Temperature gauge for 1966 VW Beetle engine

[Sgtfisher]

Where exactly does the temperature gauge go in the engine for a 1966 VW Beetle engine (is actually a Super Beetle engine in a regular Bug)

Would appreciate if anyone knew this letting me know. Thanks.

[boschmann]

Are you talking about an aftermarket temp gauge installed in the dash or the original air flow temp control thermostat?

[Sgtfisher]

Originally Posted by boschmann

Are you talking about an aftermarket temp gauge installed in the dash or the original air flow temp control thermostat?

It's an aftermarket temp gauge that goes from 100 to 250 degrees farenheit.

We bought the car & it had aftermarket set of gauges installed. One is a voltmeter; one is oil pressure; and one is temperature with a bulb at the end.

The bulb part for the temp gauge is just laying loose in the engine compartment!

The person we bought the car from said to not drive the car real far at highway speeds due to the low gearing in the transmission --- He changed the car from a 1300 CC to a 2276 CC.

How & what would this affect on the car??? This whole issue is a mystery to us.

Thanks for your help!

[BoatCop]

There are a couple of ways to mount a temp guage sender in a VW engine. One is a device that replaces the dipstick. Another goes in the oil drain plug.

The third way is a device that goes where the oil presssure sending unit screwsd into the block. There is a special "T" fitting that allows you to use the stock pressure sender along with the temp gauge. That's what I did on mine.

250 degrees is a little low for VW engines. 280 is about normal on a hot day on a long drive. 290 and up, you'll have to think about a cooling off period. However, since he set the car up for high low end power, low top end speed, maybe 250 is critical mass for your engine.

As far as highway speeds go with the lower gearing and a 2276, the engine would run at a higher RPM vs car speed to maintain 60-70 MPH.

For High Performance Engines, this means an early death. Apparently the previous owner wanted short term speed, low end torque and hole power, rather than sustained speed.

[Sgtfisher]

Wow. Thanks for the great response. So, essentially, this vehicle should not be run over 55 mph for best performance...correct?

The fact that the temp gauge is simply laying in the engine compartment, is not a problem...correct?

One more thing you may know the answer to, the fellow we bought the car off of had the engine hood bracketed away from the car about 4". We removed those brackets and closed the hood like normal. There are no vents in the hood. Is that an issue? Do we have to keep the hood essentially opened like he had it? It looks rather dumb, in my humble opinion, but maybe it was for more air for the engine...is this assumption correct?

[BoatCop]

Maybe he had the temp bulb just lying there to get an idea of what the engine temp was. Not very accurate, but he could at least see if the temp was rising above what it normally ran.

Which is pretty much all the other methods I outlined do. The only true way to get accurate oil temp is to put it somewhere in the oil flow, which is difficult on VW engines. Comparing the readings from normal is just a way to monitor engine condition and be alerted to sudden changes.

The deck lid "stand-offs" (Yes, they actually have a proper name) are used to increase air flow into thte engine compartment. There are two reasons for this.

1) To enhance cooling when operating in hot weather. (I'm in the desert, [110 degress today] and got a vented lid for my '69 which had the stock solid lid)

2) To increase air supply to the engine. The Krauts in the white coats designed these cars for the engine that was going into them. For your '63 that would have been a 36-40 HP 1300cc. The vents above the engine compartment were more than sufficient to supply enough air for early engine applications. In the early 70's with the introduction of the 1600cc 46=53 HP engine and the dual port intake they discovered that the engines were starving for air, running rich and running hot. In 1970 they put the convertible deck lid with 2 sets of slots in the lid, but still had problems. So they came up with the deck lid with 4 sets of vents that allowed enough air for engine operation. Those were installed on every Bug and Super Beetle from 1971 through the final year, 1978(9).

If you're running a 2276 with possible 140+ HP engine, the stock body vents aren't enough to allow sufficient air into the engine compartment for cooling and to propery aspirate the engine. The air flowing through the carb, manifolds and exhaust actually assist in engine cooling, not to mention the carb suction constantly brining fresh air in through the vents.

Unfortunately, you can't convert a later vented lid to your body, although if you found an appropriate year ('58-'64) convertible deck lid with the vents you'd probably be all right. You could also have louvers cut into your existing deck lid. Most body shops that do custom work have a pretty simple tool that does this.

More than likely, that's why the PO (Previous Owner) installed the stand-offs. It sounds like that, and the temp gauge, shows that he knew the system and was concerned about engine cooling.

Probably not what you wanted to hear, since you already removed them, but yes, they were actually serving an important function.

[half_breed_333]

actually, for the longest time when my dad was still in the 13.01's in his 2332, we didn't have any standoffs on it, and it stayed nice and cool, and got plenty of air (this is a 66 bug, same vents as the others) no vents on the decklid either. it wasn't till we got bigger carbs that we needed to put standoffs to give it more air. we don't run the fanbelt when we race it, and it stays pretty cool, when he drove it (this is in arizona) with a milder engine, but still a 2332, it stayed nice and cool (a 64 without standoffs) was what it was in a long time ago. we even drove cross country in it. and people were saying you can't do that with such a big engine. anyways, put standoffs on it, it looks pretty neat if you have the right ones, and it stays cooler, and you get a bit more power. hmm...i was going to say...something....well, you could go to cal-look.com if you need more help. great forum there, not that this one isn't bad, but a lot of pros that do a lot of racing and restoration are there, and are very helpful.