VW knew the Vanagon was going to be mostly watercooled from the start
and designed for it in advance. That is why there is room for a radiator
even in the first year of aircooled. The diesels are watercooled and
they went into production during the 1981 model year, sold as late 81 in
other markets.

Mark

neil n wrote:
> It's raining out, I'm bored.....   ;)
>
> Since I was able to install a WBX coolant temp gauge on my air cooled
> '81 cluster, I'm curious about what I assume is an '80 instrument
> cluster.  (sorry. Didn't make note of model year Vanagon I pulled it
> from)
>
> This is what the foil looked like on my '81. (I think this is also an
> '81 cluster):
>
> http://tinyurl.com/yhdwbo2
>
> '80 cluster. Removable plastic bit behind foil has no middle hole:
>
> http://tinyurl.com/yhreorm
>
> What did VW (or VDO?) anticipate the holes on the '80 cluster might be used for?
>
> Ironically, under foil of '81 cluster, there is no removable plastic
> bit, but the holes seem to match the '80. Huh.
>
> http://tinyurl.com/yllp47l
>
> I physically traced the foil on each, and AFAIK, the signal, ground
> and power, if used for a coolant temp gauge, are the same.
>
> No biggie. Just compiling info for any other people converting an air
> cooled to water cooled.
>
> Neil.
>
> --
> Neil Nicholson '81 VanaJetta 2.0 "Jaco"
>
> http://tubaneil.googlepages.com/
>
> http://groups.google.com/group/vanagons-with-vw-inline-4-cylinder-gas-engines
>