Water cooled vs Air cooled

[werty]

My friend has this minibike with a small 7hp engine, that runs very hot, and was wondering wether or not he should change it from air cooled to water cooled. He asked me if it would be better for the engine and i had no idea.

Can anyone help us out here...


oh and the reason why it runs soo hot is because he mixes lighter fluid with the gas....the engine was inexpensive..so he doesn't care if it ruins it...and it actually goes faster with the lighter fluid mix

crazy kid...but man is that thing fun to ride...goes about 45mph

[GTR Dreamer]

damn bro, lighter fluid with the fuel, i might try that in my sisters car
i amagine that water would be easier 2 cool, but i suppose you could try other things like heat wrapping and stuff.but good luck anyways.

[fpv_gtho]

stick with the air cooled, its alot simpler to manage than air cooled. with the air cooled engine youve also got the risk of denting or putting a hole in the radiator.

[SilverArrowZ]

liquid nitrogen cooling w00t!!

ok just kidding. anyway if you continue with the air cooling (and the prob), do the engine got good airflow? i mean does the engine got enough cool air? no point having an air cooling system where no fresh air going in, its like a computer chasis without cooling fan and holes. You tried directing more air towards the engine?

[Matra et Alpine]

It would be hard to convert an air-cooled engine to water-cooled, replacing it for another engine would be best !!
But, if he's goning to run ultra-rich fuels then he'll STILL overheat the barrels

If he wants somethign faster then sell it and but a bigger one.
Also, the valves will burn farily quickly. The cyclinder temp is going to have huge hot spots and the valces WILL brun pretty soon. If you go with higer temp combustion fuel then you need to convert to Sodium-valves to cope with the temps.

He's had fun, now it's getting serious - do it right