<VV> Re: Turbo Corvair Cooling

[Crawford Rose]

Frank, ha-ha!, what can I say about Tom's flats car? That's hardly an everyday comparison.  Maybe an air-conditioned, smog pump car needs an improved cooling system more than a our turbos.  For mildly prepared engines, water injection seems to be unnecessary.  I recall that Tom's car also had special 7000 rpm lifters in the article I read about it. He must have had trouble with the Corvair's inferior fan belt design at those engine speeds.
Crawford
---- Original Message ----- 
  From: FrankCB at aol.com<mailto:FrankCB at aol.com> 
  To: crawfordrose at msn.com<mailto:crawfordrose at msn.com> ; bryan at skiblack.com<mailto:bryan at skiblack.com> ; virtualvairs at corvair.org<mailto:virtualvairs at corvair.org> 
  Sent: Sunday, August 14, 2005 6:31 PM
  Subject: Turbo Corvair Cooling Re: <VV>Has anyone on the list BOUGHT Tom's cooling system


  Crawford,
      I also observed 400 deg.F as the "normal" operating temp on my street driven 180.  This was on the stock uncalibrated Corsa temp gauge and a relatively stock engine (except for vacuum advance with electronic knock sensor retard).  Under full load the temp would rise to 450 deg.F.  But here in NJ I wasn't able to keep full load on the engine for very long since the penalty for driving way above posted speeds is rather severe.
      My feeling is that the only reason GM "got away" with the cooling system on the 180 was that the drivers couldn't keep the engine at full boost for more than a short time before running out of road or encountering law enforcement personnel (aka "cops").
      At the recent Convention, Tom Keosababian, when asked by some "busybody", responded that in his Bonneville runs his water injection usage was 1/3 to 1/2 of his fuel consumption rate.  So obviously the stock fan setup was hardly sufficient to handle the cooling for his high boost ultra high speed runs (157 mph on gasoline and 173 mph on propane.)
      Frank "busybody" Burkhard

  In a message dated 8/12/05 6:37:55 PM Eastern Daylight Time, crawfordrose at msn.com writes:
  [SNIP]
    But frankly, even in stock form, I have observed 450-475 degree head temps at 80 miles per hour with my turbo on boost (summer / conv. top down / all shrouds installed).  I think that the fan is fine for its intended use and GM must have been satisfied with these conditions for all foreseeable warranty purposes.
  [SNIP]