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FYI: I have been running hot on Abby (got up to 240 on a 98degree day — ) retarded the timing, put on a vac advance dist, cleaned engine, replaced oil relief spring and valve, went to colder plugs…thought the stuck thermostat was causing problems (but was stuck open so it caused the engine to warm up slowly, but once warm, it went right to hot).
I pulled the fan shroud to see if the oil cooler was plugged with dirt and if the shroud was dirty or blocked…With all of that, the temp went down to about 210 on a hot day, still higher than I hoped for.Poking around today, with the shroud off, we discovered that I am missing the small metal bracket on the oil cooler called a “Hoover Bit.” The claim is that finding one and installing it will eliminate the air leak around the oil cooler and decrease the engine temp dramatically.See this info from Awwsome Powder Coat, below. I’m off to the VW junk yard tomorrow and see if I can buy a used Hoover Bit. If not, I’ll buy one from Awesome Powder Coat for $ 20.00Stay tuned…Jack
The offset oil cooler sealing frame, A.K.A “Hoover Bit”. This is the #1 most forgotten part on
a VW engine rebuild! Not including this part leaves a huge gap that allows air to flow
AROUND the oil cooler instead of THROUGH the oil cooler. I have been told this part is
named after Bob Hoover, a long time VW enthusiast that spread the word about the
importance of this little part. Don’t forget this part! Your engine will thank you.I feel your pain! First of all, I’d like to know why some of us have trouble overheating and others don’t? I just purchased my replica last fall and got it on the road this spring, I have fought with excess temperatures ever since! If I keep under 50 mph it is ok. Mine is a 1970 dual relief engine with single port and a 30 pict/3 carb. I have went to 130 jets, converted back to the proper vacuam distributer, set my timing many different ways and skirted in the back of my engine try to get the hot air to escape out the back.
Just this past weekend I bought a 1975 fuel injected 1600 which I will eventually install complete with the fuel injection but in the meantime I decided Sunday to install the doghouse cooler and shroud from the “new” engine, What a difference! I don’t have the hoover bit in there ( In all the VW engines I’ve worked on, and that is quite a few, I have never seen one!) but it does have the vortex installed. My engine had the original cooler inside the shroud. Today, at about 85 degrees outside my oil temp got up to about 190, compared to 220 to 230 I was seeing before and my oil light stayed off. I don’t have the shrouding in place to dirrect the air from the oil cooler down under the car so I expect I’m getting some recirculating there so I believe my engine will be even cooler when that gets installed!
I think my car running hot has been a contributing factor into why it has only gone 11000 miles in the past 35 years! That and the fact you could hardly hold it on the road if there was any wind or you met someone the way it was setup! Thanks to THIS forum I got that sorted out and I’m closing in on the overheating problem so the future with it should be FUN ! FUN! FUN! LOL!
Here is one on ebay http://www.ebay.com/itm/VW-Bug-Beetle-Ghia-Oil-Cooler-Tin-aka-Hoover-Bit-/290874358802?pt=Vintage_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&vxp=mtr&hash=item43b9767c12
I think it would be easy to fab something up yourself though. I honestly question just how severe that air leak really is.
Eddy: these cars actually hold the road pretty well once the suspensions are set right (not too much springage in front, alignment correct, tires less than four or five years old, LOW pressure–like 15-16 psi in the fronts, 22-26 in the back)
Good on the overheating but–help me out here guys–is a 30 PICT not a little small for a 1600?Mine handles real good now, removed all the small torsion bars and set the front tire pressure to 14 lbs.
The 30 pict/3 was the standard carb on 1600 sp vw’s in Canada and the US for 1970. In 1971 they went to the 34mm carb and doghouse cooling shroud.
certainly I’m not saying it isn’t to small though! But I’ve learned a few expensive lessons trying to outdo VW’s engineers!
Well, today I had some help from Roy(al) and we made and installed a “Hoover Bit on my doghouse oil cooler. We used the dimensions from the drawing available at the following website: http://www.type2.com/rvanness/sealfram.htm
The Hoover Bit filled in the gap between the oil cooler’s sides and the doghouse tin. Now I just have to wait until next Tuesday when my replacement gas tank arrives — then I’ll test drive the car and see where the temp gauge lands after a hard run.Marking, cutting, bending and fitting took about 2 hours. Getting the shroud back on the engine took another hour (we had a little interference between the Hoover Bit and the bottom of the doghouse, which had to be felt, could not be seen).All in all, doing it myself (with some help, I admit) felt pretty good and saved having to wait for USPS to deliver a “real” aftermarket Hoover Bit. Pic’s show the homebuilt bit prior to final trimming, and the bit installed on the Oil Cooler. I’ll post the results of my test run so you all can have a data point to help decide if you want to fabricate/replace a missing Hoover Bit on a car with a doghouse cooler.(you should be able to reach your hand under the doghouse tin and feel for an open slot — if your Hoover Bit is missing) — Jack
Yes! very nice job! You might want to cover up that big hole in the back where the throttle tube goes through also if you’re into fixing air leaks on it. It has always seemed silly to me to make such a fuss about the “Hoover bit” and never address that big leak.
Were you able to RE and Re the shroud with the engine in the car? I had to remove the engine cover to do mine but even with it off it was a tight squeeze getting the shroud on over the oil cooler.
Good question Eddy — I happened to have the engine cover off of the car to replace the rusted engine cover hinge with a stainless steel one from MG Magic. So I had plenty of clearance on this FiberFab II car to get the fan shroud off. As it was, it took some experimentation to find out what had to be removed from the shroud to get the shroud off of the engine (air exhaust tin, oil cooler doghouse tin, vane connecting rod, thermostat, accelerator cable tube, etc). So the jury is still out as to whether it was worth the effort to plug that air leak with the Hoover Bit. And as you said, there are other holes to plug, like the 2nd big accelerator tube hole in the shroud. I’ll get out there today and plug that hole as well. — Jack
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