OK, Its time for sheetmetal cutting and I want to cut as little as possible and dont want to ruine the nose of the ghia. You can tell by the pics that I have the radiator mounted and top cover fabricated(yellow). I am thinking of cutting the underside and adding a vertical air shield (red) to force the air into the radiator. I am not sure if I need to block off (magenta) in front of the radiator to keep air from circulation in the nose? The nostrils I was going to open up to let air enter the radiator. Thought about opening up the horn hole but it sits directly behind the front bumper. I didnt think it would get the best air flow. Any ideas or opinions would be greatly appreciated.










[ Edited on 28/7/2007 by flat_iv ]

NOOOOO don't touch the 'nostrils'. Cut a recatangular hole below the bumper where it's not obvious: ie enlarge the hole that is already there - make it stretch across teh car

Your challenge will be to get hot air OUT of the radiator area. You will need open up as many areas as possible behind the rads and in front of the front beam. Do this by re-inforcing the body just below the fuel tank's front lip/edge and removing all sheetmetal below it, down to the base of the spare wheel well (which will also need its edges reinforced)

Then re-do your sheetmetal

Nice lookin Ghia! What wheels are they

Thanks for the insight. The nostrils would only be opened up on the inside of the car and not inlarged. The wheels are from a Hyundai Tiburon 16x6-1/2" with 205/50/16 tires.

Ive done the exercise in my fasty so similar to this. As VWCOOL said you will need to get the hot air out. I cut an oval shape hole in the apron under the front bumper and it just looks factory and this allows plenty of air in.

The cover you made looks good. It looks like it will stop everything in the front boot getting hot and obviously hot air swirling around. Cut into the panel under the tank so the air can escape. Stating the obvious the fans will be drawing the cool air in and pushing the hot air out through the holes made in the panel underthe tank (yet to be cut).

It will work well already with the extra water in the pipes from front to back. Never had dramas with mine overheating once the system has been bled properly.

Hope that makes sense.

Andrew

[ Edited on 29-7-2007 by GTMac ]

Hi

Nice Ghia. I had a 2.1 turbo WBX in a super beetle, I only used the stock A/C vents in the front apron to get air in.

Good move tlting your radiator, this aids cooling as the incoming air bounces around wiping out more heat.

The waste hot air path needs to be large, as the air actually expands and if it cant get away it will affect the cooling.

Your fan looks a little under size, I guess it gets hot in Tennessee. I cant remember my fan size but it was huge. At the sides of the fans I made rubber flaps that would push back when the car was at speed but then would suck shut when the cooling fan came on. If you look at a most VW & Audis you will see this feature, Mk1 Golf/Rabbits had them as well as Passats/Dashers and Audi 100/200s. You will also need make sure the air at the front and the back are isolated so that when the fan comes on it only draws cool air, the rubber flaps aid with this.

Steve

check out this thread;
http://forums.aussieveedubbers.com/viewtopic.php?tid=58256#pid553350

Wes, thanks for the link. I had seen it before and I believe I have searched any and everything under radiators and cooling. I just hate the thought of cutting and it not being correct and having to redo something because I made a mistake. I think for now I am going to open up 1/2 of each nostril and open up the bottom like the yellow ghia. If it comes down to it I will have to open up the rest of the nostrils and do some more fabricating. Do you think the air would travel enough around the bumper and into the opening. Even if the opening is cut larger below the bumper? what do you think about me tilting the radiator to the front and not the back of the car?

For those that dont know the nostrils in a ghia half would allow air into the tire compartment and the other half is in the fender well.

Don't tilt the radiator forward (the opposite way to what you've shown) as then it will be more difficult for the air exiting to turn after the radiator and exit the bottom.

Here's my advice.

Red line - On the top just try to guide the air to the top a little - but this isn't very important.

Red line - Guide the air out of the top of the radiator. This will prevent the air existing the back of the top of the radiator and causing a little recirculation eddy above / behind the radiator.

Orange lines - if you add a lower scoop, make sure you also add some turning vanes. A scoop on it's own will send air up, but it will be flowing across the face of the radiator, rather than through it. It may mess up the other air flow coming in through the grills and actually be worse than no scoop (I think humpty said they encountered this in the other ghia thread). For air to go through a radiator efficiently, it has to hit it straight on.

Does any of that make any sense?

Also make sure the sides of the radiator get sealed to the sides of the car so you don't get recirculation around the sides.

Wess, it makes complete sence. I think starting off I am going to rebend some sheetmetal at work for the top of the radiator and do away with the large step that I have in my current sheetmetal. (Like the one you have shown) Then cut under the bumper and form a large slot to let the air flow to the radiator. I think that the nose of the car is so large that the air will just enter and just circulate. I am going fab. a new piece of sheetmetal to go between the front of the radiator and the nose to cut down on the volume space that is in the nose. Right now I am thinking of approx. 6" clearance.