Top fill Rad

Seen some great cars this weekend at the AGM and having come home have decided I would like to change to a top fill rad and delete the expansion tank.

I intend to keep my 1.6 engine and not replace with a super charged beast (although the power would be nice). So just looking for guidance on what to buy and what is the simplest to fit. Over the years to come I will slowly delete parts from my engine bay to make it look nice.

Also simple deletes that can be done in a couple of hours would be welcome advice. Thinking coil into then scuttle bay is easy and similar mods. (The less in there the less to clean up is the theory.)

Thanks and hope all that were there on the weekend made it home safe and well.


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This is where I don't think I could ever make it too and not sure I need to especially retaining the injection system. Will take a picture of my bay (please be gentle with me) on here so people can point out what is a quick fix.


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That bay is a work of art and has taken ages to get like that. Check out his build thread. It's awesome!

There are no quick fixes to get to that point to be honest although you can definitely tidy it up a bit.

I'm assuming 1.8 injection in yours?

The removing of the header tank is not too easy as there is a bracket on the wing that needs removing. Spot weld to drill out, remove bracket, fill and paint.

For the top fill rad to work you will also need to blank off the outlet from the plastic flanges to the old header tank or get hold of the original plastic flanges from a big block that had a top fill rad. Early 1600's and 1500 jettas had top fill rads.

There are also two types of top fill. Small block and big block. Big block ones have the pipes coming out of the rad on the same side as your radiator, so you can use your existing pipework (with mods as above).

Small block ones (as per the picture above) need additional piping as can be seen by the polished aluminum pipe sitting just in front of the rad.

I have a big block top fill rad going spare as I didn't realise that there was a difference and needed a small block one. Drop me a PM.

The biggest issues are wires, cables and brake lines on a standard car. None of which is an easy fix.

Start by seeing if you can hide some wires or at least wrap them in loom tape or loom wrap. then move to the next bit. Do it stage by stage and check that everything still works!

Unfortunately standard big blocks are a pain to clean up!

Good luck

Ian

Thanks Ian. I am 100% standard 1.6 under the bonnet at the moment. Sounds a lot of work to remove the expansion tank. I was assuming I could change the rad remove the tank and 'T' in some pipes.

Bracket bit a good point but this can be done at a later date to be fair once I get enough out the way to make it worth a paint.

I need to get some picture up my engine bay and study them to engineer a plan. Happy for it to be a bit of of a dogs dinner on the ways as I will just keep the bonnet shut….. but when I get to no washer bottle and tidy cables etc then I can get the bay cleans and painted.

Will keep the 1.6 as I like the little engine but fit my 4 branch and polish some of the metal work up like the intake manifold. All to be done very slowly over time as most important thing is driving it and enjoying it.

Think I will start at the end of the summer with real simple improvements like pairing cam and rocker cover while doing the cam belt and really hiding cables away.

Think I shall start free and cheap working up to removing big stuff and paint. Unless I can get the wife inside then spend what I don't have…,

Thanks again.


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Never really understood the desire to delete the expansion tank. I am old enough to have owned/driven cars before expansion tanks were the norm.  Top fill rads , once hot will expel some water, as it expands meaning top ups are a regular thing. Ok if you only drive it once a year to a show I suppose.

abfmk1 said

Never really understood the desire to delete the expansion tank. I am old enough to have owned/driven cars before expansion tanks were the norm.  Top fill rads , once hot will expel some water, as it expands meaning top ups are a regular thing. Ok if you only drive it once a year to a show I suppose.

Yup I remember my mini constantly spitting out water!

Pain in the bottom!