 69 are they a straight fit?

Dylan, with the lid on stand offs, the fan will get enough air. It's essentially the fan, not single or dual port. If you don't want the vents or stand-offs, run the narrow fan and no offset (dog-house) cooler, I am running this without any cooler in the fan housing, but am running a full flow cooler and filter with thermostst and temp operated electric fan on the cooler. When your engine is set-up and tuned correctly no overheating will occur. It's a worse situation to have a wide fan and no extra vents as the fan starves for air at highway speeds when most critical. With the aid of ceramic thermal barriers when building the engine, this can be pushed even further, I see under 100*C on the highway with 10.2:1 CR and a power pulley!
And Paul, straight swap for you.

Thanks Matt so that explains the higher temps I experienced on the freeway

Yep
You see it all the time when people put bigger motors with the wider doghouse fan in early bugs without decklid vents.
they are ok around town, it;s once you get out on the motorway and start getting the revs up around 3k the fan begins to starve for air and when you add twin carbs it only gets worse as they fight the fan for air.

Lot of people space the number plate out and punch holes in behind that or check out what Daimo Pell did adding hoses under the car that scoop air near the gearbox and come in through the firewall tinware aimed at the fan.

For what it's worth, I have the original 2 set vent deck lid on my 1970 beetle , with the the internal drip tray and am running a later stock 1600 twin port engine. In all the years I have had it, it only overheat once, when it was a 40 degree day in summer, stuck in traffic, in the M5 tunnel!

Something else would have been to blame there.
When sitting just idleing is when a VW engine will run its coolest.

Low idle speed, bits of tinware or engine bay seal missing or heaterboxes not hooked up right are the usual culprits in those situations.