The thermostat replacement which took an entire day.

[Tetronator]

So I wanted to replace my thermostat which was stuck half open, and clear out my gunked up radiator. Hah! Funny.
I took these pictures showing the process to a friend over Whatsapp, tougth I'd share it.

The bugger is hard to get to!


Got it out, but its still hanging on.


Lil' bastard.


So, time for the radiator, let me just remove the cover... Damned screw is stuck...

F%^k! I torqued a hole into the radiator. Spun it right out.

Well It was junk anyway, time for a new one!


After a hunt going between 4 diffrent bike shops and one bike breaker I got myself a new radiator and thermostat. Assembelly was WAY easier.
Hmm... Easy pouring...



So time to test it my new radiator and thermostat.
On the positive side: Radiator and thermostat work so well I couldn't get the oil temprature higher than 81 degrees C


On the negative side: I forgot to check if the fan thermostatic switch and fan work as intended, and I couldn't get it hot enough, even with Amsterdam's rush hour traffic.
My solution?


Succes!



Hope you enjoy some Schädefreude, for this is a prime example of Murphy's law.

And remember!

[albertaphil]

Now THAT is a familiar story. I hate being one of THOSE guys who leaves repairs for a long time but it is hard to schedule a day to do a 1 hour job. There is something to be said for air cooling.

[Tetronator]

Hmm, air cooling. Alltough now my bike rises to 80 degrees C in minutes and will stay there whatever happends. So theres something for liquid cooling. It cooled well enough on the move before I replaced the lot but as soon as I got into city (rush hour) traffic it overheated-ish. I wanted to get the lot in order before I make any long journeys on it.

[albertaphil]

Yes, I'm being tongue in cheek. It is too bad that even the best current internal combustion technology still needs to get rid of so much wasted energy...

[Tetronator]

Can't agree more, sadly enough. But so are the laws of thermodynamics. I suggest you look up modern day steam engines (turbines), they are really efficient.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_engine#Efficiency

At least compared to internal combustion engines.

Steam turbine bike anyone?

[albertaphil]

My pet theory is that we see any revolutionary gains in efficiency until we figure out how to Capri the energy contained in hydrocarbons without lighting them on fire. Direct capture of chemical energy. Probably into electricity, but definitely not into heat.

[Tetronator]

I believe I saw something years back like what you described but I can't seem to find it anymore. It was a kit that turns biodiesel into electricity without burning it, alas I can't find it for the life of me.
Wasn't very efficient I believe, alltough yes that would be the way to go because each change of state or reaction said fuel goes trough will have an energy loss accompanied by it.

Thats the reason so many electric vehicles are turning up. The only thing limiting the electric vehicles is the efficacy of the still chemical batteries and electric engines.
Then again, only 3 change of states, (inside the vehicle), Electrical Energy -> Chemical Energy -> Electrical Energy -> Movement.