I was reading an article on Bob Mcgee’s 32 roadster built in the 40’s and came across an interesting item. These heads were designed to eliminate water pumps and the alloy Created to dissipate heat. Needless to say why only a few exist. https://bangshift.com/bangshift1320...linder-heads-are-made-of-bronze-copper-alloy/
@IronTrap has a set of those on the Delorian roadster I believe. They tested the motor on the run stand in a video with normal head then these to see how they heated up and etc and they were basically with in 2 or 3 of a normal head
Could work without a water pump if you could fit the entire radiator into the upper two thirds or so of the shell. But then, so could stock heads. LJK Setright once referred to an entire generation of pre-WWII family saloons which had tall radiators "as much for pomp as lack of pump".
They used water pumps on the video. I’d like to see how it could work without the pumps as per Mcgees roadster. Built for street use??? I can’t fathom that.
Thermo siphon systems were abandoned for a number of reasons. One of those was their intolerance of even a slightly low water level. If it dropped below the highest point in the system the siphon would stop and so would the cooling. Water pumps made the system a lot more forgiving.
Several years ago, a local junkyard owner showed me a set of those bronze heads. He said he found them in the trunk of a Ford that came in for scrap. They were trophies on the shop wall. I found them interesting to see, though I had no interest in buying them…..which was a good thing because he had no interest in selling them. Ray
They'd look cool polished with SS acorns. Interesting idea but 90 years later we still use water pumps...well,other than Tesla's.
Had a set of Federal Mogul thermo-flows back in the 70’s along with a Rare Jack Henry intake( no pics of Jack Henry) but have pics of a rare 4-1 intake rumored to have run at Indy. Bought both pieces for $500—thermo flows went to Nebraska;4-1 intake(maybe for 4 bolt Winfields) went to Jim Etter(now deceased) for 7-8 large 2 5/8 early SW gauges with curved glass. Flatheads Forever.
On the run stand I think from ambient air temp to 190F the Federal Mogul Heads only got to 190F one to two minutes faster than the Weiand “S” aluminum heads just idling with no fan. That’s such a close number I’d call it negligible. From what I’ve seen thus far driving the car (only driven it a small handful of miles because it’s middle of winter) the engine gets “heat” into it (from ambient temp to say 120F) more quickly than aluminum heads but it stalls out and then climbs slowly and at about the same rate as aluminum heads up to 180-190F. I can’t see running without water pumps at least on the street. Certainly some mystery around these but I can’t see the McGee car getting driven far/much without water pumps but hard to say!
https://www.pcarmarket.com/auction/...Iffaj1SDvZxumGzRR_0fUd6tprPiz9zFdd2r46v4JvDOE In a 1940 Crackerbox. Mike
The Jalopy Journal
