Temp problem

[Bigdaddy198]

I have a 1980 Cutlass thats got a built 461" BBO in it and we were having problems this summer if we had to hotlap the car it would come in after the 2nd pass at like 215*. I recently put the car on e85 and Wow what a difference. When I start it cold it takes every bit of 10/12 minutes without the fan on to get to 140* I can let it run in the staging lanes with the fan and it wont go over 160* if I hotlap it I can run the first pass without any fan and only be at 175* after the first pass then hit the fan as I go up the return rd and be back at 165* by the time I do my next burnout. I really had doubts going from the good 110 which is close to 10 bucks a gallon to e85 but the e85 has a average octane rating @ 108 and believe it or not we have picked up a tenth in the 1/4 mile as far as et's are concerned. I have never driven this on the road but its running alot cooler now and might be a good deal to have your carb converted to e85. I run 12.5to 1 compession in my car but I have friends with lower compression ratio's who are running it just because its alot cheaper my last drum was tested at 84% ethanol and I paid $2.44 a gallon for it. A whole lot cheaper than the 110 and its easy to store it. If you google e85 conversions you can get your own kit but if your motor is built performance motor you may want to have someone convert it for you. My motor dynoed at 720 Hp so its been a good fit for us it burns about 20% more when we are Drag racing it but it can cool down in between rounds in less than 5 minutes and I am running the stock radiator for the old 307 that was in the car before the 461" motor was put in and its had 10.70 passes at 3800lbs without me in it. So its not hurting the performance at all.

 

[nawlins-tim]

That was not my opinion, it's a fact but if you don't believe it boil a couple of eggs. Take one and stick it under running water for 20 seconds. Take another one and stick in a bowl of cool water for 20 seconds. Which one is cooler? The one in the bowl, transfers more heat into the water.

Here is an excerpt from Stewart Components website and they also say that its false to have the coolant flow too fast to pick up heat.
A common misconception is that if coolant flows too quickly through the system, that it will not have time to cool properly. However the cooling system is a closed loop, so if you are keeping the coolant in the radiator longer to allow it to cool, you are also allowing it to stay in the engine longer, which increases coolant temperatures. Coolant in the engine will actually boil away from critical heat areas within the cooling system if not forced through the cooling system at a sufficiently high velocity. This situation is a common cause of so-called "hot spots", which can lead to failures.

Years ago, cars used low pressure radiator caps with upright-style radiators. At high RPM, the water pump pressure would overcome the radiator cap's rating and force coolant out, resulting in an overheated engine. Many enthusiasts mistakenly believed that these situations were caused because the coolant was flowing through the radiator so quickly, that it did not have time to cool. Using restrictors or slowing water pump speed prevented the coolant from being forced out, and allowed the engine to run cooler. However, cars built in the past thirty years have used cross flow radiators that position the radiator cap on the low pressure (suction) side of the system. This type of system does not subject the radiator cap to pressure from the water pump, so it benefits from maximizing coolant flow, not restricting it.

 

[pontiacgp]

If that is the case then why does Steward Components sell 9 different thermostats...

http://www.stewartcomponents.com/index.php?route=product/category&path=61