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Reply to "Need input from IM owners"

@Bob: IM S6 posted:

Is 220F while cruising all that bad?  Lots of people would say that's within the range for these engines.

I feel like it'd be good to respond to this. Technically: yes, 220*F is fine. 10* more is super-borderline. That's not much margin for any changes.

The owner lives in New England, where I assume it isn't really hot yet. If the owner is running 220* (which is fine) when it's 70* outside, he'll likely be running 230* (which is a lot less fine) when it's 80*, and 240* (which is decidedly not fine) when it's 90*. This assumes that the ability to shed heat from the oil is linear in increasing ambient temperatures. In my experience, it is not-- one may be fine at a certain ambient condition, and way too hot when it gets 10* hotter.

If he never left Boston and stayed home when the weather got hot, he'd probably be just fine... but that's no way to live.

Everybody has to learn to bend for their car in some way. @MusbJim is the master of this. @Sacto Mitch has found inner peace on the path of enlightenment. Both are adept at accepting the limitations of their cars and working towards being better humans by embracing those limitations.

But... they both have external coolers. 

Why? Because both of them like to drive. There's just not much utility in being limited to an ambient temperature under 95*, because one is likely to encounter that temperature at some point along the way. I don't drive a cross the desert every day, but I have driven across many deserts in my car. I'd like to keep driving, not park and wait to die of heat-stroke. I have even less desire to scramble yet another engine "driving through it".

There's an idea over on TheSamba that you build for where you live. I think that's really short-sighted. I think one needs to build for what one might encounter and need to live with-- high outside temperatures, 91 octane fuel, roads that might be less than glass smooth. Building a 13:1 engine and putting it in a car with cheater slicks might yield a vehicle that runs like a scalded dog on a cool night, while burning E85-- but it isn't particularly useful when one finds oneself traveling across the Mojave mid-day in August.

These cars are made to drive. It pains me that a lot of people never get a chance to find out how great they really are, because they are limited by a narrow band of operation. I know you know this, @Bob: IM S6, as you have the ultimate GT speedster. It just bears spelling out again for those who might come across this later.

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