Well, I took my own advice and put a spare 14" Vanagon wheel on the
front bumper. A quick check showed about 260 square inches of grill area
feeding the radiator. The wheel blocked about 220. ~85% blocked. As I
said earlier, you would have to move the spare out away from the grill
and the fan would be running a lot even then.

Mark

Mark Drillock wrote:
>
> Well said, Frank, and the excess capacity of the radiator and fan system
> has been proven many times by engine conversions, several in my
> driveway. My I5 runs cooler under heavy load than the waterboxer under
> normal load due to the more efficient water pump of the I5. The issue
> comes down to how much the spare and cover will interfere and what the
> result will be with a waterboxer and it's water pump.
>
> Set a wheel on the front bumper of Vanagon and see how little of the
> grill remains unblocked.
>
> Mark
>
> Frank Grunthaner wrote:
> >
> > I have been following this thread with some amusement. In many of these
> > discussions it is assumed that the Vanagon cooling system is a weak link.
> > >From an engineering perspective, this is simply not true. Stuart is dead on!
> > ..............