Date:         Tue, 26 Mar 2002 14:02:55 -0600
Reply-To:     Chris Mills <scmills@TNTECH.EDU>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Chris Mills <scmills@TNTECH.EDU>
Subject:      Re: Longevity of Conversion Engines
In-Reply-To:  <870C8AA0-40DA-11D6-8B04-003065A243FC@omninet.net.au>
Content-type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset=us-ascii

>>Still moving that air around  by driving a fan and that uses horsepower
>>just like the waterpump - right?
>
>No. All cars are cooled by air. In a water cooled it's the air moving
>through the radiator. The water pump just moves the heat from one place
>to another. The radiator also has a fan that uses horsepower, or
>presents aerodynamic drag as moving air flows through it. The aircooled
>doesn't move the heat from one place to another so doesn't use the
>energy of the water pump.

Okay - I guess am missing the point here. I said an aircooled fan uses
horsepower just like the water pump on a watercooled engine. Put both
engines on a dyno and both engines makes a bit more power with the fan and
water pump disconnected - both the fan and water pump being driven by the
fan belt. The water cooled variety also relies on an electric fan to push
air through the radiator when the vehicle is not moving fast enough to do
it automatically.

And it appears you disagree. Limitations of e-mail I'm sure.

If you speak of energy doesn't the aircooled engine's fan push air across
the motor removing heat from it and moving it out the bottom of the shrouds
just like an old style domestic V-8 engine with a fan on the end of the
water pump? Isn't this a question of cooling medium - water (which still
requires air to cool the water) vs. air.

Wait - I'm confusing myself here.... Forgetting what the point is... <Grin!>

I'm not arguing to be right as much as I just want to understand the
terminology a little better. Is it a communication problem - semantics - or
is it a conceptual problem? Just want to understand this topic better.


Chris M. <Busbodger - "TEAM SLOWPOKE">
Cookeville, Tennessee

ICQ# 5944649
scm9985@tntech.edu

'78 VW Westfalia (67 HP -> that is...67 Hamster Power)
'65 Beetle - Type IV powered
'99 CR-V AWD station wagon
'81 CB900 Custom moto-chickle
2.5 Corvair engines for my Trans-vair Conversion