Small Engine Dyno Coolant Temp Control

[chippy348]

Hi there i was after a bit of advice.

I have Dynojet 250I motorcycle rolling road type dyno that i am going to adapt to attach a small kart engine (125cc Rotax Max) to it. This is already underway and i am thinking about the cooling side of things.

The max engine comes as a self contained engine with it radiator attached to the side of the engine and a water pump built into the engine.

What i am wanting to do is remove the rad and come up with a stand alone system that has the ability to keep the engine at a steady temp.

In my head i was thinking a tank with a immersion heater to get the water up to temp IE pre warm the engine coming of the tank to a radiator (with a fan to control the temp) then a pump to pump it back into the tank. The kart would be gravity fed from the bottom of the tank to the engine then use the engines pump to return to the top of the tank.

So to sum up

Immersion heater heat the water up
Pump pumps it around the rad and back to the tank
Fan on rad keeps temp for going to high
Draw off from bottom of tank to pump on the engine (bottom of engine)
Return from top of cylinder head to top of tank

Anyone see any issues with this OR a better way to do it ??

[PeterBurgess]

You may be better off using a heat exchanger, which should be easier to control engine temp. If you need to warm the water for engine prior to running why not use an automobile pre heat setup?
Here is a link to Land and Sea page showing schematic of water brake and cooling including a heat exchanger.
http://www.land-and-sea.com/dyno-tech-talk/water_t...

Peter

[chippy348]

Thanks for the reply.

I had seen that drawing but it is really not applicable to our set up.

I will keep on with the idea i have and report back at some point

[PeterBurgess]

I was wondering if it might have given you some ideas? Dave Gollan who has worked with me since 1989 lives in Shropshire, I am sure he would come along and say hello and you never know maybe over a chinwag some thoughts might happen? You are also welcome to come and look at our dyno installation, should be all hooked up by the end of July then be patient while the water tank fills up with 1500 gallons!

Peter