Kind and Gentle Men. This whole issue of a cool engine or a hot engine, temperature-wise, is leading us down an interesting path of discovery.
Perhaps a little review of the basics. Our internal combustion engine is a heat machine, it converts a chemical thermo reaction to mechanical inertia. The more heat it produces the higher the pressure is applied to the mechanical components. But, this range of produced heat must be controlled to limit the heat to certain design parameters as set by the engineers at the factory. For now, we will ignore the emissions factor tho they are not necessarily a universal bad thing.
I am currently experimenting with a 195F degree thermostat and the fully functioning pre-heated intake air system to increase the operating temperature of my engine. The temperature gauge needle now reads just to the right of the center bar of the gauge with a thermostat housing reading of 192F degrees. The intake air temperature reads 102F degrees with the Z-S carburetors showing 85F degrees as taken at on the top of the bell. The spark plugs for #1 and #4 cylinders read 214F degrees. Performance as taken with my patented seat-of-the-pants dynamometer seems to feel a bit crisper.
Here in lies the problem. All we have for sure(?) is the factory stated power outputs, and the track times done in road tests by a car magazine some 35 years ago on new machinery that may have been tweaked by the factory hot rod shop. Unless we all gather together to collectively rent the use of a real dyno, all our suppositions, opinions, war stories, and fantasies are for naught.
Oh, sure, I know in my heart of hearts each of you is telling the truth. But, each or our engines are different in subtle and not so subtle ways. Be it emissions equipped or hot rodded or not in perfect tune or it's raining outside, a correct baseline needs to be set, then modification experiments can be made with records kept of what was done and the measured results.
So, where does this leave us? It means we must fall back on our basic diagnostic tools to get the best results our individual engines can achieve. Tools like a temperature gun, a vacuum gauge, a timing light, carburetor syncro tools, and fuel economy records, these are the devices to help us maintain and possibly improve our cars.
Who knows? Maybe with luck one of us may reach Warp Factor 1 this spring.
Mildred Hargis
