Towing?

[Hell Driver]

Of course, I'm forgetting the early fan was fixed there already It's been a while since I've worked on a B14 . The early cars would have benefited from the addition of electric fan. You have to remember to let the engine run for a few minutes in hot weather after a fast hill climb, when you stop to admire the view!

[trabitom99]

that fan is for the new type B14 coolant system only, it's a bolt on against the pulley and the electric fan is still able to kick in too. old type coolant system b14 models were factory equipped with a fan on the waterpump pulley and no electric fan.

Thanks for that! I thought I was muddling things somewhat

Love the caravan with that 1970s orange stripe

I want to try out a caravan one day. Not the coolest thing to have ... but I want to give it a go anyway. Tow bar and ride levellers are at the ready

Cheers

Tom

[Olga]

Thanks for all your help chaps - the caravan I want is only about 500 kgs, an old eriba puck caravan, so looks like it should be an easy tow - brilliant. However, I am interested in this extra fan thingy... my car does need a new radiator... slight leak... but otherwise it all seems good. So, since my car has a 1990 B14 engine with an electric fan, SHOULD I fit this extra fan to the water pump? How would it fit on? Has anybody on here got one spare? Could I fit it on myself with my basic spark plug and distributor cap knowledge?

Thanks everybody!!!!

Oh, and what IS a load leveller?

[Olga]

Oh, and if I bolt this one will it be running all the time then... is that constant cooling okay for the engine???

[nvdw]

If you do so (I'm not considering 'necessity' here) then yes, it will work constantly, but no, it won't hurt your engine, although the fan saps a bit of engine power in the process.

[volvodspec]

but on the b14 the power loss is aproxx 2hp, wouldn't bother about it.

if the coolant is refreshed and the coolant system (radiator - pump - fluid) is in OK condition, you don't need the fan, especcialy on a '90 er with the bigass radiator.

i wonder if someone even has the fan laying around; i've never seen this fan in real life, would probably only be usefull on a 83/84 car with new coolant systam (incl electric fan) but small radiator (mk2 nose) and then towing a caravan..

[macplaxton]

Thanks, I wasn't sure if they were there or not, thought i could be wrong, maybe it's much older cars that don't have them,

This 1971 car does

I just remember reading somewhere on a caravaning web site about not all older cars displaying the weights, something to do with a certain year where they had to display them by law. Maybe it was just dud information... you can't believe everything you read on the internet

Certainly for the MOT inspection, you only need a VIN plate if the vehicle was first used after 1st August 1980, but I think most manufacturers were up to speed at that point.

[trabitom99]

i wonder if someone even has the fan laying around; i've never seen this fan in real life, would probably only be usefull on a 83/84 car with new coolant systam (incl electric fan) but small radiator (mk2 nose) and then towing a caravan..

I had the fan once, but sold it a year or so back. The part no. is 3298638-2.

Couldn't you use the same fan as a MY81 car? As far as I can tell, the part no. is the same, even though it looks different (missing the "ribs" on the fan's fins ...)

Tom

[volvodspec]

problem is that the old waterpump is a 4bolt type, the new waterpump 3 bolt for the pulley,
you'll need to make an adaptorplate, but with something like that i'm afraid the fan can hit the radiator on a '84 car. that wouldn't be an issue with the bigger radiator mounted on top of the frontbeam (85>) but with the bigass radiator, you definatly don't need a extra fan.

[Olga]

Thanks everybody, so:

for my 1990 340, I don't need an extra fan, can tow up to 900kg fully laden caravan - excellent! One last question, every trailer and caravan seems to say a nose weight of 45 kg plus... but in the owners manual it says maximum nose weight of 40kg? Should I be bothered???

[Olga]

Ha! Answered my own question, I was looking in the wrong bit of the owners manual: actually nose weight is allowed anything between 25 and 75 kg.

Yippee! Caravan here we come!

[macplaxton]

Quick question, what's the unladen weight of the car as stated in the handbook? (Don't have mine handy here, it's in another country)

[Olga]

My book says 987 kgs for the 1990 3 door automatic 1.4

that's kerb weight...

[ty360volvo]

hi guys i have a 360 glt from 1984 and was thinking further down the track i would build a caravan,
and wonted to know about how much waight i can tow comftobly and how much $ and how hard it is to fit a toe hitch to my car?

[macplaxton]

Check the VIN plate and read the figures off it, from there you can work the rest out.

and how hard it is to fit a toe hitch to my car?

Not expensive (except shipping), though fitting a toe hitch might cost more and be more difficult.