Oil Cooler Leak

Cool weather turned a small leak into a big leak during warmup. Oil dripped from the oil filter only during warmup. The oil filter was removed and Loctite 518 was applied between the filter and the seal, but the leak persisted. Closer examination revealed oil along the bottom edge of the oil cooler fins towards the front of the car. Seal leakage was suspected and confirmed on disassembly as both seals were smashed and one was puckered into the cooler port creating a leak path for the high viscosity, cold oil.

The repair was done with the engine in the car by removing the exhaust and fan shroud. The oil cooler was cleaned after removal. Permatex High Temp RTV Copper was used to secure the new seals to the oil cooler. The seals with RTV were clamped in place and allowed to cure overnight before re-assembly. The oil cooler mounting nuts were tightened lightly to prevent cooler damage. The mounting spacers were placed between the nuts and the cooler as found on disassembly.

70Amp Alternator (AL108X)

The presence of the original alternator with 120k miles on it and plans for a modern audio system lead me to upgrade the alternator to the 70 amp version. The stock alternator is rated at 55amps. Baywindow campers, bay buses with the BA6 Eberspacher gas heater, or Porsche 912E's with A/C and sunroof had the 70 amp alternator. Richard Atwell describes the 70 amp conversion for a bus here. The process for a 411/412 is the same except I found that a longer belt was required. I used a 10mm x 980mm belt from Napa 25-7380. The alternator is a rebuild from ebay. The pulley, sheet metal, dust shield, and voltage regulator wiring harness are from a camper doner. The alternator wiring harness was rebuilt using parts of the original 412 harness, the bus doner harness (for the 70amp specific weatherproof voltage regulator plug), and a new 4 gauge power wire. The voltage regulator was also replaced with newer replacement Bosch unit (made in Spain), p/n 0-192-062-007.

Coupe Parts

Right after buying the Coupe, a parts car was advertised on TheSamba. Seeings that the 412 manual transmission is not shared by other VW's, transplants are very difficult, and the $250 parts car was located on my way back from visiting Sacramento, I decided to get it. I flat-towed it behind our minivan without issues and parted it out. Click this link for my for sale ads on TheSamba. I'm keeping the transmission, flywheel, and clutch parts for spares.

Before recycling the corpse of the car, I let my boy's practice their body work.

Auxilary Air Regulator (AAR)

Like many old VW's the AAR is broken. I repaired mine to provide better warmup. Details on my website.

Positive Crankcase Ventilation (PCV)

A design flaw in the original PCV valve was fixed by replacing the check valve in the PCV valve with a fixed restriction. Details are described on my website.

Vacuum Hoses

Like I had done on my Variant, I immediately replaced vacuum hoses. Details are on my website. Vacuum leaks can result in high idle speed, low gas mileage, and rough running.

Background

When I got interested in Type 4's several years ago, I liked the Coupe model, but knew it would be difficult to find a good one. I bought a project Variant instead and began restoring and modifying the suspension and brakes. The project Variant was parted out when a driver Variant in great shape was found shown here. The driver was a nice car, but the automatic was a bit lacking in the acceleration department. This kept me looking for other options via TheSamba.com classifieds . In August, 2007, I purchased this 1973 VW 412 2-door coupe.The car was purchased from a VW enthusiast who bought it from the estate of the original owner. The car had been well cared for and came with all the maintenance records dating back to the original dealer checkup at 300 miles. The all original condition was just what I wanted so I could update the car without redoing someone elses work.