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Message
Rusty, glad to hear you have reconsidered,
especially given the amount of effort and how close (I think) to working out all
the bugs.
Having experienced several similar
heart thumping, cushion gripping events myself, I understand what you are
going though. After all we are putting ourselves at some degree of
risk. However, I personally consider the most dangerous part of each
flight the 10 mile drive to the airpatch on a narrow two lane road with
everything from very senior citizens to huge dump trucks passing me at a closure
rate of 90 mph two feet or so away. Think about it!
Regarding the core. I think there are some
significant difference between the pressures and impulses encounter in the
coolant system and the oil system. For one the oil pump is a positive
displacement pump meaning that it is going to put out 156 psi (dropping to 80
psi by oil controller activates) in rapid pulsation - regardless of what
resistance it encounters. The coolant pump on the other hand
is a centrifugal type pump, it does not have the high peak pulsation of the
lobed oil pump (smoother flow), plus if it encounters flow resistance, it simply
slows down the flow (head pressure increases) or it causes the pump to
cavitate. Also we have a difference in stress between a 80-100 psi
pulsating operating pressure and a 5-15 psi operating pressure in the cores. I
suspect the difference in viscosity is also a factor as the cross channels are
something on the order of 1/8-3/16 sq inches each. I would imagine that
cold 40-50 weigh oil encounters considerable resistance to flow in these
channels. Got to cause more stress on the cores than water at
least on startup before the oil has warmed up..
Now I am not a pump expert (nor any other
kind - even on TV) but I believe there are these significant differences between
the stresses encounter in the two different core
applications. Besides, the core has been
used by numerous folks for coolant without problems and if mounted correctly and
with consideration of stresses on fittings I believe you will do just fine in
that application.
However, if your confidence about using cores is
somewhat understandably shakened, then by all means have custom radiators built
- worth it for you peace of mind and still a small cost compared to
your total investment in the project.
Whatever you do don't sell it, but if you do sell
it - don't sell it to Ken Powers, he has more than enough unfinished projects
{:>)
Ed Anderson
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