Practical limits to closed cooling?
 

Since I am having both motors redone (tired of unreliable POSs) I am thinking of going to closed cooling. Carbed BBC 502s will probably be 500-550hp 509ci when redone.

1) Can closed cooling handle the heat? (Florida salt water in the 80s)

2) Can I reuse my Gill exhausts?

3) Upgrading oil coolers as well to have thermostats and more cooling capacity - what size makes sense for this application (basically a big cruiser)?

Thanks

I called Sea Kamp and got two kits for my 600 hp motors with aluminum heads. They work fine with no tstats. Only put closed cooling on the motors, leave the exhausts on raw water.

Tom

588CI/880HP

http://www.go-fast.com/fwc_sc900.htm

It say's the 653 cu in 1200hp is FWC, I like the idea of FWC.

Yeah, they had 3 of them in a 47 Apache a few years back.

Upside- no engine rot

Downside- you still have to flush the secondary side
-More junk to haul around- more weight
-More stuff to go wrong
-Expense

I had two made out of American Industrial in Chicago. They make the Teague oil coolers.

They wanted to know how many BTU's I was trying to dissapate. I had no Idea and my Machinist/bottom end assembler was not able to give me the figure. In fact everyone I quizzed had no answer. I ended up going with huge units as they were bigger than any I was aware of. (5" diameter, 30" long) Top of the line double pass units.

They work well but I run in cold water. As Chris said, Expensive, more to rig, PITA but my engines love them.:cool-smiley-011:

I think my exchangers are 6"x30" 4 passes on the raw water side (inside the tubes). My motors run at 130-145 at any speed in 85-90 degree sewer water in LA and Texas.

Tom

I am at 170-190. Water temp is 50. Maybe Ineed more passes?

Mine are like Thunderstrucks but are 3 passes. They work great on 475 or so hp 454s. Other advantages are, no water pressure issues, no sediment in block, you can pressure test the cooling system the normal way, aluminum heads and intakes can be used.... the list is quite long. I'm a big proponent of cc. For the tiny expense and with virgin blocks I'd go for it.

I run Mercs closed cooling on my na 540 with 700+ h.p. Never a problem at all.