I am closing out on all the 'welding' and part of that means making a bracket for the left hand wing, the original of which was rotted out.

I have a genuine NOS bracket ready to go in and it always bugged me how this 'fitted' since I never had an intact original (it too had returned to nature). I've tried dry fitting everything and the holes are spot on the same holes that the wing bracket / mount uses but it just doesn't look correct. Thoughts anyone.








Ignore the holes - they will be gone by the end of the day ...

 

Ben I realise you are a stickler for detail and correctness; but I would ditch that metal disaster, which will be rusting already, and secure the plastic overflow bottle with fixable cable ties, thus ensuring no rust in the future!
Something suitable from this page:
https://www.cableties-online.co.uk/s...e-ties/?page=2

 

Advice taken, thanks Greg - how come you know about my OCD about such things - and there was me thinking I wasn't predictable. Darn thing cost a fair bit too and once the arch splash guards are in you can't see it ... and those splash guards are a poor idea too - and yes I have new ones of those too so if you have any wisdom regarding those I'm all ears.

 

When I did my rebuild in 2011, I also fitted new wing guards, and I very carefully and fully gunked all round the perimeters with STIXALL, this is a glue, rather than a silicone; but it lasts for ever, goes on just like silicone, and stays there. I had to remove one of them when I did some work on something that required access inside, and the entire cavity was dry as a bone. All the rust Bilt Hamber stuff was still in place and still greasy.
The sill front rusts because of water ingress into the cavity and this procedure stops it completely.

And you can still remove the guard, the stuff does not go solid. I also used it to seal up the drain hole that lets water down the A pillar from the gutter corner. No effect on getting wet when you get in the car, but completely protects the A pillar inside under the chrome, and very much helps protect the scuttle and windscreen corner. If you are as paranoid as me about rust, here is another tip: the corner of the inner wing top, under the rearward extremity of the wing top edge, is so constructed so as to always be filled with a pool of water. I fitted a drain that drains out of the bottom edge of the guard, so any water that does get there can drain away. Also, coat this surface very liberally with anti rust paint and rust wax stuff. Photo attached.





Stixall in evidence here, too.

 

How did you add a 'drain' for the recovery bottle, I recall seeing that you had done this 'mod' and I also plan to do so though I did not realise it was an adhesive. I take it that you also sealed the wing joint at the top ? - I was planning to use the modern equivalent of dum dum putty Eastwood Flexible Strips, also going to use this on the windscreen trims - on the windscreen pillar because the cars original is hard and dry in places.

 

I do not have the OEM atmospheric bottle, I have a GiF cooling system!

 

OK - what's that - what did I miss - is this something else I should consider ?

I had looked around for somewhere to host an expansion bottle higher than the highest point in the system - such a location doesn't exist under the bonnet (at least without modding the fill / cross pipe) the system design as it stands goes against everything I learned so I'm happy not to have problems and need to remove the stone guards - tell me more please - I shall conduct a site search in the mean time. ...

 

Ben
This is on the forum somewhere, but I can't find it either!
Only room for this mod if pre-ABS braking system.

 

Many thanks - I have a pre ABS - deliberate choice - so I shall evaluate getting this done.

 

Question - the red 'atmospheric' you use that as an oil catch can ? - with that set up I don't see the need for another 'recovery' bottle - I reckon I could actually get something like a VW passat expansion tank to fit (the round one) then no recovery needed

I take it you just obtained a later washer bottle - is this the two pump affair for the wipers also or a single pump.

I am definitely in the camp that air should be allowed to bleed.

Now to search for a cross pipe with no filler neck ...

 

No, the red tank is the coolant system atmospheric overflow. If you look at this pic, you can see the pipe going from the neck of the ally header, just like OEM:

The reason for this is that I like the low coolant warning light, and that is installed (not in this photo) about an inch down from the top of the header tank on the end of it. There is definitely room for a bigger header tank, so you could remove the atmo tank; but I like having it.
By the by. here is a close up of the coolant feed from the tank to the heater return. Top quality hoses from Viper and overkill hose clips!

This photo shows the header tank with its three spigots: coolant feed to engine, bleed from radiator, atmo overflow. By the by, the radiator bleed screw hole, which my system has the bleed fitting in, just gets transferred to the OEM banjo hole on the RHS of the rad, same thread.

 

Finally, to answer your washer tank question. I have installed this in the wing cavity where the OEM overflow tank is. I did this because I hate the fact you cannot see the OEM atmo tank, so I wanted to be able to check mine under the bonnet, if it has coolant in it, I know all is well. These pics show the struggle I had to get the washer bottle installed, bit of a bodge but it has worked fine. I installed a headlight washer pump into the system to get decent flow to the screen jets:

Washer bottle in wing cavity behind front LHS wheel. Care needed to site it so wing baffle goes back on.

OEM washer filler adapted, this is joined to a fill hose that goes to the washer bottle

This shows the fill hose going through the conveniently huge OEM wiring grommet into the cavity. Fill hose on the left, jet supply hose on the right. The join of the OEM filler to the fill hose is just visible on the left. Close up in next photo

Blue arrow:= fill hose; Green arrow = supply to jets from pump; yellow arrow = supply from bottle to pump; red arrow = tank breather, this goes up to a small filter and ends up inside the wing under the top of the cavity. Purple arrow = my wing drain tube as explained in an earlier post

OEM Filler fitting join to supply hose. I used a brass hose joiner, epoxied into the OEM fitting

This washer bottle relocation was easily the most difficult and time consuming part of the entire procedure!

 

Appreciate the additional pics.

The VW tank has built in level sensor - some of them even have the ability to validate coolant quality (those on the Sprinter vans do this - put straight water in and they will complain) - and I like to be able to see the level without removing the cap .., kind of got used to that ability over the years

I can see why you said fitting that was a pain and the hardest part. I see you have only a single pump, I'd need two - headlamp wash and I don't want that activated if I wash the screen - you know I can't remember what triggers is the car's been down so long. but I could mount individual pumps 'locally' just extend wiring so its no big deal but I only want the headlights washed if they're actually 'ON' ... or when I decide to.

I was considering getting a washer bottle / brackets and such from a later ABS car, the other stuff seems straight forward though I may retain the vent across the radiator to avoid that complication (I note that you struggled to find fittings for that).

 

The fitting would be easy enought to find in person at a plumbers.
If you have a link to the header tank you mention, I would appreciate it; but around half a litre of expansion occurs in the coolant, I think.
The pump for the headlights OEM (I removed mine when I went to the four headlight setup) is rigged to come on only if the lights are on. So to utilise the OEM wiring you would need two pumps. If you look at the two pumps on the reservoir, you will see the input wiring is not the same.
The problem with the later ABS washer setup is that it resides in the RHS wing cavity in front of the wheelarch, where on our cars the vacuum reservoir for the brakes is.

 

Information assimilated - I didn't realise the newer washer tanks is located there - never simple or logical is it .... would be interesting to measure the expansion needed as I hadn't even considered tank allowing for sufficient expansion as in how much empty space must be present to prevent blowing off

 

Also Ben, you either have to go the whole hog, per my writeup, or change nothing. If you left the rad top purge pipe in place, then all the various pipes associated with the purge system would still have to be kept, including the question mark pipe to the header tank, the venturi presure pipes, and there would be nowhere to connect the bleed pipe to.

 

Understood ... I'm on the parts hunt. I like this idea and now is the time to do it ...

 

Ben
Any detailed questions, just ask. I also turned up these close up shots of the link into the heater return pipe:

Because the cut heater return pipe ends have no flares, I used double clips on them

 

Greg - what would you say the overall dimensions of the expansion tank you have ?

I want to be sure that whatever I do will clear the intakes etc (engine out of car presently but it will be a much more pleasant exercise to locate stuff before it goes in - I had planned to pre-install heater hoses etc to minimise any messing behind the engine - already have my AC lines fitted and plugged (evaporator has been flushed, new heater valve fitted.

One tank I'm looking at that is very similar to yours is 200x160x150 (mm) - not sure the plastic VW tank would appreciate being that close to the exhaust.

 

Mine is cylindrical, 110 diameter by 180 long. The fill spout, with the cap on it, is 30mm above the diameter of the cylinder. The cylinder could be 150mm diameter with no problem; but not much longer or it would get tight and not leave much room for other things. The key is getting the inlet at the top of the cylinder from the radiator bleed high enough. So mounting the tank as far back as possible, and as high as possible, is key, without the cap fouling the bonnet. Hence the shortest neck for the cap as possible is good.