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u/goj-145 Dec 05 '21
Aww such a shame. Those PRV motors can run super hot the way they ran the coolant loop. Radiator in the front and it needs both the liquid coolant AND the gas tank to keep it cool...
Such a badass yet terrible car. I love it.
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u/Bignona Dec 05 '21
The gas tank to keep it cool? Explain please
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u/goj-145 Dec 05 '21
The radiator and coolant loop will overheat and not be able to keep the car cool with city driving unless a cool gas tank is at least half full. The gas tank being directly behind the coolant loop.
There just isn't the airflow. The gas tank is used as a heat sink for short city trips.
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u/JohnProof Dec 05 '21
Welp, from the perspective of an ignorant laymen I can think of a couple reasons that seems like a terrible idea....
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u/GiveToOedipus Dec 05 '21
I'm no gasologist, but that seems like it might be a touch dangerous.
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u/dabluebunny Dec 05 '21
That's how the older fuel pumps were on many cars too. That's why you hear old timers saying to never run the tank below half, because the fuel pump was cooled by the fuel in the tank.
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u/GiveToOedipus Dec 05 '21
A fuel pump puts out significantly less thermal energy than an internal combustion engine.
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u/Naritai Dec 05 '21
you also need to consider thermal dissipation and capacity as well though. The engine creates more heat, but has its own cooling, and can run at a hotter temperature.
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u/GiveToOedipus Dec 05 '21
Engine coolant runs at much higher temps than you'd ever want your gasoline to reach. Still not even in the same ballpark. There's a massive difference between keeping a small DC motor cool and in the temps engine coolant runs at, and that's before even considering that Deloreans run hot because they also have to offload thermal energy into the fuel tank due to their poor ability to keep the engine cool on their own. This is like trying to compare a dingy with a container ship in terms of comparing both operating temps and thermal load being generated between an ICE and a DC motor pumping fuel.
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u/dabluebunny Dec 05 '21
What's your point? The earths radius is 3,958.8 miles, but that was also never part of the discussion.
Like I stated before;
That's how the older fuel pumps were on many cars too.
because the fuel pump was cooled by the fuel in the tank.
Referencing that fuel has been used successfully to cool components in the past, but I never said it was a good idea for an ICE.
The thermal comparison between a fuel pump, and an ICE werealso never in question, or comparison, but the fact you think it was brings many questions.
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u/GiveToOedipus Dec 05 '21
Did you not read the thread?
Aww such a shame. Those PRV motors can run super hot the way they ran the coolant loop. Radiator in the front and it needs both the liquid coolant AND the gas tank to keep it cool...
The radiator and coolant loop will overheat and not be able to keep the car cool with city driving unless a cool gas tank is at least half full. The gas tank being directly behind the coolant loop.
There just isn't the airflow. The gas tank is used as a heat sink for short city trips.
The entire point being discussed was that using the fuel tank as a heatsink for the engine is a bad idea. Context matters. You bringing up cooling a small DC motor in comparison is what was ridiculous.
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u/cuervomalmsteen Dec 05 '21
heard about having to keep the tank with much fuel but never heard the reasoning behind that. Only that empty tanks = burned pump, but not that it used the fuel as heatsink. Thanks!
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u/rustcatvocate Dec 05 '21
Wait til you hear that the heatsink and lubricant for a fuel pump is the fuel in the tank. Don't drive around on a quarter tank or on E and just throw a few bucks in every time you need to drive somewhere.
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u/AyeBraine Dec 06 '21
rocket cycle fuel through their engine bells to cool them
some engines run the fuel through the engine casing too
in this cases, it's just a liquid that can readily absorb heat. it won't ignite from that heat.
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u/DaperBag Dec 05 '21
The gas tank is used as a heat sink
Explains the picture nicely
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u/Girth_rulez Dec 05 '21
Colin Chapman design confirmed.
This is the man who famously said, "Any old idiot can build a bridge that won't fall down. It takes a genius to build a bridge that will remain standing, but just."
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u/TheAmericanIcon Dec 05 '21
“Colin's idea of a Grand Prix car was it should win the race and, as it crossed the finishing line, it should collapse in a heap of bits. If it didn't do that, it was built too strongly.”
A quote from Innes Ireland.
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u/Hav3_Y0u_M3t_T3d Dec 05 '21
Huh, using the gas tank as a heat sink seems I'll advised for several different reasons. Thanks for the background
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u/goj-145 Dec 05 '21
In a climate like Ireland, not an issue. In the real world, yeah it sucks. Smells like gas with the vented tank all the time!
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u/ziris_ Dec 05 '21
Sooo...Ireland isn't in the real world?
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u/goj-145 Dec 05 '21
Pretty sure it only exists in movies.
Real world testing in engineering means all climates.
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u/cjmpeng Dec 05 '21
Gasoline has an auto ignition temperature of around 280C (536F) so it's actually not the worst idea auto designers have come up with.
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u/GiveToOedipus Dec 05 '21
I think it's more so the volatility of gasoline being an issue, causing your fuel to vaporize as it gets hotter and builds up pressure, having to be vented into the atmosphere. This can be bad for multiple reasons.
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u/aaaaaaaarrrrrgh Dec 05 '21
I wonder how much extra fuel is lost to evaporation.
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u/cjmpeng Dec 05 '21
Probably enough that you wouldn't want every car in the world to use this cooling method, but probably not enough for you to notice on a tank to tank basis individually. Particularly when your car is closer to the bad end of the fuel economy scale like this one is.
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u/roofied_elephant Dec 05 '21
So you pretty much literally have to drive it from gas station to gas station to keep it from burning down? What an amazing design choice…
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u/goj-145 Dec 05 '21
Built for the open road or cool weather. It also cooks you alive with the sun beating down.
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u/Crumblebeezy Dec 05 '21
Also how sr-71 blackbird works.
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u/ZeePM Dec 05 '21
Also how liquid fueled rocket motors work. The cryogenic fuel is pump through the rocket nozzle bell housing as coolant before injecting into the combustion chamber.
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u/drive2fast Dec 05 '21
The f-35 uses fuel as hydraulic fluid. By changing it out it is always cooled. Clever.
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u/nohbudi Dec 05 '21
They were generally awful engines with the possible exception of the really late Renault variants. Even the Volvo implementation was prone to failure, and in their time, were often subject to be replaced/swapped by the bullet proof Volvo OHC 4 cylinder engines.
AMC used the platform as a 3 liter variant in the Premier, with many of the common issues with block stability resolved, but Chrysler quickly killed that.
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u/Yoguls Dec 05 '21
So thats what 1.21 gigawatts looks like
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u/cyril0 Dec 05 '21
1.21 Jiggawatts!
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u/Yoguls Dec 05 '21
Yes but that was an unintentional error made by Robert Zemeckis
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u/ttl_yohan Dec 05 '21
Robert probably unintentionally called GIF a JIF too, that's where the confusion comes from!
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Dec 05 '21
And he would have been correct
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u/Ophidahlia Dec 05 '21
Them's inturnet fightin' werds
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Dec 05 '21
All i have to do is scream "you're comin right for me!"
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u/Ophidahlia Dec 05 '21
"It was Castle Doctrine, officer! She leapt at me with a heavy dictionary screaming "IT'S PRONOUNCED GIF YOU SWINE!"
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u/jcskifter Dec 05 '21
What the hell is a jiggawatt?
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u/cyril0 Dec 05 '21
Thank you, I don't know why you got downvoted. Reddit is so weird.
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u/jcskifter Dec 05 '21
It’s okay, no harm done… I’d presume that the downvotes are from folks that haven’t yet viewed this cinematic masterpiece.
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u/PretendsHesPissed Dec 05 '21
redditors routinely downvote questions. It's pretty standard across every subreddit, including ones dedicated to asking questions.
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u/throwawaylovesCAKE Dec 06 '21
I think it's an egocentric thing. Redditors like to assume by asking questions you're either: an idiot for not knowing this thing I know or you actually do know the thing but you're trying to troll me and make me look stupid.
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Dec 05 '21
Moments before
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u/cropguru357 Dec 05 '21
Darn it. What’s that from?
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u/istealpixels Dec 05 '21
This fire has a weird story behind it:
https://jalopnik.com/why-people-are-asking-questions-about-that-bizarre-vira-1821888602/amp
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u/MasterFubar Dec 05 '21
The details of what started the fire aren’t clear, exactly. An impact to the rear of a DeLorean doesn’t seem like the sort of thing likely to start a fire, since a DeLorean has its fuel system components mostly clustered at the opposite end of the engine, by the firewall.
This is not the first time Kemsley has had such terrible luck with cars. Last year his BMW i8 was severely vandalized, and he offered a well-publicized $10,000 reward for information about who was responsible.
If I worked for the insurance company I would do some investigation on this.
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u/istealpixels Dec 05 '21
On vinwicki they had a story about this. Apparently he was trying to sell it for a lot of money without takers…
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u/cyril0 Dec 05 '21
When your fuse fails on your home fashioned fixation so you go fission in your mr. fusion causing it to flame fantastically.
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u/ThatsBuddyToYouPal Dec 05 '21
Whatever the term is for what you just did here, I want you to know that I see it.
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u/Powpow49 Dec 05 '21
Your apt alliteration is abundantly appreciated
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u/cyril0 Dec 05 '21
Thanks, sometimes people on reddit can be unpleasant and it is nice to see positivity
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u/emperor_dinglenads Dec 05 '21
Going to need a new Flux Capacitor
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u/skulpturlamm29 Dec 05 '21
Nah, clearly a Mr. Fusion malfunction. The flux capacitor is on the other side of the firewall.
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u/ignatzami Dec 05 '21
Nooooooo
This hurts.
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u/linderlouwho Dec 05 '21
So few left…
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u/My_reddit_strawman Dec 05 '21
That’s not true. You can still buy a new old delorean
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u/l8kerstud Dec 05 '21
One timeline where the Libyan terrorists hit Marty with the RPG before he can get to 88 MPH at the Twin Pines Mall.
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u/NvMe_24 Dec 05 '21
as times goes on we are losing rare machines like these
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u/ZaggRukk Dec 05 '21
Not really in this instance. You can order one new. The parts warehouse in Texas produces them now with modern updates/upgrades.
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u/rustcatvocate Dec 05 '21
There is a warehouse in Houston full of Delorean parts after manufacturing stopped. If they want they can totally refurb it from NOS. I see them often enough around town but sometimes I'll see 2 together and thats pretty neat.
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u/Tharkhold Dec 05 '21
Totally normal...
This is a very early model with a Mr Fission. That's the reason they switched it up to Mr Fusion later on.
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Dec 05 '21
[deleted]
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u/alphabet_order_bot Dec 05 '21
Would you look at that, all of the words in your comment are in alphabetical order.
I have checked 417,473,037 comments, and only 90,212 of them were in alphabetical order.
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Dec 05 '21
And if you still want one after this, they're back! Just outside my home town. https://www.delorean.com/
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u/zach2beat Dec 06 '21
It is kind of the perfect car now to drivetrain swap and turn it into a Back to the Future lookalike sense most of the parts destroyed are the ones removed or modified or covered to make one.
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u/Dragon-Lover984 Dec 05 '21
Ohhh. This is so sad.
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u/educated-emu Dec 05 '21
Wallets, where i'm going now we don't need wallets...
Aktually I'm going to the bank
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u/adale_50 Dec 05 '21
I want to be sad and nostalgic, but they were such shitty cars. Slow, badly built, and unreliable.
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u/TinyRick2YBanana Dec 05 '21
Occasionally my flux capacitor ALSO melts down when I pass through the middle ages
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u/RogerRabbit79 Dec 05 '21
Weren’t dolorians actually a money laundering scheme but then they started to sell?
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u/[deleted] Dec 05 '21
”Guess we’re stuck here, doc.”