Are there any cars being made today with air-cooled engines or was the Beetle the last?
Air-cooled dead?
Sep 19, 2003
7 Replies
I think Porsche deffed it with the 911 in the end due to noise regs! Something to do with big fan = lots of noise = fail type approval/TUV/etc...
I think it was more because Porsche hit a thermal (and in consequence terminal) barrier with its big HP engines.
If memory serves me well a long distance race in the USA saw nearly all 911- drivers retire due to overheating problems. Rest assured that on a race car noise-levels of a fan do not come into account.
Tom
Not that I know of. The trouble with air cooling is that it's much harder to keep the donk at a reasonably level temperature, which I'm told has important emissions complications.
My brother-in-law has a lovely Beetle 1303 in California, and whilst it doesn't overheat with his use, it would if he used it in the LA traffic.
approval/TUV/etc...
This may be true, but it is also certainly true that for road purposes, the
911 had to be watercooled because of freshly introduced european legislation at that time whch laid down tighters regulations for drive by noise. Strangley enough similar legislation also saw the death to a great extent of air cooled racing Karts. The watercooled ones they have now are much quieter. Cooling fins resonating in the free air versus a water jacket.
I'm not sure about the too hard to cool as rallycross beetles used to = make over
600bhp with a (somewhat modified!) transporter engine. I suppose they = didn't run for long though. Also all engines are ultimately air cooled even if = remotely so it must be possible to cool them with enough ducting and fins.I suspect it comes down to noise.
Paul
"Paul Laidlaw" schreef in bericht news:bko4mh$3sam3$ snipped-for-privacy@ID-45848.news.uni-berlin.de...
And using a power guzzling and noisy fan and lots of oil with an oilcooler.
It's that terrible home-made hooch in Finland, you know.
Join the Discussion
Have something to add? Share your thoughts — no account required.
Didn't find your answer?
Ask the community — no account required