Hi all,

Taken the engine out recently of my fasty. I've only just bought it however everything associated with the thermostat is missing (brackets, thermostat, shroud flaps). This is a later engine a 72 but was sold with the orginal engine to the car a 68 which also has everything missing too. I can't assume both were run without a thermostat the guy may have removed the parts for spares etc etc. Anyway i just want to see if anyone is running without thermostat cooling if so will it be ok? If it's a really bad idea to run without does anyone know where I can get the flaps and kits to install (I'm guessing those parts are getting really hard to find) any help or suggestions will be great.

Thanks heaps
Joe

Most Aust. air-cooled VW engines have had the thermostat removed & often the flap/s, rod/s etc as well. This was done for "wrong" reasons in earlier times. (If the flap/s remain, they must be jammed open.)

It's not that common now to see a complete original set-up.

If you are in a generally warm to Hot region, and/or don't do short trips, there may be no need to worry so much about not having them. If you are in a cool to Cold area (eg. Tas., colder parts of Vic.; the famous Scone area), or do mostly short drives, there may be an advantage to fitting all the bits... (Can't remember if thermostats can still be bought new?).

Our last air-cooled car had a fully functioning, untouched original system and it all worked very well... Quick warm-ups: about 5mins max. in any weather -- rather than the 10 - 30 minutes without a thermostat.