

| Subject: | Re: roadtrip spares |
| From: | Michael Snow |
| Date: | Wed, 15 May 2002 11:58:04 -0700 |
PS would a radiator and cooling pipes from an 86' GL fit in my 82'? ===== Shaggy I'll leave the spare parts list to some of our other long distance travelers. To fit a 1986 cooling system in your 1982 van, you need to fabricate a radiator mount. I drilled the welds out of the factory mount on a junkyard van and welded it in the proper position on my '82. This is fairly simple. The difficult part is that nearly every coolant hose on your van is incompatible with the '86 radiator and pipes. The inexpensive way of making the conversion is to use only the radiator from the newer van. You will still need to replace the hoses that connect the radiator to the coolant pipes, but that is far less expensive than replacing all of them. Many older vans have welded steel coolant pipes that are at or near the end of their useful life. The pipes rust at the welded seam. One of my projects for next year is to have some new pipes fabricated from seamless tubing, using stock pipes as a pattern. As a side note, the '82 diesel Vanagon uses two thermoswitches to operate the radiator fan. '83 and newer models use a single thermoswitch. You will need to study the Bentley and modify your '82 wiring harness to match the '83+ system. Even with the apparent difficulty, the conversion is worth the effort. I think '82 diesel radiators are now more than double the cost of the later models. Mike Snow
Have something to add on this topic today? Revive this thread in the forum »