# Weber 32 36 intake cooling



## tncad (Dec 23, 2011)

I have a weber 32 36 carb conversion on my 84 gti 1.8 motor. Just wondering if anybody has ever watercooled the intake. I saw this on a friends Scirocco with the same setup. The problem I have is the carb is cooking gas when you drive it and then shut it off when its hot outside.
I am using a dual downpipe header and thought about wrapping the header to keep the heat from transferring. I have put carb spacers on the intake, but that didn't fix it. 
Any thoughts or opinions? I really need to get this taken care of. It's a pain to drive and try to start after the motor is hot.
Thanks in Advance
Scott


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## B4S (Apr 16, 2003)

Does the manifold have ports for coolant hoses? OEM carb manifolds were water cooled, so I don't see why it won't work .


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## tncad (Dec 23, 2011)

*Intake*

The weber does have ports for hoses. I am going to try this. I am almost out of options.
It's starting to be a pain. Just hard to start when its hot and been sitting. Just long enough for the fuel to cook.


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## tncad (Dec 23, 2011)

*Intake*

Or the weber intake I mean.


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## T3Fox (Apr 3, 2009)

I dont want to jack your thread but i am condisdering going to this same carb setup and was wondering besides your hot starting problems how do you like the setup?


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## tncad (Dec 23, 2011)

I like the setup pretty well. Here are some of the things you have to do to get this right.
1) Get a good low pressure fuel pump. I would go with a 5-10 pound pump and a good fuel regulator.
2) I had to run a new hot wire to a switch in the car for the fuel pump. The relay was shutting off the fuel pump.
3) You have to vent you gas cap or the pressure will make the fuel lines leak. I just drilled 2 small pin holes on the inside of the cap.
4) You also have to plug off the fuel return line from the old fuel injection. 
It seems like alot but its not. And you can have this done in 1 day.

One thing Weber doesn't tell you is when you get the kit, you have to do some small grinding to the bottom of the new intake. It's not much, but the new intake will probably hit the exhaust manifold. The car does run better and I still get about 35 mpg, so its a good investment. I got mine from Alamo motorsports. $400.00 shipped.

It's a good way to go if you are having fuel injection problems.
Give me a yell and I can help you out if you need it. 
Thanks
Scott


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## T3Fox (Apr 3, 2009)

Thaks for the info, i will be ordering soon :thumbup:


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## dr770 (Dec 31, 2011)

wrap the manifold with ceramic reinforced cotton like band. I dont know where u can find it but i live in turkey and ı bought it from a hardware store. I can touch my manifold even it was red !! put an aluminum firewall between intake and exhaust manifold and put rock wool ower the exhaust . i did a similar conversion. these stuff work on counter flow.but you would be running too lean first be sure u are not. meachanical fuel pump from a carbed vw would work fine with no pressure regulator.


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## antichristonwheels (Jun 14, 2001)

send the exhaust manifold to Swain and get it thermal barrier coated inside and out, downpipe too. This will drop underhood temps dramatically. Much better to keep the heat out of the carb in the first place than try to remove it. I always thought the coolant to the manifold was for better performance in cold weather.


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## dr770 (Dec 31, 2011)

when ı checked the ceramic coating and the isolation cloth surface temperature with infra red gun the cloth was much more succesful.


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## ps2375 (Aug 13, 2003)

antichristonwheels said:


> send the exhaust manifold to Swain and get it thermal barrier coated inside and out, downpipe too. This will drop underhood temps dramatically. Much better to keep the heat out of the carb in the first place than try to remove it. I always thought the coolant to the manifold was for better performance in cold weather.


This method provides much better heat extraction and also give corrosion protection and allows the use of header wrap and you won't corrode the mani and dp and have the dp fail within a year do to corrosion.


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## tncad (Dec 23, 2011)

chickenfriend said:


> The intake manifolds are designed to circulate coolant. This helps keep the fuel from condensing in the runners.
> 
> They do make a heat insulator base for the carb to sit on, I guess you already have this.
> 
> If you want to try something, you could get a piece of thin stainless steel plate, cut holes in it, and mount it between the insulator and the manifold, with a thin gasket on either side. The stainless would reflect some of the heat coming off the exhaust manifold.


 Thanks man. I did some searching on this and apparently there is just not enough airflow in the engine compartment by design. I am thinking of taking a small fan from a motorcycle and using some air intake tubes and just make a cooling system for it. I had 3 vw mechanics tell me that doing this and venting the back firewall under the rain tray should make it stop. There is just no way for the hot air to escape. This can give the hot air some route to escape. Just have to figure out how to switch it on and then have it auto shut off so it dont run the battery down. 
Again, my car is black so that dont help matters much. 
Thanks for the reply. 
Scott


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## tncad (Dec 23, 2011)

chickenfriend said:


> You are welcome.
> 
> You may consider the mk2 radiator fan system which uses a thermostatic switch mounted on the cylinder head, to keep the radiator fan on until the ambient underhood temperature drops below a certain level.
> 
> This might be the best approach, for reducing heat soak overall would benefit the other components of the engine bay, too.


 Thanks man. Anything to get this temp down. Its starting to get hot here and the problem is starting to come back again. I'll check into the temp switch. 
Thanks again


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## tncad (Dec 23, 2011)

Is this what you are talking about? 
http://www.partsgeek.com/catalog/1985/volkswagen/golf/cooling_system/auxiliary_fan_control_unit.html 
Saw this and just made me wonder. 
Thanks man


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## tncad (Dec 23, 2011)

chickenfriend said:


> I believe the mk2 system, may be on 1985+ A1's too, I'd have to check, relies on an ambient sensor mounted off the cylinder head.
> 
> It works automatically with the existing fan.
> 
> ...


 So, I need to get some parts. I looked up the 2 speed fan and 2 speed radiator temp switch but could not find the thermoswitch. 
Talked to my buddy today and he said his setup has a wire that is connected to one of the nuts on the valve cover. The new fan and temp switch is pretty reasonable, but just couldn't find anything else. Maybe a junkyard or someone that has some decent parts for sale. 
I would say that this is a real good fix. 
I will have to get this done real soon. 
Thanks 
Scott


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## tncad (Dec 23, 2011)

Ok. I found a 2 speed fan and I can order a switch for about $10.00. Just don't know if that is all I need. I looked and saw the fan relay in the fuse box. Does this switch get wired to that relay? If it does, then this should be an easy fix for the heat prob. 
I know I will have to add a wire to the 3 wire connector at the fan. I assume this wire comes from the relay. 
Let me know what you think 
Thanks man 
Scott


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## tncad (Dec 23, 2011)

*Weber Cooling*

Finally narrowing this thing down. Drove the car the other day in the heat and noticed that after parking it and shutting it off, the black hood was scorching. It got so hot that you almost could not touch the air cleaner nor could you touch the intake. But the carb was cool. Then after sitting for about 5 minutes, the carb soaked a ton of heat. I know this is the intake and hood now. 
So got a thermal shield from amazon and pinned it up to the inside of the hood. 
Hood was so hot in the sun on the outside, but the inside was nice and cool. 
Hope this helps stop the heat soak problem. Next is to wrap the intake.


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## tncad (Dec 23, 2011)

chickenfriend said:


> I don't know about wrapping the intake. I would think it should be allowed to be heated from the exhaust.
> 
> The reason is that with the long runners and the fuel delivered not at the head, the gas vapor tends to condense on the runners.
> 
> ...


 I took the coolant off the intake. A vw mechanic told me the other day that having the coolant continue circulating thru the intake is not a good thing. The original carb rabbits had a valve that controlled the coolant thru the intake. He said in winter its ok, but the summer heat here is not good for it. That intake gets very hot being it sits right over top of the exhaust manifold. I am going to try the thermal mat first then start from there. He said a heat shield around the bottom of the carb to keep the radiant heat from rising under the carb is the best thing. 
So I guess now I have to be a aluminum fabricator for now. 
Here is a link to the pic of my thermal hood mat. 
http://tennesseecadservices.com/coppermine/displayimage.php?album=7&pid=69#top_display_media 

I guess we will see what happens. 
Thanks for your reply


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## tncad (Dec 23, 2011)

*32/36 cooled off finally.*

I think I finally got this. Talked to an engineering company that tunes intakes for nissan motors. They told me to use Teflon. I went up to Bristol and picked up a piece of Teflon for about $7.00 and some change. Took my intake off and bolted the Teflon to the intake. Then just used a Dremel tool and shaped it. Then just bolted it on the head and used some high heat rtv for a seal. This has knocked out about 90% of the heat transfer off the intake. Still gets hot, but at least you can touch the intake with your hand. Also, it runs alot better and smoother even at idle. I also added the thermal mat under the hood to keep the black hood from heating up the engine compartment.
So far this has worked very well. Engineer told me I should get about 100, 000 miles before I would have to change it out.

If you are having a heat issue, I would highly recommend the teflon. I am going to get some more and make my carb spacers with it.
Scott:laugh:


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