Early Volvos - the 544 series and some later - had a wind block built
into the vehicle so that from inside the car you could raise and lower
the wind block to deal with extreme cold air across the radiator and
through to the engine. Not sure when they dropped it on cars coming into
the US.

John R

On 1/25/2013 2:37 PM, Dave Mcneely wrote:
> Jack, actually, you did post to the group.  Your description of the thermostat being able to modulate, and open just the right amount?  Whenever I've tested one in a pot of water on a stove, it opened fully as the water heated, but as it cooled, it closed slowly, as if it might be doing as you suggested.  Maybe I got it too hot too fast for that phenomenon to fully reveal itself on the way up, but the cool down was more gradual.
>
> But, I have had the experience of very low temperatures and high speeds keeping the temperature down on more than one vehicle.  My father's '53 Chevy had to have a wind block whenever the temperature was below about 10 F.  My camper benefits if the temperature is around 0 F or colder, when driven at highway speed but is ok without it at town speeds.  I don't think automotive thermostat technology has changed much if at all since the fifties.
>
> Just my 2 cents, and probably worth what you paid me.
>
> mcneely
>
> ---- Rocket J Squirrel <camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>> Hi Scott -- before I pester the group with a question that might be
>> common knowlege, I figure I could pester you with it first?
>>
>> People write about putting cardboard in front of the radiator. I think,
>> "I don't get it. The thermostat isn't an on-off switch, doesn't it open
>> just as much as needed to keep the coolant at the right temperature? If
>> the coolant coming back from the radiator is darn cold, won't the
>> thermostat just crack open a bit?"
>>
>> Or maybe it does a poor job regulating temperature when it has to do
>> that "crack open a little bit" thing.
>>
>> --
>> Jack "Rocket j Squirrel" Elliott
>> 1984 Westfalia, auto trans,
>> Bend, Ore.
>
> --
> David McNeely
>