Ford reverse cooling

What, are you bored? What’s the purpose? If it is not making tons of HP why bother? I’m sure you can make coolant flow in all kids of directions if you have the time and the engine on a stand. A lot more restrictive when you have to work within the confines of an engine compartment. Got pictures?
How about high compression and water injection, now that would be a project. Or twin turbos, propane injection, rocket boosters, hydrogen powered as some other options? Reverse water flow? I do not get it?
Ras Daniel

Ok the reason why? because im running a radiator that just barely fits the car. I have 2 10in fans pulling, and an electric csr remote mount pump but not sure if thats enough cooling.
SOOO I was looking for a better way to cool the engine down in the first place.
Reverse cooling is supposed to cool the heads better and first so that it staves off detonation.And since im running iron heads and might have to use the cheaper gas i was considering this.

On another note I really dont appreciate the "WHY BOTHER?" attitudes.
If you dont have a constructive opinon dont bother posting a reply.
thanks

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71 Pinto
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B303 , 1.7 roller rockers, Crane beehive springs.
'68 302 Iron port polished heads.
Mod Must II headers.
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Holley 570
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The money pit, "So... when will it be done?"

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: 71hotrodpinto on 2/23/06 2:00pm ]</font>

You won't cure a cooling problem by reversing water flow... sure the heads might be slightly cooler, but the block will be hotter, which will cause the pistons to run hotter. Remember, heat transfer is proportional to the difference in temperature, so if you make the head cooler, it will soak up more heat OUT of the combustion process... and heat IN the combustion process is what makes power! And you're still generating the same amount of heat, which means if your radiator isn't sufficient for dumping the heat now, it still won't be after you reverse the water flow. If you're worried about detonation, your time would be better spent reshaping the chambers and paying close attention to quench rather than trying to cool the heads another 5-10 degrees, that just won't help. Also, have you thought about air getting trapped in the heads? With coolant flow from bottom to top, air can be forced out the top of the engine so it's always full of water. Reverse the flow, and you can end up with air pockets trapped up top that can't escape because you're forcing water into the only place it can exit. I really think you would be hurting more than helping... if you have too much heat then you need to get rid of it... changing the water flow will only change the way it collects heat, not disippates it.

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'86 Bronco fullsize, 460, E4OD
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<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Motorhead on 2/23/06 11:45pm ]</font>

Lemme throw something else at ya, and you may already have this covered - so forgive my ignorance, but don't mount the electric fans directly on the radiator. Build a shroud and space them at least a 1/2 to 3/4 away from the core so it will pull air through the entire core

There are some potential benifits to using reverse cooling.
1. the engine heats more uniformly
2. higher combustion temps and pressures are possible
3. better control of "hot spot" prevention

There are some disadvantages too though:
1. any air in the system can be disastrous
2. modifications to cooling systems can be complex

The most successful systems use a different coolant - propylene not ethylene glycol. This allowed higher coolant temps at the same pressure keeping gaskets the same (no exotic materials needed). The main reason it is not widely used is the air contamination problem. You must have a purge tank higher than any other point of the cooling system to remove all the air in the system. This also requires a recovery tank that must always have coolant in it.
Why is air so bad? it is nearly impossible to force air DOWN through the engines cooling system so what happened in the testing was that air got trapped and caused localized over-heating (hot spots) which cause detonation and failure of the engine. Once the problems were sorted out and the higher temp coolant was used it was found that while there were signifigant gains in efficiency you could get the same gains by using the higher temp coolant in the conventional systems. You just had to get used to seeing "normal" temps of over 250F.
Ford decided that people would not respond well to the maintenance needed and the higher temps involved.
You still need a cooling system that will get rid of the same amount of heat as what the engine produces - at higher temps you can use a smaller radiator to do it because as temps rise heat transfer increases.

As I studied this, years ago, I was all for it - until I found out that you could get similar effects just running the propylene glycol and higher temps with the standard cooling system. It seems the higher temp allowed by the new coolant was where most of the improvements were.

Ford's latest thinking about coolant systems.

NASCAR Race Engines - Ford FR9 - Hot Rod Magazine

A passage runs down the length of each side of the Ford block, and through the freeze-plug holes you can see the inlets that allow water to run from the passage to the water jacket designed to pull heat away from the cylinder walls. This system ensures that each cylinder receives coolant that is the same temperature.