Vw Polo Radiator

[churchy]

hi everybody, had a great day at newark kit car show today and have decided to replace my existing radiator with a vw polo rad that will sit uprigth in the nose cone but i am wondering which polo rad i should use, i.e. from which vw model. If you read my forum i have had overheating problems, this i have almost solved the car runs lovely at a steady 80c if you do not rev her too hard otherwise this will rise and keep rising untill i reduce the rev's back down and then the temp reduces back to 80, i shall run her this summer as she is because i just want to enjoy there and this is not an problem to me, then i will change the radiator set up when she is laid up in the winter. So i am just wondering which rad to look out for and start my winter collection of parts off.

Any help and advice will be gratefully received

Cheers Andy

[Guest Peter Kelly]

Hi Andy, When I purchased my Hood a couple of years ago it was over heating almost all of the time. All I did to cure it was to swap the Grille. The mesh fitted by the builder was so fine that it almost totally restricted airflow.

Worth looking at.

Peter.

[Guest Hammy360]

Andy, buy the gbs one mate and you wont go wrong mate it comes with or without filler cap if you have a water rail or header

[fry61]

A cheaper/easier solution may be to just add more vents in the bonnet. From your description the cooling system is OK most of the time & when considered to be over-temp comes back down quickly;what happens if you stay on the beans?

[Guest mower man]

It's vitally important to vent the engine bay and shroud the rad to direct air through the core ,the grill tip is also imp too ,can cause big probbs ,try it up the road with the bonnet off . My 2.1 runs around 85/90 in traffic can come up to fan in at 95 back off at 85 ish I run a cosworth /cvh stat 82 degs has been ok in France with temp in the lower 90's HTH mower man

[Longboarder]

Ditto the grill mesh. Run without. Duct all the air entering the nose through the rad. Let the air out again from behind the rad/engine bay.

Check engine hoses have no internal blockages. Check thermostat is working by dropping it in a pan of hot water and bringing to the boil. (Or just buy a new one!) Check stat is fitted the correct way round if a pinto. Check stat has an air hole 3mm at the 12o'clock fitted position to aid air bleeding.

Retarded ignition or weak mixture are also possible causes.

Standard westie rad is VW polo 1.0/1.3 from 90-94. Core is 380-320-34. Side tanks and left top and bottom hoses. Another they use is for same car and years but core 430-320-34mm. Same layout. Part numbers at Autocool, http://www.discount-cooling.co.uk/ are VWA2039 and VW2038. They sometimes also use VW2028 from a golf. Depends what fits your car. Pictures are 'borrowed' from their website.

 

Nigel

[churchy]

Thanks everybody, i have no mesh in the front grill just a number 7, i am running with no t/stat in the engine and i have got what i call a shark finn grill either side of my bonnet, the rad, hoses and engine block are not blocked as i have checked these, the rad is 450,430,35mm and sits at a 45/55 degree angle in the nose cone and i have blocked off as much air from passing around the rad as possible in the nose cone, before i had done all of this the car just was overheating within 4 miles at any speed, now she will run all day at 70mph but if i am driving hard the temp will rise to 95+ at which point i let there cool down which does take it time but the temp does dropt back to 80c, i think but i may be wrong is that the air is passing over and not going through the rad, so i was thinking of fitting a rad that will sit upright in the nose cone and fill almost the cone as well as ducting the air into the rad, does anybody agree or am i barking up the wrong tree, i am happy to run as she is this summer as i just want to enjoy her and the hard driving i can live with, this will be a winter project but am just hoping i am going in the right direction.

Any advice would be very welcome.

Cheers Andy

[Longboarder]

Have you ever actually boiled with steam and water spraying out from the rad cap? If not you might just have a gauge/sender miss-match rather than an overheating problem.

 

Nigel