Liquid Cooling

[shell shock]

I am thinking of making a Heat dissipation system for my china girl. Using copper tubes and some sort of coolant to be able to run my bike for long distance (100+ km). Im thinking of using one of my spare cylinder heads as a coiling the copper tubing around the aluminum. Using the principle of hot liquid rises i can make a simple induction system to cycle coolant through my cylinder.

What do you think. And would this be something you would want a constant update follow through posted on?

 

[blue 48]

why???? ive done a 200km trip on mine only to stop and refuel and it never over heats dont over complicate these engines i believe.

any way if you decide to do it keep us posted.

 

[shell shock]

Why? Because its cool! I know these engines can do way longer trips, but its just to say, hey look what i did! XP

-Shell

 

[MikeJ]

Leave the copper tubing off. There is not enough thermal conductivity between the cylinder and the tubing to be of any help. In fact, the tubing will hinder cooling of the cylinder by blocking air flow. ALL liquid cooled engines have the coolant in direct contact with the cylinder sleeve. All but the smallest ones like a 3 HP John Deere single cylinder engine (weighs a couple hundred pounds, 600 rpm max, found only in exhibitions) have forced water flow through a pump. Is found in every auto and truck from a commercial manufacturer.

 

[shell shock]

hmm.. this might take more then i thought. This will be moved to my beater engine. I might have to take this to the college machine shop. Thanks for the heads up MikeJ

 

[HeadSmess]

machining a head with some kind of resevoir, so as to heat oil...so one can, say, pump it through the handlebars or something for those dark winter nights, then yeah, worth thinking about...

technical complexities of liquid cooling prevents its widespread application...else youd be seeing every chainsaw n brushcutter with a radiator

buuuuut, if youre determined to be different...

knock out the central fins until theres only the top n bottom, bend up some 3mm ali sheet, to a close fit, get someone to weld it together for you, along with the fittings...in n out, top n bottom...

use the heater cores from a car...or two...


theres electric waterpumps to be had... not entirely necessary depending on radiator size and cylinder design. in fact, on small engines, any engines, too much water flow can be more detrimental than not enough!

on an r/c boat, for instance, while you can squirt water through fast enough to leave the head lukewarm or colder, its best to throttle it back til its coming out just under boiling point for maximum performance/longevity... oil gets thick when cold. metal likes to sieze when cold, etc etc etc...

the auto pressurised systems allow you to run the engine over 100 deg c without your coolant boiling. higher pressure, higher boiling point. higher engine temp = more efficiency

or even use some kind of retro worked fuel pump that works on case pulses? plenty of options really... you dont need masses of flow.
*suits mechanically inclined*

 

[shell shock]

HeadSmess, that was some great info! Though with every reply and every bit of research im doing seems to make this prodject harder and harder.

Also, while reading through my texts it seems that copper has a higher degree of thermal conductivity by almost 50% which would lead me to believe that this idea isnt too far fetched.

 

[motorpsycho]

air cooled engines are designed to be air cooled. there's no need to add a water cooling system.
air cooled engines have been around FOREVER, they work, why mess with a design that has been proven to work already?
I understand the want to design something different, but in this case, there's no reason to and it wouldn't be of any benefit.

 

[ddesens]

I am a firm believer in the K.I.S.S. system. "keep it simple stupid". Liquid cooling would be cool though.

 

[shell shock]

air cooled engines are designed to be air cooled. there's no need to add a water cooling system.
air cooled engines have been around FOREVER, they work, why mess with a design that has been proven to work already?
I understand the want to design something different, but in this case, there's no reason to and it wouldn't be of any benefit.

Why? *speech music playing* Why not? If we did not have an urge to progress beyond reason what would be of great historical discoveries. I push past logic just because i can! sure these china girls work fine the way they are, but why let that stop us? If people were satisfied with the standard gears, what would have become of shift kits, or what of the speed carbs? its all for the "luls" i say, to see what can be done!