Ok, since I'm doing an alky conversion on my car, what I've seen and been told is some guys are having issues either building or keeping heat in the engine due to the cooling effect of alcohol. So, I got to thinking....Does anybody run a t-stat or restrictor in their stuff to help with that? I run nothing now as I'm on gas, but was just thinking about it when I switch to alky.....Ran into a racer at the local track a few weeks ago that had just made the switch as well, and was having trouble keeping heat in his engine....

thoughts?

Would you consider switching to a smaller radiator? My 17” x 19” radiator works perfect for maintaining 170* without the fan running in a sbc with no water restriction.

With mfi I can adjust the BV to give me the desired temp at idle that I want the engine to maintain.

Perhaps you could try blocking off a portion of the radiator also.

My radiator is 12x22...I may just block part of it or just get good at using the shutoff cable..I was just thinking of that helping to retain heat in the engine for a longer period of time to help avoid the need to build as much heat run to run.....

If you have mfi try leaning out the BV adjustment buy 1/2 turn. You’d be surprised how much you can control the engine water temp doing this. You should still have proper throttle response after this adjustment as well.

Primer and be done. Burn less fuel and no issue building heat.
No restrictor, 1 qt of unleaded on a warm day and 1.5 on cool day will have it up to 200.

Did you decide on carb or injection?
I see now you said shut off cable. Like mark said using bv adjustment is easy to build heat or cool at idle.

Injection. Carbs won't flow enough to feed my beast

It’s all in the idle mixture.

We run our terminator cars with a leaner idle compared to what some others do. Warms up quick and oil stays clean. You can have it so rich that it won’t build heat or even cools off. You’ll have to experiment with throttle blade position and barrel valve and see what works for you. You can get the desired idle RPM with a small throttle blade gap and lean barrel valve setting or with more gap and richer idle mixture.

Try it as it is Mark before you go changing things. My radiator worked just fine with alky and now with gas. Set up your water pump switch so you can run just the pump without the fan if it's not already that way. I warmed up on the primer plus and then a lot of times I just ran the pump but on hotter days I ran the fan also.

Also, I always ran the fan going down the track and normally on the return road to keep the rocks out of the radiator.

At minimum, you should always have a restriction whether it be a thermostat housing with no guts, or a restrictor with a hole. You have to keep water flow constant, and a big hole at the stat housing does not do that. Run on pump until, or if it ever gets hot enough to turn on the fan, Or control the fan with a temp activated switch.
Block heaters for water and pan or tank heater for oil.

restrictors are cheap enough, I'll just get a pack and see what it does after I make the conversion.....

I guess technically I use a water restriction or a better description is a much smaller hose.

I use a rad from a Pontiac Firefly. It's very small and comes with an electric fan. A reducer fitting on the inlet of the water pump can get lower rad hose to fit into the water pump.

For the upper rad hose, I have a plate over the thermostat opening and I use the heater hose pipe off the front of the intake as my upper rad hose port. It's quite a restriction compared to a normal large diameter rad hose.

From the pits, down a 1/4 mile track then follow the entire road course to get back to the pits was about 2 miles total. Engine never got above 160F

Something is required to control flow. If the coolant flow is too slow then the engine overheats. If coolant flow is too fast, the coolant isn't in the engine long enough to gather heat and isn't in the rad long enough to expel heat and the engine overheats. You need to find a happy spot.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: AlkyIROC,

I run a thermostat but I did drill a few small holes so it always flows some water. Most people I know running alcohol do not run a thermostat. I also run a temp controlled fan thermostat. Also use fuel lean out to help raise temperature when needed.

Other alcohol tips. 1. Make sure at the end of the day you get water good and hot to evaporate moisture out of the oil. If not you will have problems. What I do is lean out the fuel and then toggle water pump off and on until water temp is 210 or so. Water boils at 212* and alcohol boils lower than that I think around 175*. If you have a vacuum pump it boils out even lower temps, another reason a vacuum pump is a good thing. Trick is to get your oil temperature up enough to evaporate the moisture out.
2. I keep my idle mixture pretty lean but you have to be careful when the air gets good. If you are lean it will warm up quicker and use MUCH less fuel but when air gets good it may spit and stumble. So be aware and fatten up idle in really good air.
3. I have some moving blankets in my trailer and when it is cold out I will lean it out some on return road back to my pit to get it good and hot and then cover motor with blankets until next pass. I do not want to waste fuel trying to get it hot again.
4. For radiator I have a small Honda stye with fan and it keeps motor cool no problems even in Texas heat and going laps. I runt thermostat on my motor and my fan so I can control my temperatures where I want them and not waste much fuel.
5. Always run top lube but not too much. Too much will get milky and gummy.
6. I do not drain my alcohol between races only time I drain it is after racing season is over.

Bottom line with alcohol it can be easier to control your temps exactly where you want them if you know how.

I tried alcohol but hated the hang overs

I run a thermostat, with 4 small (1/16" - .060") holes spaced evenly around the outer flange of it, to always allow for some flow.
Once I get it warm by leaning it out, this keeps the temps more consistent than without one.