Elec cooling fans VW

Just wondering if anyone here ever substitute elec cooling fans on top of the cylinders pointing down and do away with the belt driven fan, doghouse, and all the tins. Would it be as good or better at cooling at low rpms since the belt driven fan isn't turning as fast? I realize the oil cooler would have to be relocated but that's not a big deal. I was thinking one 8"x8" low profile fan on each side. I know the front mounted engines (Rex) doesn't use fans at all but catches a lot of air being up front. And I'm guessing it cools better at slow speeds with the tins off. Seems rear engines with elec fans would be ok too. My trike doesn't restrict air flow much, bare bones, so the eng gets plenty.

Would like to know what y'all think, or maybe it's been done and doesn't work. Not sure if I want to go that route, but I have to think it's been done.

The Germans designed a pretty good aircooled engine in the bug & their other aircooled platforms, that is hard to beat. While there are literally tons of aftermarket hotrod goodies that are available for VW's, I've never seen an electric fan kit as you describe.

Maybe that's your ticket to becoming a future millionaire, in designing such a kit?

Unless you're having cooling issues though I'd leave the belt driven factory style fan "system" intact, other than the removal of the lower cylinder/head tins....

It seems that getting rid of the dog house alone would help with air flow. That being said, that is the opinion of a mechanically declined. But, my mechanic has been working on VWs since 1972. He is concidered by a lot of folks here as the best in the area. I will go see him this week and pose your question. I'll let you know what I find out. Thanks for your time

I have no low speed cooling.

No city driving, at best a stop light every now and then with 30mph minimum for a period of time between.

With any tins on it at all you will be dependant upon the fan alone.

If you want electric fans then to sustain a full load like the original fan does you will need about 10hp of fan.

Soooo it's not something that everyone's doing, dang, haaa. I'll never forget when I took off to Texas with a trailer to hopefully buy a trike. Had zero knowledge of the vw engine and drivetrain, all I knew is that they were air cooled. I pulled up to the guys house, got out and walked up to the trike and said to myself, what the fu#$ is this? Lol, Where's the cylinders? Ohhh, I see 'em now. Damn, it's a shame to cover the cylinders like that. And that was my first impression of the vw engine. When I got it home I realized there was a fan on the other side of the generator, lol. But always thought about removing all of that since the cylinders are sticking out past my narrow seat and would get plenty air flow while at 30 mph and faster just like Rex. But at lower speeds I would have the extra cooling of the fans. Could clean and polish the cylinders, maybe mount the fans on the underside to keep them out of sight. Just thinking, not ready to jump on it. Would have been nice to hear from someone that tried it. The stock cooling system works great, but was designed to cool engines that were jammed in the back of a car with little airflow. Maybe an overkill for bare bone trikes?? Just sayin

Thanks for the comments and hope to hear more...

I am trying to do the same thing. I bought an old VW, bare bones trike and it was well used at one point and was also without a hint of cooling tin. That was one of the cool aspects of it! A bare motor, out in front of God and everyone!

But my Vdub motor guy said that would never work as it would get too hot when you weren't moving. Obviously it had been at one point. Now I am also looking into some sort of electric powered air flow to avoid the unsightly VW doghouse tin. When I come up with something, I will post it here. In the meantime, keep after it... the truth is out there!

Everyone wants to do the easy thing, which is what do what everyone else does! There is still originality out there. I gotta believe it!

Blessings,

Trikezilla

Here is some tech info on the VW cooling fan: [url]http://www.offroadvw.net/tech/wes/fan.html[/url]

Wayne, if you live any place close to Baton Rouge, I know a mechanic that came very highly recommend to me before I bought my trike. I'm mechanically declined, so I needed the mechanic before I bought a trike. Let me know if you think it might help. He's kept my running for probably 30k miles +.

Thanks vwbug, interesting info on the belt driven fans.

Trikezilla, sure seems to me elec fans would work fine for slow speeds, red lights, city driving, etc. Would still have to use a lil common sense during the hot months. I think fans like "love jugs" would be plenty to keep temps down, and have a thermostat switch to cut them off at cruising speeds. I may try it someday when I need a good project (been working on an '07 hd ultra classic lately).

Hey sonny, thanks, I'm a lil too far from BR. My main problem is I'm too hard headed to let someone besides me work on my stuff, lol.

Remember, my engine gets a lot of air already, nothing muck blocking the flow.

( I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed,,,,,but I'm in the shed) :laugh:

My thoughts, and I know just enough about VW's to be dangerous, you'd be going from hidden cylinders by the dog house to hidden by pretty big fans. If Rex's calculations are correct and I trust them, 10 HP of fans is a fairly large fan, not to mentions the additional power requirements to drive them, even short term.

I gotta admit, I like the "out of the box thinking" and really like the idea of sprucing up the look of the VW engine with uncovering and polishing the cylinders.

I don't thinks you will ever find a "better design" than what the germans did, the VW is tried and true, but you might come across a design that works for those low speed times and free the engine from the dog house ... :D

[QUOTE=FuzzyWuzHe;556218]My thoughts, and I know just enough about VW's to be dangerous, you'd be going from hidden cylinders by the dog house to hidden by pretty big fans. If Rex's calculations are correct and I trust them, 10 HP of fans is a fairly large fan, not to mentions the additional power requirements to drive them, even short term.

I gotta admit, I like the "out of the box thinking" and really like the idea of sprucing up the look of the VW engine with uncovering and polishing the cylinders.

I don't thinks you will ever find a "better design" than what the germans did, the VW is tried and true, but you might come across a design that works for those low speed times and free the engine from the dog house ... :D[/QUOTE]

Ok, I never said I would "hide" the cylinders with "big pretty fans". Acually I said maybe mount fans "below" the cylinders. And sorry but I think 10 hp fans are WAY overkill, especially when Rex has NO fans.

And I'll agree, but I'm not looking for a better design than the germans for a CAR, this is a bare bones trike. Bring something to the table other than "he said".

Watne,

A couple of thoughts about fans under the cylinders. Incorporate a lower shroud similar to the stock VW car shroud but put the opening facing forward. Mount the smaller pancake fans at the front opening pushing air back into the shroud. This would accomplish 2 things. It would keep the fans out of the engine heated air flow and the shrouds would act as air rams at speed. The air flow would follow the natural convection flow path upward.

VW cars needed the larger fans and elaborate tin work because the engine was surrounded by a body and they needed to force the cooling air down, against the natural air path of heated air, and out from beneath the body.

Here is pictures of the typical lower shrouds. They normally hang off the tins above the cylinders with the curve forward and the flat end rearward. This was to direct the heated air out the back from under the car. These are usually the first thing to come off a dune buggy, baja bug, or trike application.

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Now that's a good idea Tom, coming from the bottom of the cylinders then looking forward, join the two sides into a single 8" intake with a fan. All under the trike. One of these days,,,Oooone of these days.

I'm still surprised that there's not some kind of elec fan kit for buggies and kit cars and such, like from EMPI, haa.

I,m thinking a richer mixture and advanced timing at low engine speeds would help with cooling also....the fans with tins underneath sounds like a workable idea. thinking that tins should be designed to use road draft to help pull air thru at road speeds if possible.

[QUOTE=chopptrk;556327]Now that's a good idea Tom, coming from the bottom of the cylinders then looking forward, join the two sides into a single 8" intake with a fan. All under the trike. One of these days,,,Oooone of these days.

I'm still surprised that there's not some kind of elec fan kit for buggies and kit cars and such, like from EMPI, haa.[/QUOTE]

I was thinking that with a smaller (fit the duct opening) fan on each side, the fans would "freewheel" when powered off at highway speeds. Ducting to a central common duct might add too much restriction and affect the high speed operation. It would also add a lot of bulk under the trike and mess up your lean trike look.

[QUOTE=chopptrk;471520]Just wondering if anyone here ever substitute elec cooling fans on top of the cylinders pointing down and do away with the belt driven fan, doghouse, and all the tins. Would it be as good or better at cooling at low rpms since the belt driven fan isn't turning as fast? I realize the oil cooler would have to be relocated but that's not a big deal. I was thinking one 8"x8" low profile fan on each side. I know the front mounted engines (Rex) doesn't use fans at all but catches a lot of air being up front. And I'm guessing it cools better at slow speeds with the tins off. Seems rear engines with elec fans would be ok too. My trike doesn't restrict air flow much, bare bones, so the eng gets plenty.

Would like to know what y'all think, or maybe it's been done and doesn't work. Not sure if I want to go that route, but I have to think it's been done.[/QUOTE]

I did with my formula Vee that I autocross raced with. [ATTACH=CONFIG]101511[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]101512[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]101513[/ATTACH]

Here is my old Formula vee that I autocross raced with 2 BIG 12V fns. NEVR overheated on a big motor.[ATTACH=CONFIG]101514[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]101515[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]101516[/ATTACH]

Works for me