Has anyone converted their coupe replica into a 'targa' top style?
Original Post
Replies sorted oldest to newest
Well, that would be rad. No, have not seen/heard of such a thing, but that don't mean it hasn't happened. Mention it to Alan, and he might have one for ya next year . . .
I'm just sitting here Thinking about Stuff and what comes to mind is if there is any of you out there who have any valuable input about horizontal fan cooling of VW engines.
I have exhausted all of the avenues known to me to research this concept both here and on Samba but after reading all of it, i can't draw a conclusion on if it really works. I would really like to invest some of my money into pursuing this concept in a serious way! I have the ability and facility to take on this "experiment / concept but before i do i need to get some final direction from all of you out there on if I'm just on a wild goose chase and the German engineers got it right in the first place with their radial fan system. Your comments....any and all.....would be appreciated and carefully considered. Please....if your talking thru your shorts....let me know that your taking a "Hip Shot" Thats really cool and in my experience, a lot of really good info comes from this so give it your best and tell me so. I'm really serious about this project.......Air Cooled......Bruce
Bruce - Why reinvent the wheel? Just buy a early '60's GM Corvair engine.
Targa, ummmmm, I'm going with NO!
Flat fans do work, Porsche did them with geared drive. There have been a few type 1 and type 4 setups, most notably the Rometsch(spelling?) from Germany.
It is MUCH easier to keep even airflow to all cylinders wit a flat setup, as opposed to using a 911 fan horizontally on a 4 clinder. Do some searches on shoptalk.com and thesamba.com. There is an outfit or two in Europe that still makes a type 4 model.
There is MUCH discussion on fans, fan speed, stalling of airflow, and the differences between axial and radial fans and volume versus pressure. Good luck sorting it all out!
It looks like most of the aftermarket flat setups do the Corvair bent belt thing, and it does seem that the bugs are worked out. Not many thrown belts being talked about.
The 917 laughs at your puny 8-cylinder
Bruce: Did you see Shop Talk Forums? Usually a bit more involved than the Samba.
Or a T-top
Just because you can do anything at all w/ FG does not mean you should . . .