Abf conversion rad hoses

Am plumbing in my standard 85 gti cabby radiator to abf lump, had to move radiator along to the last fitting nearest the battery passanger side to accomadate fan housing as there was no way it was going to fit in where rad was originally sat..

Was wondering what hoses are best to use? :dontknow:

Cheers Al.

use the old hoses! you also need to swap the thermostat flange for a mk1/2 one as the mk3 sits in a different spot. i found with the top hose to fit best i flip it the other way round and cut it down a bit. you'll see when you try anyway

Ah that makes sense! thanks John, you reckon it'll still fit reach as ive moved the rad along?

Cheers Al

isnt that where it should sit anyway? im sure thats where the rad was sat on my mk1 16v. but either way i dont think you'll have a problem

edit: ah no, its the middle holes isnt it! this is my cabby with mk3 alternator setup:


do you have the larger abf alternator setup with the seperate tensioner wheel? if your old pipes dont fit in the current location you might find it fits better if you swap it for the earlier non-ac alternator setup with the big spring under the alternator. you'll need the alternator and the bracket plus the 2 alternator bolts and the shorter belt. then it'll swap right on and give you a lot more room in the bay

This is the abf setup im running i had to delete a/c so yeah guess its the larger alternatoar etc as it has the jockey wheel, have ordered new bttom rad hose and thermostat housing flange, but not sure if i'll be able to fit as these brackets seem to in the way? You can see how close the top rad hose is so no way of moving it back over to left, pipes are pretty much lined up anyway..

Cheers Al  

is it me or is your tensioner wheel and/or tensioner spring unit are missing? should look like this:


you might have to take the alternator off the block to get the thermostat flange off, id get a new stat in there at the same time. however you have the other end of the mk3 flange so you might be able to get a hose to fit but the angle looks a bit steep.

you got the top hose on ok so i think the old bottom hose should fit too. looking at yours the problem is the pcv rather than the alternator so putting on the old setup wouldnt have helped fit the rad anyway. the tensioner wheel does get close to the chassis leg though, the early setup gives you more room if you find it becomes a problem, though you can tap the leg a bit to give you the room you need