PT Hydraulic Oil Temperature

[duane]

One of the design changes I have been contemplating for a while is the installation of a shroud within the PT hood. A while back I calculated the heat removal capacity of the hydraulic radiator on the PT. It has more than ample capacity (in addition to the heat rejection from the metal hydraulic reservoir) to remove the heat input such that the fan should cycle on and off in temps upto about 80F, even when working it hard. What happens is the hydraulic fan pulls engine and exhaust heat up through the cooler. (It works great in the winter since it heats up the oil prior to the fan coming on.)

The shroud would just be a flat piece of sheet metal bolted within the hood cage. It would extend from the top rear and slant down to end about mid point of the air cleaner cover. This would force the muffler heat and engine cooling fan exhaust out the side/rear of the hood and the hydraulic fan to pull in cool air from the front of the hood. The new exhaust design from PT probably helps somewhat, but I think this would help significantly. (At least on the 400 series, not sure about the 1400 or 1800 series)

Can't help but think of summer with this long winter. What do think! /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

Duane

 

[Charlie_Iliff]

A really nice byproduct of that mod might be to reduce the collection of dust and chaff in the engine compartment.
Has anyone mounted a hydraulic fluid temp gauge to monitor what is actually going on?

 

[Bob999]

Ideally fresh,clean and "cool" external air will be drawn in to supply engine cooling, engine combustion air, and hydraulic cooling. Exhaust gases, hot hydraulic cooling air, and hot engine cooling air should be vented to the outside in such a way that they do not mix with the external air supply being drawn in. As I understand the present design of the PT, only the design of exhaust of the hydraulic cooler really meets the "ideal".

Charlie Iliff has reported on problems caused by incoming air not being clean. I can't help but wonder if engine performance is affected by the elevated temperatures of incoming combustion air that I would think result from the current design.

It appears that your plan would also result in lower temperature combustion air and could result in better performance on hot days.