Itinerant Air-Cooled

I don't have a DD gauge but Colin said while here he had recently spoken with technical support for DD and that the wire has to be in the correct direction or the sender reads about 30 F low. He said that when he realized his was backwards and he fixed it is when his head temps went sky high. His gauge was reading low. I think what he was saying is that if the connectors ends are reversed that causes the issue.

Nikasil liners are supposed to be nice. There is also a ceramic coating that can be applied to the head and piston tops that slows heat soak. It also allows for more efficiency because the heat is used to drive the piston instead of lost into the cooling. I've never worked with it but my mentor, Bill Kaiser, said he used it back on the super vee motors and it did improve both cooling and HP a little. I think Jake has played with it also.

sgkent wrote:One cannot compare the old air cooled engines to the computer controlled water cooled ones of today.

One can't even compare the old air cooled engines to the water cooled ones of the day. I'm feeding the VW I-4 2.0L in my Bay with late '70s Rabbit K-Jetronic (9.0:1 compression, no computer controls whatsoever) and an SVDA-type Rabbit electronic distributor, and it regularly nets 22-23MPG on the freeway if I keep it under 75MPH .. even with the considerably taller Adventurewagen top.

But it means nothing for this discussion, because my engine is utterly unlike the air-cooled 2.0L aside from the VW & Audi logos cast into the parts. Different bore & stroke, different powerband, different cooling system. It's like comparing apples and mangoes...

Yes, coating the Pistons helps but not as much as nickies which is why Porsche used it. Slowed down the oil leaking as all aluminum case, cylinders and heads expand at same rates.
Jake has used the coatings on his big hp engines

Hey Robbie, how is it going wherever you are? I miss the tough old boot imperturbable Chloe in this heat.

I am at a "homeostasis" with 14.7 idle a/f ratio, 12.5 a/f at cruise, 11.3 at 2500-3000 rpm full throttle leaning to 11.8 at 4,000 rpm, 17 + off-throttle and 17.4 mpg with the Highway 101 7% pull yesterday in that tank.

Top head temp was 432 at the upper rpm range in 3rd. In 4th, CHTs reliably drop as vehicle speed drops below 50 mph. Engine cools quickly at off-throttle most times.

Checked my valve adjustments this morning with no small trepidation.
Nothing weird. #3 intake and exhaust were slightly loose
#4 intake and #2 exhaust slightly tight.

Haven't even looked at the fuel filter, I just put gas in the tank and drive like normal people. Of course, my fuel log now has bigger purchases than the usual $7.85 incremental purchases of the past three months. Heck, I put in $22.50 yesterday.

Going the hot route to LA, have a Burbank appointment on Monday. Photos of the red sun, next post. One of those photographs was 55 mph, very cambered roadway, downhill hard left, camera in right hand, here's a deer rocketing down the hillside to my right, it was curtains for the front end of the car and the deer, for sure, but this was an Olympics-caliber deer that managed to jam on its four-hoof brakes on a 50* slope, pull a u-turn, and scamper up the hill in an instantaneous and deeply appreciated act of physics-defying fleetness.
Colin

Amskeptic wrote:Hey Robbie, how is it going wherever you are? I miss the tough old boot imperturbable Chloe in this heat.

Splendidly! Detroit! "Imperturbable" is right on. I put the corner of my ice chest on the accelerator pedal climbing Beartooth Pass last month. (11k feet elevation. I took it by happy accident when my map battery died……) Two hours later I took it off to begin the descent. Valve adjustment the next day (first one in 3k miles) showed no change. Car is running as smooth as ever, though I may have to pop the distributor cap, as the dwell is running a sloppy/tiny 52* at the moment.

Getting my dual horns dialed in this week; Michigan drivers leave a lot to be desired.

Robbie

asiab3 wrote:
Valve adjustment the next day (first one in 3k miles) showed no change. Car is running as smooth as ever, though I may have to pop the distributor cap, as the dwell is running a sloppy/tiny 52* at the moment.
Robbie

What the hell Robbie? Where's the break downs? Ya know, the broken clutch cable or throttle cable? The broken crank cuz, ya know, it has to be stroked! How about a small engine fire? Wheel bearing seizure? Broken exhaust valve? Fuel pump pin falling out?

Really? Nothing at all? Ppfftt.. your trip is SSOO lacking in the epic breakdown but I Macgyvered it back on the road area...

asiab3 wrote: Getting my dual horns dialed in this week; Michigan drivers leave a lot to be desired.
Robbie

I've never been to Michigan. However, EVERYTIME I return to SD for a family visit, I'm shocked at how aggressive and how FAST folks drive there! No one seems to be able to drive less than 20 miles an hour OVER the speed limit on the freeways.

to be able to drive less than 20 miles an hour OVER the speed limit on the freeways

That is the national past time. Wait until they start passing you on the shoulder doing over 100 mph when traffic is doing 80 mph. We saw derivatives of that in Georgia, NC, SC, Arkansas, Tennessee. It really doesn't matter where one drives in the USA - a good number of people have gone nuts, and interprets Freedom to mean "I can do what ever I want." Meth addiction doesn't help. Everyone I know is complaining about it regardless where they go. And they all say the same thing - it is getting worse. I hate to say it but my conclusion is that we have lost our fear of everything, including the Almighty, and in turn many believe they are invincible.