Re: cooler seal Poll

["Jim Adney" <jadney@vwtype3.org>]

On 6 Mar 00, at 9:21, Bernard Seront wrote:

> I strongly feel my engine has not been badly messed up by some PO, for
> sure it has never been rebuilt. On the other hand my cooler seals are
> wrong (10/8 mm), so I guess someone but the factory did that, maybe
> the spacers were put in at the same time, following the part list
> diagram!

Your observation that your engine has the wrong seals is the 
crucial one, so it is clear that SOMEONE has been in there, thus 
leaving open the possibility that they could have done anything 
while they were there.

> >Yes, but if you look at the 10/8 seals and compare them with the
> >10/10 seals you will see that they are the SAME thickness, while the
> >early 8/8 seals are thicker by the thickness of one of the spacer
> >washers. Since the 2 thin seals are the same thickness they need to
> >both be compressed the same
> 
> Absolutely
> 
> >hence no spacers.
> 
> or spacers in both case, :-(

If this were the case, then you would need much THICKER spacers 
with the 8/8 seals.

> Seriously the main concern is doing it right enough to avoid leaks. I
> cannot imagine by any way how this setup would work without any sort
> of spacers. Let me try to explain: The seal is 3.5 mm thick, I mean
> the central part wich is of a larger diameter (is this clear?), it
> goes in between the cooler and the flat piece of the case where the
> cooler sits. Without "spacers" one would need to compress the seal to
> a thickness of zero to get a good contact and mating between the
> cooler and the case. I hope I make my point clear; you must have
> something, if not a spacer like we found, the cooler itself needs to
> incorporate it. Is the bottom tin of your cooler flat or do you have
> any protusion that would fulfill the "spacing" function?

Yes, You make this quite clear, and I agree with you completely. 
This is the crux of the matter. All the coolers that I have seen have 
~3mm extended bosses around each of the 3 bolt/stud holes. Both 
early and late coolers are identical in this respect, which explains 
why the 8/10 adaptor seal can work both ways; the case is always 
flat in this area.

When I get home tonight I will verify this; please do the same with 
yours. Is there any evidence that your cooler might have been  
modified in that area? Look for machining marks there, or a 
different surface finish.

I suppose it is possible that VW bought coolers from different 
vendors with different geometrys. If so, I have never seen one like 
yours, and VW certainly failed to document it correctly. We should 
look for any identifying marks. I know that there is a date code on 
all of these. Perhaps there is a maker's mark, also. 

We should both report anything we find. And anyone else out there 
who has one to check should look also.
 
-
Jim Adney
jadney@vwtype3.org
Madison, WI 53711-3054

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