Itinerant Air-Cooled

Colin noticed my type4 thermostat leaked, and failed open, leaving the engine fan blowing cold air non-stop. That's not such a bad thing in summer, but in winter, you get way too much cooling... So here is my proposal to the alternative...



I can control this either through my ECU or through an alternative temperature probe.
You energize it, the arm raises, and it pulls up down on the flap, closing the flap. Key off, power off, or failure, and the arm lowers, instantly failing the cooling open....

Who's in?

The first problem I see is, "Made in China"

Another alternative is vacuum actuator. Which is also interesting idea, since I have available vacuum up to 120F, at which point, I close off the vacuum (fast-idle circuit/or AAR in stock lingo)

Mike Boell wrote:The first problem I see is, "Made in China"

Don't worry.. That's a Cadillac part. =D>

This just turns me on... :)

I am thinking about using these on my heater boxes too... ;)

I say either liquid/gas pressure or mechanically or electrically-actuated with fail-safe open. That's what I say.
Vacuum actuated, naaaah.
I think we need a nice progressive action too, not on or off. Let's be kind to our air-cooled engines and actually control temperatures for best metallurgical clamping of the case/cylinders/heads, and what the hell, let's keep the heat on for better control of rapid temperature changes which have got to annoy the cylinder heads. If we have a responsive and robust system, we could actually even out the heat production from the exchangers by closing off the cooling system on long downhills. We could get rid of the cable and that silly wheel all together, just drive the cross shaft with a torquey little step motor off a Lexus . . .
Looking good here in the Star Wars Fleet Maintenance Facility.
Colin

Nothing cooler than a copper accordion full of alcohol. Wires, everything's got wires coming offit nowadays...

How about this guy's offering? I need one, and this is what I was going to order. Anyone using one of his...I know I saw some write up somewhere here about this?

If you have a good Type 1 thermostat there is procedure to adapt it to the T4 engine.
Think it's on Ratwell but not sure. I mention it because these things are pricey. Bob

Just priced the thermocoupler probe, and stepper motor controller, cpu and etc.. it comes to about $100 with the cpu:

Thermocouple Amplifier MAX31855 breakout board (MAX6675 upgrade) - v2.0 PID: 269 - $14.95
Thermocouple Type-K Glass Braid Insulated - K PID: 270 - $9.95
Stepper motor - NEMA-17 size - 200 steps/rev, 12V 350mA PID: 324 - $14.00
Adafruit Motor/Stepper/Servo Shield for Arduino v2 Kit - v2.0 PID: 1438 - $19.95

+ Arduino board and miscellaneous wires, and project boxes == $100..

A good used type 4 one cost me $40 6 months ago..... Very low tech but no wires yo short out.

The busdepot Type4 themorstat (111119159A) only lasted 6000 miles... and it was $99. Stay away from it.

luftvagon wrote:The busdepot Type4 themorstat (111119159A) only lasted 6000 miles... and it was $99. Stay away from it.

I am following your research here, please ask questions as necessary. We need a good location to read engine temperatures . . . it needs to respond accurately.
Colin =D>

Jivermo wrote:

How about this guy's offering? I need one, and this is what I was going to order. Anyone using one of his...I know I saw some write up somewhere here about this?

I'm running one of his thermostats and they are very well made. He makes them using updated material that resists the expanding & contracting better overtime vs the OE T-stats. A highly recommended item and quite likely the last T-stat one will have to purchase.