EJ18 in a ‘69 standard

joelzy · Post by **joelzy** » Thu Jun 14, 2018 7:32 am

ahhhhh very good to know, thank you guys!

Good to know I'm not the only one, must've just got lucky on the first pass when burping but this second time around has been a pain.
I've seen a lot of people say the heater core traps air on these a lot. I was thinking that being as i don't have a core i can just add a valve to my bypass and see if that helps.

joelzy · Post by **joelzy** » Sun Jun 17, 2018 2:44 pm

Frustrated with this

Cant tell if it properly burped or not but drove around at low speeds in the neighborhood for half an hour with no issues. Then the temp started heading north so i got out onto a main road to get some air through the radiator, drove for another 5 minutes or so at about 40-50 trying to move some extra air through the rad but it didnt seem to help once it started getting hot. Got it back to the house around 217F and shut it down. Made sure the fan was spinning the right way and you can physically feel the pull at the scoop when the fan is on.
This is all with no decklid which it never got above 210 when the rad was open to the engine bay so im kind of lost.
Maybe the plastic shroud on the fan is restricting how much air can pass through?

Sound like an air bubble in the line or just not getting enough flow?
looking at it like this i can see how air could easily be trapped in that crossover pipe, thinking of installing a bleeder valve on there.

tried to think of what i did different last time and not that it should make a ton of difference but the rear end was up in the air last time so maybe i need to try that again

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joelzy · Post by **joelzy** » Thu Jun 28, 2018 1:49 pm

Heading out to Colorado for a week but after i get back and before i can get back into the shop for the new project i am going to tackle this issue again.
Going to start by attempting again to burp the system and try a 2500 CFM fan along with some heat barrier mat in the shroud below the radiator.

I've decided that if i cannot get it to burp as is, i'm going to pull it all apart, yet again and move the radiator forward into the space above the transaxle.
At that time i'll add the bleeder valve on the upper pipe, bigger scoops and different ducting(probably aluminum as long as i can figure out how to weld it) to optimize the airflow under the car and get the rad off the top of the motor. the other option is to head back to the original idea and swing the backend of the radiator upward almost parallel with the ground. this would force me to have a standoff decklid(probably more than usual) but with a shroud would probably pull enough air in using the decklid as a scoop of sort. much as i hate to admit it, some vortex generators might help get some extra air to stick to the body long enough to hit the rad. I've seen a lot of baja bugs that go this route with their swaps but i love the idea of a closed decklid and concealed radiator.
thoughts on the better route if it comes to that? drives me crazy that it was running just fine on temps before i built the scoop, ducting and shroud which makes me think its an air bubble. I've seen guys successfully running radiators over the transaxle as well though its less common but i definitely have the room even if i have to swap to a longer but shorter radiator. I know the short answer is to move it up front but i'm not quite there yet though it is starting to become more appealing.

petew · Post by **petew** » Thu Jun 28, 2018 5:27 pm

Honestly, that will net less air flow. If you have to move it, move it to the front of the car. Trust me. It's much better and even burping it will be easier.

joelzy · Post by **joelzy** » Thu Jun 28, 2018 8:48 pm

petew wrote:Honestly, that will net less air flow. If you have to move it, move it to the front of the car. Trust me. It's much better and even burping it will be easier.

Scooping from the back/deck lid or moving the rad forward and building better ducting?

Really stumped on how its running hotter with the scoop and duct unless there is air in it

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petew · Post by **petew** » Thu Jun 28, 2018 9:58 pm

Moving the rad to above the trans is not a good idea. Even with lots of ducting and the like, it will be fraught with issues. I've watched people struggle with it.

Moving the radiator to the front of the car is the best thing.

joelzy · Post by **joelzy** » Fri Jun 29, 2018 6:56 am

petew wrote: ↑Thu Jun 28, 2018 9:58 pm Moving the rad to above the trans is not a good idea. Even with lots of ducting and the like, it will be fraught with issues. I've watched people struggle with it.

Moving the radiator to the front of the car is the best thing.

Oy
I knew there was always a possibility of that needing to happen but i'm dreading it

petew · Post by **petew** » Fri Jun 29, 2018 7:19 pm

Don't dread it. It's MUCH easier to bleed and setup. You don't need big cooling pipes. Think 1 1/2" max. Possible even smaller. Run them under the pan along the heater channels or similar. Some guys have got them to tuck up under the pan-body bolts. Mild steel exhaust tubing more than enough. Get it bent up at an exhaust shop BEFORE you pull the current system apart.

viewtopic.php?t=138469#p1100228

bad62bug · Post by **bad62bug** » Fri Jun 29, 2018 7:50 pm

before you change you could try one of these.
https://derale.com/products/fluid-coole ... ets-detail

I used one between the beam and the front apron.
hooked up on the heater lines worked great.
the big rad in the back of the bug would only get hot when in slow stop and go driving.
that little rad would do all the cooling at speed.
check out this vid of my car the dash gauge is a inline unit on the top hose to the big rad.
the ECU temp is taking from the stock location.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8_hQr-JKUM

billz60vw · Post by **billz60vw** » Sat Jun 30, 2018 3:04 am

If you don't have a make up tank for your radiator you will never get the air out of the system.it will always overheat!

panel · Post by **panel** » Sun Jul 01, 2018 7:59 am

Good point Bill. Do you have a header tank joelzy ?

billz60vw wrote: ↑Sat Jun 30, 2018 3:04 am If you don't have a make up tank for your radiator you will never get the air out of the system.it will always overheat!

joelzy · Post by **joelzy** » Sun Jul 01, 2018 5:49 pm

panel wrote:Good point Bill. Do you have a header tank joelzy ?

billz60vw wrote: ↑Sat Jun 30, 2018 3:04 am If you don't have a make up tank for your radiator you will never get the air out of the system.it will always overheat!

If by header tank you mean a pressure overflow res for the cap i do and a 13 psi cap. The tank is small for now but i havent noticed it overflow out of said tank or anything. Sorry i know there is a difference in that and an expansion tank but i dont really know the importance or each

Thank you everyone for the feedback!!

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joelzy · Post by **joelzy** » Wed Jul 11, 2018 5:20 pm

Alright guys, i burped again and thought i had it settled this time. Jacked the rear end up and used my makeshift burp funnel which overflowed a little but i got to a point where it would come up and down without quite spilling and without quite emptying the funnel. Even used a glass bottle as a temp resevoir so i could make sure it was in fact gaining coolant while hot and pulling it back once cool.
Did that yesterday and drove it around today. Idle is still acting up but im not as worried about that until i can keep it cool.

Ran great for about 20-25 minutes then got up to about 208 and so started heading home(i was only a couple blocks away). Then it started cooling down, first it went to 202, then 199 then 195. So i got excited thinking i was getting the airflow needed and all. Mind you this was all kind of putting around just trying to get air through the rad under 50mph.
Got it closer to the house and out of nowhere it shot up from ~200 to 212 in seconds. Once in the driveway idling it just got hotter so i shut it down. Let it cool a little and took it out again and the same thing happened, itll be running coolish and then shoot up randomly. No matter my speed or rpm.

Is that an obvious symptom of anything? Seems like an air bubble still to me but i dont know as much about cooling systems.

I have a spare trans cooler/heater core to try out, a couple bleeder valves, and some heat mat to line the shroud but i dont know how much that’ll help really. Might be time to move the rad.

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billz60vw · Post by **billz60vw** » Wed Jul 11, 2018 5:26 pm

That's exactly what happens to mine when there is air in the system! Couple things to check,1 thermistat has the hole facing up and is good and also you do have the heater bypass right???

joelzy · Post by **joelzy** » Wed Jul 11, 2018 5:53 pm

billz60vw wrote:That's exactly what happens to mine when there is air in the system! Couple things to check,1 thermistat has the hole facing up and is good and also you do have the heater bypass right???

I’ll check the thermo but im pretty sure it only fit in there one way.
I have the heater line u-turned currently but might add the cooler i mentioned to that spot for a little extra help.

Thanks for the quick response!

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