ENGINE OIL TEMPERATURE STUDY, INTRO.

Great stuff, Bruce! I'm anxiously awaiting reading your results.

I'll second that.

Bruce- To refresh our (ok, my) memory, does the engine have the thermostat and flaps installed? lower sled tins and heater boxes or industrial tins? what would you estimate for the area of air intake? I ask that because my older IM (on the under side of the engine lid) has a slot on each side of the grille approx 12" long and just over 1" wide at the top and 2" wide at the bottom. This works out to be just over half of the air intake of a beetle with engine lid louvers.

Manoman!

So in my ongoing quest to transform mild-mannered "air-cooled" Bruce into legendary superhero Manoman, I wondered what it would look like if he had to answer the call to duty.  Of course Superman came to mind as the seemingly average Clark Kent would suddenly become Superman at even the slightest cry for help.  So as all of us cry out for the knowledge that Manoman so feverishly seeks out, I found a video that might give us a glimpse of what happens transpires as "Aircooled Bruce" changes from the everyday Speedster owner into knowledge seeking Manoman. And because we're in the Replica market what we do isn't exactly the same as the original:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHtYBif7Ric

See what I mean? It was close but just not the original.

Robert....I had a good laugh and thank you for that ! Sometimes I feel just like that guy and vent my frustration by just having another beer ! Actually....most of my ideas come from me sitting out in my garage...drinking a beer...and thinking up stuff to make or do.....my "inspirational time' if you will. Edison (I think) said that invention is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. I believe that ! Especially, recently. in the 100 degree weather we have been having out here !....Thanks Robert, and you too Bill.....Bruce

Bruce, did I miss something? or is there an estimated date of posting your findings?

Thanks very much for your work, in this difficult area!

Art

Al....Good questions !...... I am using an EMPI 36hp doghouse fan shroud, no flaps,no thermostat, and no sled tin. I do have heater boxes.

I can't remember the actual square inches of opening in the hibachi grill less the grill itself but i did post those dimensions last year on here. Also the square inch area of the two openings under the grill where the rain guard lets the air in. I do know that a VS has a bigger area in the rain guard opening that an Intermechanica car. At least that's what I discovered form measuring one last year. Also I think people need to consider how many "Campaign Buttons" they place on that grill. There was a post, last year, using my, Ha Ha, manometer. Since then i have measured a std VW intake grill above the engine lid but have put that aside in lieu of other projects. I'll get to it later as a friend is building a nice 62 Bug and I will use it as a test base for other things I'm curious about. I hope this answers your questions and thank you for the prompt Al..........Bruce

Art...I'm working on the final post as we speak......Bruce

I finally got to meet Bruce in June when we went to the Fathers Day L.A. Roadsters car show. As you can gather he is very modest and generous with his time. He also has a really nice garage with a lot of machine tools to make some cool stuff. You can be sure if he tells us something it is exactly the way it happened. He has helped me a lot with my concerns on actual engine oil temp and how it correlates to my unmarked

Chinese dash gauge.  I have discovered that in my car, ambient temperature has a lot to do with how hot the oil is. When it is below 75 degrees my cooler fan will not run and it is set to run at 180. When it is in the 80s and above, the fan seems to run all the time but the needle on the gauge has never gotten quite to the middle of the scale which I'm hoping is below 200 degrees.

So it's 10:15, I'm going to bed and NO RESULTS!??? The suspense is killin' me!

PS- I'm going to go out on a limb and guess the temps in the various locations aren't all that different. And I'll also guess that as long as the grille opening square footage is larger than the side openings in the underside of the engine lid, a couple "campaign buttons" won't affect airflow/cooling. At some point are you going to uncover the firewall hole to see what happens? I'd think a hot day would be needed to see if it has any effect....

Keep up the good work, Bruce. This is valuable data you're coming up with.

Your waiting ever so patiently forum-mate Al.

I would suspect that a limited amount of incoming air would have a greater impact on CHT numbers than oil temp numbers, since the external oil cooler has its own air supply and is not impacted by the lack of incoming air in the engine compartment.

Frank....i think your OK on your oil temp. You have the same engine as me. later, I will tee off the oil pressure switch and measure temp's there but as you can see, I don't have a lot of faith in the readings I will get. However, I could be totally wrong and it could turn out that it's perfectly OK to measure it there. Stranger things have happened in my life..........Also thank you for the Cudo's..........Bruce