Off-Topic Question
Postmaster
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 4,172
Likes: 1
From: Oakdale,Ca.
Originally Posted by AXracer
This has been argued infinitum, and cooling engineers a whole lot more knowlegable than me agree that a given radiator has a finite cooling capacity/unit of time given any fixed ambient air temp and air flow. If the coolant moves thru the radiator too quickly (faster than the cooling capacity) it will not be in the radiator long enough to give off all the engine heat and it will continue to increase in temp until overheating occurs. High reving racing engines such as in NASCAR cars have significant flow restrictors placed in the coolant lines. High flow water pumps will only aid cooling if there is more cooling capacity available in the radiator than what is already being utilized otherwise if the engine is already overheating it will overheat even quicker. Here's an easy way to understand: coil up a 10' Length of 3/8" copper tubing to fit in an ice chest with the ends sticking out= radiator. Fill the chest with ice=cooling by ambient temp/airflow. Hook a waterhose to one end of the copper tube=coolant. Now turn the water pressure on just enough to get a minimal soft steady stream flowing out the other end, and stick a thermometer in the stream to measure how cold the water is getting going thru the ice in the chest. Now turn the pressure up as high as possible and remeasure the temp of the water coming out. I'll guarantee the temp will be considerably higher! So which cools more, low volume or high volume?
Looks like I replied earlier about the same time you did, but as I mentioned before, the longer you keep the coolant in the engine, the hotter it will get...no other way around that..so the quicker you can get the coolant to flow through the system, the quicker you can get it into the radiator and allow the coolant to cool.
Re: restrictor plates in coolant systems. they are there for two resoans...one, to keep from the possibility of a stuck T'stat, and the other is to keep the engine temps up to operating range. We all kow that a hotter engine (to a point) burns fuel more efficiently and makes more power.
Besides, we're not talking about 9K rpms engines here, unless the original poster mentioned that and I missed it. My impression was we're talking about 90+% of street driven cars.
Last edited by 3Mike6; Dec 29, 2005 at 10:48 PM.
Clean & Classy
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 1,656
Likes: 20
From: Riverside CA..
Originally Posted by AXracer
radiators are much more efficient (hopefully) at giving off heat than water jackets are at increasing the coolant temp.
Postmaster
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 4,172
Likes: 1
From: Oakdale,Ca.
Originally Posted by AXracer
radiators are much more efficient (hopefully) at giving off heat than water jackets are at increasing the coolant temp.
Water jackets are not increasing the heat, the heat is increasing because if the Ic process. The water jackets are there to absorb the heat from the parent material and take it to the radiator to cool.
Hotshot
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 15,882
Likes: 88
From: Durham NC
Lets just agree to disagree, unless you'd care to prove your theory by putting a high flow waterpump and take the thermostat out of your vehicle then drive it across the desert. If you make it I'll believe you!
Last edited by AXracer; Dec 29, 2005 at 11:09 PM.
Hotshot
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 15,882
Likes: 88
From: Durham NC
Originally Posted by havi
can we agree that the coolant is under pressure to raise the boiling point? boy, I need to go to bed.
I too am off to bed.
Lead Driver
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 8,813
Likes: 13
From: Littleton, New Hampshire
I agree that radiators have a finite cooling capacity. The question is how much flow does it take to achieve that finite capacity? With the many combinations of engines, water pumps, radiators, air flow, and coolant makeup there is no one-size-fits-all combination. Experimentation is the key. You try what you think will work based on your best guess and go from there. Some cooling systems may achieve maximum efficiency with a faster coolant flow and some with a slower one. 
Vern
Vern
Last edited by GreatNorthWoods; Dec 30, 2005 at 08:04 AM.
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Cargo Master
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 2,497
Likes: 5
From: Tucson AZ
Ok, here's my $.02, when chasing cooling problems in a street rod enviroment IE cramped space, small radiator, big compression etc etc, I discovered a flow chart from FOMOCO that specified the optimum flow rate to cool a 351-C. The radiator shop that had this chart also had a meter for measuring the flow. The bottom line is that my ''high perf'' aftermarket radiator was like dumping water from a bucket. We experimented with restrictors is the lower hose until we hit that magic flow rate. In the 35 years I have owned this car it has never overheated either on the highway, in traffic, parades etc. We all have our opinions but you will have a hard time convincing me otherwise. Ok, that's more than 2 cents but you have to account for inflation. I tried Chuck's experiment but running water through thru the ice chest just let my beer get warm. 
Postmaster
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 4,172
Likes: 1
From: Oakdale,Ca.
Originally Posted by AXracer
radiators are much more efficient (hopefully) at giving off heat than water jackets are at increasing the coolant temp.
Everyone is free to believe what they'd like, but to me there are 3 types of "experts", the school trained engineers such as those who wrote "Race Car Design" published by the Society of Automotiver engineers; those who were taught by experience and/or testing of the theories of the first group such as Smokey Yunick, Carroll Smith, and the crew chiefs of all the major racing teams; and those that formulate conclusions by "it seems to me that...". I tend to believe the first two, especially when they are in agreement with each other.
YMMV
Everyone is free to believe what they'd like, but to me there are 3 types of "experts", the school trained engineers such as those who wrote "Race Car Design" published by the Society of Automotiver engineers; those who were taught by experience and/or testing of the theories of the first group such as Smokey Yunick, Carroll Smith, and the crew chiefs of all the major racing teams; and those that formulate conclusions by "it seems to me that...". I tend to believe the first two, especially when they are in agreement with each other.
YMMV
But I did a little digging and came across a reputable company in cooling, so feel free to read at your leisure, unless you feel that Stewart falls into category 3 as well
http://www.stewartcomponents.com/tec...ech_Tips_3.htm