To: the whole freakin' world:
THE NUMBER OF VANES ON AN IMPELLER IS NOT THE DECIDING FACTOR AS TO HOW MUCH IT FLOWS.
You cannot make that generalization.
I bet there are maybe 15 board members who understand centrifugal pumps. I selected and tested them for 19 years. If you know what the affinity laws are, you are one of the 15.
Now to the burning question: WHY is it so important to get the last bit of coolant flow? Answer...
More's Law
If some is good
Then more is better, and
Too much is just right.
When you are driving down the highway your engine is producing less than 100hp. At 60 it is 35hp. At 80 it's roughly 65hp. That means that a radiator from a Dart would cool it okay.
Chrysler was a company in which engineering was king. So when they installed different impellers and pulley ratios I have to think it was for a real reason. It would probably been less expensive to adopt a "one size fits all" mentality. These cars were not known for overheating back in the day. They were pulling Airstreams. They were going 70 or faster. They drove for hours on end. My friend's Dad would tell him, "Just one more state before we stop to use the bathroom."
I had one car that didn't have a large enough cooling system, a Datsun B-210. Put the speedometer on 75 and after about 10 minutes the temp gauge would start creeping up. Drop back to 65 and it'd go right back to the middle of the gauge.
When I hear talk about big pumps I always think to myself "horsepower wasters".
End of lecture.
R.
