vanagon fan shroud, poor timing? Options

[vitis]

Curious if anyone is using a vanagon fan shroud on their type IV motor. Got the tip from Blake Meredith as it doesn't have those lower wings on the shroud so it should cool the race motor a little better but....once I found one and got it home I realized that the casting did not have the normal hole in the top for checking the timing. So should I drill out the part of the casting in the fan shroud to expose the timing marks? Should I figure out some way of tapping threads in that new hole to screw the cover from a 914 shroud in the defect? I figure that hole will just be a great way of releasing those cooling vapors that I consider so valuable.

Thanks,
Milt McPherson

[HAM Inc]

Hi Milt.

We ran a vanagon shroud for the reasons stated above. But when we built a new engine and added a second scavenge stage to the oil pump (mounted in the stock location) I had to modify a shroud and customize the tin. Long story short we ran the new engine with a 914 shroud. Saw no difference in operating temps.

I do like the vanagons tidy arrangement with no need to block off extra openings.

Milt I need to get back to your HP heads. I set them aside to deal with more urgent jobs, and didn't pick them back up. Lots of work already done, just need to get them back into the flow.

When do you need them form me to stay on schedule?