Quote:
Originally Posted by Old Mechanic
Early model T Fords used a thermosiphon system with no water pump.
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So did early John Deere tractors. No pump at all....thermostatic control came through the magic of physics. The hotter the water got in the engine, the more thermosiphoning would occur, and thus, more flow through the radiator. The only control you had was the crank that operated the rad shutters to adjust airflow through the rad. In order for this principle to work in a modern engine, you would need a HUGE rad with HUGE pipes. Modern cooling systems develop 40+ psi of pressure at redline - imagine the amount of flow that that equates to. The aforementioned model Ts and John Deeres had only 30 HP and radiators bigger than a Kenworth's. As far as economic savings go, I don't know. Us ecomodders are always trying the keep the revs low, where our water pumps aren't really doing a whole bunch anyway. Drag racers (aka high revvers) use electric pumps, but we're not drag racers.