However, newer automotive engines with higher compression are designed to run much hotter than their older counterparts. These engines often run 200+ without breaking a sweat. Because of modern coolants and sealed, pressurized systems they rarely 'overheat.'
Peace, Ben -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Greg Hermann Sent: Sunday, March 30, 2014 10:01 PM To: Graham&Joan Hilder; alfa Subject: Re: [alfa] ALFA DIGEST - Old-time radiators - reply Another factor in the older cars' tendency to overheat was lower compression ratio (as was necessitated by lower octane fuel. A lower compression engine rejects a lot more heat both to the exhaust and to the water jackets. Greg Graham&Joan Hilder wrote: > Interesting to read everyone's recollections! I can add that when I > was young, my Dad had British cars from the early 1950s, things like > the Hillman Minx and the Standard Vanguard, and I recall that in > winter he'd sometimes stuff a wad of newspapers down between the > grille and the radiator, to speed the warmup on a cold morning. His > workplace was only about a couple of miles away from home, and on a > freezing frosty or foggy morning before the sun was high the car would > never warm up otherwise. > > I also recall that in my earlier years, say the 1950s and 60s and > maybe into the 70s, it was common in NZ to see cars stopped at the > roadside with bonnets up and drivers standing by, waiting with a > handful of rags and a bottle of water , to top up the boiled-over > radiator when things had cooled down a bit. In NZ we had a great many > old British cars in those days and I suppose most of them had pretty > tiny radiators (made for freezing English weather, perhaps?) that > couldn't really cope with an NZ summer, especially on a long hill or > in a slow traffic jam. (Also, those cars were mostly low-powered > engines and with only three-speed gearboxes a long hill could mean a > long slow crawl up in second gear - lots of overheating potential.) > And of course no cars of that variety had electric cooling fans either. > > Such cars wouldn't have had sealed pressurised cooling systems either, > as Les Singh mentioned, nor antifreeze in the water, so their boiling > point was much lower than in today's cars too. The first car I had > with such a system was a Morris 1100 of the early 60s, and such a > system was quite advanced for a British car of those years. (The old > 1100 also had disc brakes in front - that was pretty special too!). > > We don't know how lucky we are now! > Best regards, > Graham H, NZ (Alfasud, GTV, 156) http://www.avast.com > -- > to be removed from alfa, see http://www.digest.net/bin/digest-subs.cgi > or email "unsubscribe alfa" to [email protected] -- to be removed from alfa, see http://www.digest.net/bin/digest-subs.cgi or email "unsubscribe alfa" to [email protected] http://www.avast.com -- to be removed from alfa, see http://www.digest.net/bin/digest-subs.cgi or email "unsubscribe alfa" to [email protected]
