Kafer Cup Brace/Heat Exchangers

[evilC]

Hi Im a newbe to posting on this site but have read it for some time, but I now have a question:

I would like to fit a kafer cup brace to the '03 but I can't see how this can be acheived with the heat exchangers in place? Has anyone fitted the brace with a working heating system. I would have thought that the German rally bugs would have done it if possible but I can't find any info.

Also, I have been looking at the standard fitting arrangement and come to the conclusion that the damper mount is too flexible to stop the whole thing moving about thus defeating the object of bracing the rear end. I was therefore going to use the drilled holes in the damper tower that are forward of the mount. Any thoughts on that?

evilC

[Clatter]

Hey, I'll take a stab at it....

Most of the Kafer bars I've seen will foul the heater boxes.
My "underdog bar" was like that, because it mounts using the holes at the end of the horns.
Was able to run just one of the on the 1-2 side, however.
Any motor with heater boxes isn't enough of a motor to need a lot of bar, right?

SOme of the other bars, where you weld the tabs on would benefit from having the tabs welded on far enough forward to clear the 3-4 side.

Your idea of mounting the bar to the more stout end of the shock tower is genius! if it will all clear.
S'pose if you are fabbing your own bar, it would be easy to accomplish...

Please keep us posted, or put some pics up of your setup!

[evilC]

Hi,
The motor will initially be a mild 1600TP that will be used for club road rallies and autotesting in UK. The type of roads used are quite harsh and I learnt quite early on that having a stiff, well handling chassis was worth a huge amount, was cheaper to develop and maintain and could embarass similar vehicles with 50 - 75% more power especially if they had gone the more glamourous route of horsepower instead of handling.

I've had a long hard think about the installation and it will be a compromise structure that may be a bit more of a birdcage than is usual. Certainly, there will be a cross brace between the damper towers below and forward of the damper top mount, struts down to both front and rear end of the frame horns from the cross brace (between the heat exchanger and the gearbox) and bracing struts from the damper tower to the frame horn struts to relieve some of the bending out of the cross brace.

In respect of retaining a heat exchanger, both in the use as daily driver and the type of road rallying that I compete in, a heater is a must and I have ideas on how to develop larger bore exchangers. I do however, subscribe to the view that unless you are out for the last ounce of horsepower maintaining gas speed with modest bore primary exhaust pipes is the most important factor.

The cup brace is on the list of things to do but I am desperate to get the car on the road after 12 months hard work so it might have to wait a couple of months.

evilC

[Clatter]

Was always told that a mild 1776 is the biggest motor you would want stock 1 3/8 exhaust.
Even then, they will stack up heat into the heads.
There was the HotVWs book "All About VW Performance Engines II" where they had an article featuring a motor that was progressively built, then dyno'd as it went with each change.
THe stock heater boxes with "extractor" were strangling a mild 1776 with Kadrons and stock valves/unported heads.
Putting on a 1 1/2 header added like 15hp to even this mild motor.
Now, don't get me wrong, they are a great cheap (free!) way to make heat,
But even a very mild motor will make more power with a proper exhaust.

[evilC]

I agree with you, hence my though as to building a custom exchanger pack. After all Porsche have built a fair number of aircooded motors with heat exchangers and high specific outputs so the principle is sound.

(Hmm, is this becoming an engine thread????)

evilC