~ Fellow fiends:
~
~ Correct me if I'm wrong (sic), but doesn't the thermostat also help by
~ *restricting* the flow of coolant, when the engine is hot? That is,
~ increasing the 'transit time' in the radiator so as to provide more time for
~ heat exchange per volume of coolant flowing through?
RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY! IT'S THE WAR OF THE THERMODYNAMICISTS!!
There was a voluble, heated, and interminable round of discussion on
precisely this topic last summer (gee, about the time we get our
LBCs tuned up for hot weather). This is precisely why I limited my
comments to the observation -- empirically provable in five minutes
with a half-inch wrench -- that the thermostat is meant to redirect
some of the coolant through an itty-bitty hole that recirculates
it through the head.
As for whether faster or slower flow results in increased hot-soak
versus improved thermal transfer, I refuse to venture an opinion as
there were a number of highly qualified, well-educated people at one
another's throats on exactly this issue. Better to go into a group of
palaeontologists and say "Brontosaurus" than to bring up this
discussion again...
~ I still vote for louvers in the hood. Even if it doesn't work, I think it
~ would *look* cool! (hahahahahahahahaha)
Exactly so. Then you need the leather strap across the bonnet to
complete the Healey 100M look. Besides, it gives the crumpets
something to hold on to... (whoops! :-)
~ Will "I have a Ph.D., but it ain't in thermostats (or comedy)" Zehring
As Dan Coffey would say, "*I* have a MASTER'S DEGREE... in SCIENCE."
--Scott "Not really, but I have an Ask Doctor Science coffee mug" Fisher
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