who said it was water cooled?

You are absolutely right,... But the journey is sometimes better than the destination and this has been a very interesting and informative thread.

I never mentioned you can't use crossovers, I am not looking to start a cyber war on the thermal stability of an engine and its effects on ring gap and I am not the 1 that brought engine temp into the mix. I just made some observations and tried to point out the mistakes made by many. I mentioned the problems we found with the use of crossovers 20+ years ago and why we including companies much smarter than us don't use them. Our engines with circulating pumps and 160 degree thermostats (another war about to brew) run consistent temps throughout the block when tested on the dyno and in a boat. With crossovers you can alter the systems to work better with restrictors, drilling the T-stat and dumping water out the back of the block but they are all just bandaids and will never give you the thermal stability. I think in todays world just about everybody that does any kind of engine work has a temp gun (back in the old days we had to use sensors and gauges). Next time you go out with your crossover cooled engines use it to check the temp differential between the front of the engine and the back,even side to side while idling out and then under load. If you have never done this than you are not qualified to even talk about the subject.....


I rarely give engine advice because its my business and have worked for nearly 40 years to gain the knowledge I have, so when I give it why would you come back time after time and disagree with it and try to justify your way when there is a better way???

Brian I never said there wasn't a better way.

Personally I don't care what the temp differences are. I care about what effect it has on the engines. I have shot my cylinder heads many times with an Infrared gun. I've also had the water temp sensors on both the front and rear of the intakes, at one time on a toggle switch. Flipping the switch I was able to read temp coming from rear of intake manifold as well as front of intake manifold.

TomZ was going to be running iron heads at nearly 9:1 static with a small supercharger on pump gas. On a setup like that, I would not be attempting to run 160 water temps coupled to hot humid air on a summer day on the crap gas we get today. Thats just me .

So, on my engines , can you tell me what I would stand to gain, from getting my water temps to 160 degrees? I'm honestly interested in learning what re rigging my setup with a merc setup thermostat housing (if I can locate and fab it to my intakes), and going back to a circulating pump setup.

well I agree with you Brian... Mercury uses a circulating pump on both the 1075 and the 1200 SCIs so what's that say... I was contemplating on a closed cooling system for mine, just not sure of how to make it work on my cat...

i think we got off track with the water temp thing.most marine engines will benifit from running a circ pump and maintaining a certian water temp.is it the right thing for all marine engines,of course not.would it be smart for a guy with a supercharged engine with iron heads and no innercooler making 7 to 9 lbs of boost to run 160 deg water in his cylinder heads,not unless this engine has a good efi system that puts a ton of xtra fuel in to cool the cylinders and a ignition system to pull timing out on the long wot runs.should i run a t stat with a circ pump with my 1200+ supercharged engine with 11 to 13 lbs boost,of course not.should the guy with a set of stock hp500s run a crossover and 110 deg water temp,of course not.to make a claim that every marine engine needs a circ pump is ones opinion just like someone saying no engine needs a circ pump is.different things are needed on different setups.now lets get to the wheel reinvention thread ,lol.

We`re just talking here Joe, I`m pretty sure Tom got his answer so why not discuss something that came up during this thread. You refer what works for you but because it works for you doesn`t mean it works for everyone or every combo.

I have a milkshake that forms at the top of my heads where the cold water exits the block. It got way better at LOTO where the water was warmer. Wonder if that would still be the case if the block had some heat in it.








If cold block is so great why doesn`t everyone run without a stat on the street/endurance/strip?

I wouldn`t mind at least figuring out a way to run the water thru the headers first then to the motor.

I believe that would be me, not "we", MT.

I based that direct answer on the OP's original question regarding his end gap selection of .028"-.032" being adequate. I advised him to open his gaps based upon the lowest water temp in the block (60º F) due to the fact those bores will have significantly less (temp) expansion than those at the rear of the block, as Brian correctly stated. I do not consider advising another OSO member to adjust his ring gaps, to compensate for abnormally low water temps on the front cylinders as "ridiculous". No matter how you want to shape the discussion, there is a very real possibility that not opening the gap could result in knocking a ring land off a piston.

I am all for healthy, respectful, technical exchanges, however many of these conversations seem to be driven more on anecdotal experiences and personal insults, than data driven information.

Bob

thermostat is really flow control,on the street you need the water/antifreeze to slow down going thru the radiator so it can tranfer to the fins.

dan,imo that is not from running to cold water temp,i would be looking for a leaking header or a head stud that has water running up the threads.i would also not recomend you running a water temp over 130 deg with your setup.you need to fight detonation and hot water in the iron cylinder heads may come back to bite you.just my opinion so do what you think is right.