This is a read-only archive of the old Madabout Kitcars forum. New posts and replies are no longer possible, but every thread is still here to browse and read.
Danny, I've been looking at your front panel and it looks really good, but unless I'm mistaken, you are going to have to do what I did and cut some sort of grille in the nose to feed your rad with air.
These fronts I believe, were made for the vans that have the air-cooled 660cc toy engines in the rear.
I made my grille big enough to get the rad out if I ever needed to, and have had no overheating problems at all with it.
Also, you are right about the side chrome strips getting in the way of the door handles! I found it was the only logical position to stick the strips on, and just went ahead anyway.
If you go back to my old build thread, there is a detailed photo set to show how I made the grille if its any help to you.
It was very fiddly and time-consuming, but I could not see any other way of getting round doing it.
Scottie, thanks very much for your input. With the wheels i think im going to have to go down the same route as you with the spacers. I was wanting to make the full wheel size a bit bigger as to lift the van up a little as I have bumpers and side skirts to go on and they will sit quite low.....
There will be a lot of modification going into them to get them to fit but once done, im hoping to get them moulded so i can re produce the kit for the hijet.
As for the cooling issue, i will be going along the lines of mesh behind the VW badge as per this 1......
I have also bought 1 of these fans which il get connected up and see how i get on.....
The chrome strips are going to be the major part in getting this van to look right so im stuck on this at the min. The last thing i want to be doing is moving or changing the factory door handles because im sure il get chew with them if i do!
Looks like the bumper come as part of the kit Danny?
I hate to say this but I bought one of those fans for my XKSS in the early days, and it just was not up to the job.
I ended up fitting a second-hand MUCH larger one which REALLY does the job! Also I think you will have problems with such a small air intake under the VW badge. I can't see that giving enough air-flow. If you do go that route, test it out on a longish run before you paint and trim, that way it may save a lot of extra work if it does fail. Best of luck with it all, and I will follow you with interest!
Yeah all came with the kit, front pannel, front bumper, rear lower pannel, rear bumper and a set of side skirts.
I will trial it with the mesh behind the bumper and with the small fan 1st before paint and hope for the best, if not i will try and squeeze a bigger more powerfull fan in and again hope for the best!
What did you do about the radiator fill point? How will you gain access to it now?
The radiator fill point is under the passengers seat, so unless there is a cooling problem, there is no need to access the rad at all Danny.
And Roadster, the engine is underneath the two front seats, so there is not a compartment as such, but I agree with you it must have a reasonable amount of airflow to flush the heat away, due to its location in the first place.
When stationary in traffic is when a good fan is required, as obviously at that point there is no airflow at all, and the temp gauge does tend to go up a bit then.
I just hope you don't cook the engine Danny, as a combination of that fan and that small hole really does not look to be enough!
Although I personally have never had a issue with cooling with my van, an awful lot of people have with there's, and by all accounts its supposed to be a common fault with them, so good luck with it!
That "fill point" at the front Danny as far as I believe is for some thing to do with topping up the rad if its new and has no water in it at all, once that has been done, all that's needed is to top up once in a blue moon at the correct top up point under the passengers seat. The oil re-fil point and the screen-wash top-up are all under there as well. Have a look under the left seat and it will become clearer.
WCA, how the f*ck is increasing the power by 320 BHP going to help the cooling system?
A thought just occurred to me Danny, if the rad ever goes bust after you have grafted the front on, how are you going to remove it?
My van front is grafted on in a permanent way, so I HAD to have some kind of access to get at the rad if I ever needed to.
If its a permanent fixture, you really should have access to remove the rad if required?
Or, will yours be easily removeable? Worth a thought.......
I was thinking of the front being a permanent fix with lashings of stikaflex. It sounded like the best idea and just worry about brake downs at a later date 'if' they happen! I dont have the skill to be able to make it removable!
No Danny neither did I, but I thought a pound to a pinch of poo,
if I can't get to the rad, its bound to fail a couple of weeks after I've finished the build!
Imagine all the hard work to get the front on, then having to tear it all off to get a damaged rad out...................
I don't know if this is any help Danny, but when I was at the stage you are now, I realised that I definitely need to cut out some sort of grille in the front to allow an adequate airflow for cooling.
It also seemed logical that if I was to do this, (and I HAD to)
it may as well be big enough to allow the rad to come out if required, so I did.
Danny if you make the badge removeable and place it at the right height will it not give you access withe the use of a hose to top up and/or release the fixings to drop it down to replace?
Hopefully this will help me out a little. Il also be cutting out behind the VW badge but I need to find a bigger 1 on the net. Want 1 about 11" really to get the propertions right with the headlights!
I was thinking of the front being a permanent fix with lashings of stikaflex. It sounded like the best idea and just worry about brake downs at a later date 'if' they happen! I dont have the skill to be able to make it removable!
Could you bo;t the front on just below the windscreen with rivets or self tappers and hide them with a chrome strip, maybe the chrome trim from the rear wing of an MGB.
You should be able to bond some brackets to the rear of the panel to fix to the front crash bar, accessed through the headlights and finally a couple of chrome or polished stainless dome bolts up was side.
An alloy scoop mounted under the bumper could help direct airflow to the radiator.
