[theelcaminoman]

Hey guys. One thing I learned back in high school Auto Upkeep is the cooler your engine runs, the more HP you make. Makes sense. So if you put a smaller pulley on your water pump, thus making it turn quicker, thus cooling the engine more efficently, wouldnt it make more power?

And on a similar subject, if you put a lower temp termostat in, wouldnt that also give slight more hp? Or even if you flat out remove it? (Not best idea for cooler climates). What do you guys think? Iv never seen a smaller pulley but im pretty good with a lathe lol

 

[ccc]

the best way to improve your cooling is use the anti-cavitation plate that you rivot to your wp impeller.adds about 25% to your pumps output.speeding the pump upalso increases the drag on the engine.removeing the thermo from the car usually hurts the cooling because the water can flow through the radiator too fast to cool it down,that is why they sell restrictors for race motors to eliminate the t stat but control flow to amximize cooling of both the water and engine parts. too cold wil also hurt performance. a engine too cold will have more internal drag because of the cooler oil creating more friction

 

[theelcaminoman]

Makes sense. I didnt think of it that way lol. What if you just used a bigger radiator, like a big block one? Then it should cool it off better right?

 

[dieselhead]

Nascar runs their engines around 250 degrees or so as best I can remember. What makes horsepower is cool air and fuel.

 

[ccc]

i used the stock aluminium/plastic radiator for years with my 400 and never had it even threaten to run warm.my new lt1 has an all aluminium 3 core and it stays right at the thermostat opening temp. the stock hd cooling radiator will cool your small engine you just need to make sure everything else is good. that plate for the pump really works.these so called hp water pumps either have the disc installed on a stock pump or use a redesigned closed back impeller. you dont need a big truck radiator just a good elco radiator,a good hd/severe duty fan clutch and a quality t stat of at least 160.with the modern oils and engines they are designed to run warmer than the 60 s cars. 180 is normal. running less than that can cause greater drag from too cold oil.on one of the hot rod shows they were doing dino runs on an engine and the power went up as the temp passed the 180 mark.but you still need to keep the temp in check. not too cold or hot.i run 180 thermostats year round

 

[theelcaminoman]

Mines gotta be a 190 temp stat. It runs at 190 no matter what the outside temp is so it must be doin its job lol. Sounds like I need to use my money toward somethin more productive lol