In a message dated 9/5/2000 6:55:07 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
macmillan@HOME.COM writes:

> remove the pushrod shields and you will find drain plugs on each water
>  jacket.

Here's my suggestion--when you have the pushrod sheilds off drill a one inch
hole so in the future you can access the drain plugs without diconnecting the
exhaust bolts. My exhaust bolts are precarious at best--cross-threaded and
all messed up by the DPO's "mechanic." So I opted to drill the tin to avoid
having to remove it at every coolant change. DO NOT drill the tin while still
on the engine as you can easily hit pushrod tube cover or cause other
disasters. If you choose to drill while the sheet tin is on remember it is
NOT at my suggestion.

I have the 1 inch holes in my sheet tin and have no problems so far. I
suppose you could argue it makes the push rod cover which is under the tin
vunerable to objects from the road. But it's only a one inch hole. I suppose
you could fabricate a cover for the holes once you drill them to create the
original amount of protection. I tried regular 1 inch hole plugs from the
hardware store to fill the hole but the tin in ribbed in a way that will not
accept such plugs.

Naturally if anyone has ideas why this is not a good idea speak up. It's too
late for me of course. But honestly I can't think of any disadvantage. And it
makes draining the coolant system less of a PITA. Still silly, but less of a
PITA.

QUESTION:
on my 1983.5 Vanagon radiator the bleeder bolt on the top passenger side
(USA) is just a bolt--a regular bolt. I even checked it on the VW dealer's
microfiche--a regular bolt. This means it has to come all the way out to when
refilling the system to let air escape. I understand on later model busses
the bolt is actually a bleeder bolt in that it has a groove or a hole through
it or something that allows you to loosen it a bit and let air escape without
having to remove the entire bolt. Is this true? If it is can I just swap to a
later model bleeder bolt? As you might guess getting the bolt back into the
radiator while the engine is running at 2,000 RPMS and coolant is pumping out
the hole is--well--rather silly. But fun for the neighbors to watch.

TIA
Jeff
83.5 Westy
Roaming the States