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Ok,ok,ok. It is 108 outside here in nocal at 3:00. I just got home from the maestro of air cooled in Auburn. They just wrapped up the install on my oil cooler. Un-flipping believable! That needle sat dead center in the gauge. That’s where it is in the wintertime. What the heck? In the summer on most 90 degree days it’s a fraction from the little warning box before red. I.  Am.   So.  Excited. WOW, what a difference. I figured the temp this afternoon would really put it to the test. A+++ Thank you Anthony and Matt for a great job done!

Tom

Tom

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Tom, the Maestro did a similar install for me about seven years ago and the temp needle hasn't been more than a touch past halfway ever since.

When I got the car, it would overheat if outside air was above about 95. When we put in a stroker motor and first tried using the original VS cooler (in the space in front of the engine compartment), that ran hot, too.

Now, the car always runs cool — even if I overheat above 85.

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Michael, when it's 116 here, it's usually about 130 in the garage, and this is the only cooler I use then:



Stronbow02

Full disclosure: this past week, we got outta dodgy Sacto for the worst of it, escaping to the balmy ocean breezes of the SF Bay for a few days.

I've mentioned here before that I drive the car in extreme heat when circumstances require, but never by choice. The Setrab cooler can handle it. Me, not so much.

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  • Stronbow02

FWIW, I achieved similar results when I replaced the Chinese shroud that came on my Spyder came with a Concept 1 replica Thing shroud kit. (Shroud, velocity ring, Type IV oil cooler, cooler ducting and Hoover bit)

https://store.concept1.ca/brand/Cooled-Fan-Shrouds/

I’ve never driven my Spyder in 100°< temps, but my acid test is an 18 mile 5%-6% grade called the Nebo Scenic Loop. The first time I took it up there, I was just about to pull over when I reached the summit. My temp gauge was fully in the white just below the red line. Once I’d installed the Thing shroud, it barely passed 12:00 high.

As I’ve posted before, the Samba geniuses postulated that motors <2L don’t really need external cooling. If you gots a bigger motor, you need bigger cooling. My (alleged) 2L proved that to be the case.

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@Lfepardo

Luis, Setrab has a series of 'universal' mounting brackets on their website that allow mounting in various configurations.

For my car, Anthony used one of those, but also had to fab up a few pieces, notably a deflector strip for keeping road debris away from the cooler.

It looks like he has done something similar on Tom's car.

Many of the Setrab pieces are designed to be mounted and plumbed several ways.

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Last edited by Sacto Mitch

Million thanks @Gotno356 and @Sacto Mitch

this may be the winter I tackle such a project.   After 9 years win this specific VS, it’s the first summer with consistent temps over 90F locally and car did reach 203F-205F a couple of times in traffic and stop/go commutes home.    I always feel better when my little engine oil temp settles between 185F-195F ( not because of any science,  It’s what I was thought once and never questioned).
thank you again!

Luis

203F - 205F especially in traffic is absolutely perfect.  Don't worry about a thing.

As far as getting hot, my personal mantra on aircooled VW engines is they're starting to get hot at 210F, Giving cause for concern at 215F and you might consider pulling over and stopping for a while at 220F.

'They'll actually tolerate about 10F more than that, but why chance a failure?

These are not water cooled engines that sit there fat and happy at 180 - 195F all the time.

Expect the temp gauge to swing up and down a bit dependent on load (hills) and ambient temps.

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