Re: REFLECTOR: oil temp

[DAlexan424@aol.com]

In a message dated 4/5/99 2:57:26 PM Pacific Daylight Time, rdugas@bayou.com 
writes:

>  I was thinking about the same thing for an oil cooler exit door. aluminum
>  > rod which would
>  > be coiled like a thermostat, (calibrated in the oven with a thermometer
>  > across a 160-220 degree range), to automatically push open or pull 
closed 
> an
>  > exit flap.
>  > 
>  >The thermostat on a VW Does this Exactly and is almost bullet proof from 
> what I here.  When I find one at the junker I post demension and wt.
>  
>  Rene'
>  >
>  

If I remember correctly from my VW overhaul days (don't tell anyone...someone 
will want me to adjust their valves), the thermostat doesn't grow much more 
than about 13mm in length from fully contracted to fully extended. Not much 
to work with. The thermo on a VW resided under the number 3-4 (if I remember 
correctly) cylinders and used the cooling air from those cylinders to work. 
On the early models, the oil cooler restricted the air to the cylinders on 
that side. Later models had the oil cooler moved out of the fan housing 
leaving a more or less unrestricted path for the cooling air. As the air 
brought the cylinder temp down, the thermo would contract and act on a flap 
linkage restricting the air flow, allowing the cylinders to heat up again to 
the point of opening the flap assembly again and so on and so on...

The VW thermo was very reliable. But it was a sealed unit using the expansion 
of whatever was inside to work. It was NOT a coiled piece of aluminum. It 
also works at the temp of the cooling air, which is probably much higher than 
the best oil temp of 200-225F.

Just something to keep in mind...

Dale Alexander
173 RG GullWing