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My '66 std. beetle came without a bellows thermostat. No bellows, bracket, rod,etc. Although the flaps are installed in the fan shroud. Is this a bad thing? Since the car is not driven in cold weather, I thought, no biggy. I assume that the bellows heats up, expands, and opens the flaps to cool the engine after the engine heats up a bit, correct? I hope someone can make me smarter on this one! Thanks ken
The flaps are a good idea on a 66 even without the thermostat, as they direct the airflow properly to the cylinders. Your description of the operation is correct, and the bellows is also designed to "fail open" in the extended mode. The flaps also have a spring to make them open without the thermostat, but if the spring breaks I'm not sure what they would do, so check it or see if they are wired open. (Many are after the rest is removed.)
Agree with Tom, the flaps are a good thing even if the system is incomplete. And 2x on making sure the spring is there or that is replaced by a wire to hold things open.
I would add that the thermostat is a good thing even in warm weather. It speeds engine warm up to operating temperature, and the engine temperatures are more consistent. Result is less engine wear. It can be a job getting all the parts together to complete the system, but it's worth it. I just pulled my engine apart to replace a defective cam gear, and I'm pretty hard on engines... driving for an hour or two at 70 to 75mph at a time. I put 15,000 miles on the car just this year, and you can still see the cylinder cross hatch pattern. Crankshaft journals, rods, and wrist pins all measured to perfect factory measurements. I'm replacing the bearing just because the case is open, but I could have swapped just the cam and kept going.
Paul
Last edited by Altema (2010-11-04 10:07:56)
In the winter in cold climates the engine sometimes never gets to operating temperature without flaps.
jim
Your next question is probably going to be "do I need to reinstall all the parts"?
About all I'll say is that that is entirely up to you. There are two distinct camps on that matter - the first believes that the Wolfsberg engineers put all that contraption there for a very specific reason, and because of that your engine isn't going to work as well or last as long without them.
The other camp says it doesn't make much of a difference. Many people (myself included) have run without the flaps for years without issue.
When I'm working on an engine, if they're there I leave them in place and operational. If they're missing, I don't sweat it.
But, if the bellows and levers are missing, I will ALWAYS make sure the flaps are wired open. If there's any chance they can close and block airflow, your engine will suffer heat damage.
So like the others said - wire it up!
Many thanks for the informative responses. Yes, the flaps are there, the spring is there and it's holding them open. Based on what you have all said, I'll wire them open just to be sure. When I get hold of a thermostat, bracket, and rod, I'll intall the setup. It looks as though it can be done by just removing the bottom tin, right? Thanks again. Ken
As long as the activating rod from the thermostat to the flaps is still in place (you can find it between the cylinders where the thermostat mounts) then installing the thermostat and bracket is a snap.
If the rod is missing you'll need to remove the fanshroud in order to hook it into the flaps.
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