My best running engines at Bonneville had thermostats. Second best had
coolant restrictors.
John Beckett, CD.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ed Van Scoy" <edvs@yahoo.com>
To: <land-speed@autox.team.net>
Sent: Monday, March 14, 2005 1:48 AM
Subject: Am I crazy or just dumb?
>I am also on a Corvette high-performance list, such as
> this. The question on that list was "should I use an
> electric water pump on my street car?" Well we have
> beat that subject around on RACE cars so I posted the
> opinion that it was a bad idea, for several reasons.
> THEN, the topic turned to water flow, where I put
> forth the proposition that matching the flow through
> the engine to optimize cooling was essential, even if
> it ment slowing it down. I suggested that a thermostat
> should always be used in a street application. Well,
> the flames immediately started from the engineers on
> the list that maintain that the FASTEST flow of water
> thru the engine produces the best cooling. Here are a
> few quotes:
>
> "the speed of the coolant flowing through the radiator
> increases heat energy transfer to the air for a given
> input coolant temperature, not decreases it. The same
> is true of the speed of the coolant flow through the
> engine. Increasing the speed will make the engine
> block cooler,not hotter."
>
> "And the faster the coolant flow, the less chance of
> developing a "hot spot" because the coolant is
> cooler."
>
> "Jim is absolutely right. The idea that slowing down
> coolant flow through a radiator gives it "time to do
> its job" is a common myth."
>
> "While each molecule of coolant traveling through the
> radiator may get less cool due to its higher
> speed/shorter transit time, it's more than made up for
> by the increased massflow of molecules passing through
> the radiator in a given time, which, in the end,
> improves heat transfer. "
>
> Now here is my question: In theory, I would agree that
> moving the water thru an engine rapidly WOULD provide
> a cooler running engine, BUT, that moving the coolant
> too fast to "exchange" the heat has always resulted in
> a hotter running engine. Not so according to the
> quotes cited above. Now, I don't have letters after my
> name - they do- but I have spent many years bent over
> a greasy motor, and this flys in the face of what I
> have learned the hard way. OR.... Are they right??????
> Ed (never too old to learn)
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