

| Subject: | Cooling System: tips from a newb POV |
| From: | Neil N |
| Date: | Fri, 3 Oct 2014 12:00:54 -0700 |
Hi all. As a newb doing a rebuild of the cooling system, thought I'd post what I'm learning for anyone else in a similar position. Some or all of this has been covered before, and apologies for a long post, but felt that these might be of some use. - give thought to hose clamp placement (thanks Ken W!); place for easier access later on. If using spring clamps, try to place them so ears are away from working hands. - pipe under crank pulley; if coating it, consider powder coating. When positioning it, newly applied paint will get scratched up. Dry fit coolant pump, line up pipe, hose, 90º elbow. Coolant pump can be removed leaving these parts ready. - clean all fastener threads really well! - I chose to add sealant to outside edge of coolant pump and face of big steel pipe to pump. In hindsight, an dowel in one flange to pump hole would help line up parts so when threading the first fastener, the sealant doesn't get messed up. Or, install parts concerned working from coolant pump to thermostat ?? - consider using a slightly longer FLAPS available (??) hose between pipe under crank pulley and 90º elbow. New part I got fit, but is **just** long enough for two OEM spring clamps to cover. There is a small pin on under pulley pipe. I assume its a stop for hose positioning. - Likely not needed, or is "over kill" : dressing faces of various parts to remove pitting- scratches. Most were worked against various grades of emery cloth on my work bench but a piece of aluminum angle (sharp edges filed down), covered with emery then crocus cloth worked well. (i.e. on coolant pump face where under pulley pipe connects. New part but had minor scratches at that face) Caution; depending on how it's done, one could incorrectly change the angle of the face. Especially if part is aluminum. - WD40 worked great for lube to help position spring clamps. - fuel injection clamps can be used on smaller hoses to engine bay coolant manifold - brake parts cleaner is really useful for cleaning up parts for paint or sealant. I used Zero Rust paint to touch up exhaust "tin" (shroud). It's rated at a higher temp, but I'm not certain it will take heat from exhaust. It will likely hold up. I painted the coolant bottle bracket with Tremclad. Not sure if that was a good idea (heat from shroud). Zero Rust was used on the steel coolant pipes in engine bay. If I think of more, I'll post it. -- Neil n Blog: tubaneil.blogspot.ca '88 Westy http://tinyurl.com/c8rlw6p '81 VanaJetta 2.0 "Jaco" http://tubaneil.googlepages.com/ Vanagon VAG *Gas* inline-VR Engine Swap Group: http://tinyurl.com/d7gd5ej
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