Originally posted by Oehm Jr.'s 46:
BIGGY You say you have no thermostat? Try it with one in there. I have heard that with out one the water isn't in the radiator long enough to get cooled done. Ray
This is an old wive's tale. The faster the water moves, the more heat it transfers. And, it's not even linear - water moving fast enough to flow turbulently is *much* better at heat transfer.
Having said that, there *are* cooling systems out there with badly engineered pumps. F*rd V8s, for one. Here, without backpressure the pump will 'cavitate' - form air bubbles - and then its pumping efficiency drops way down. Adding a restriction to such a pump is an effective bandaid, because it make the water flow faster overall, due to no cavitation.
But all in all, faster water flow moves more heat, not lesss, both in picking it up from the engine and getting rid of it in the radiator.
Cheers!
George
