Chain Heat Testing

[standfast]

The video doesn't show much. I had to put the camera down to finish. It is more to show the burnt chain since I had it handy. Motor was cooled down since I hand to let the chains start from ambient. It was full hot by the end of the test though. If you are talking about the heat going through the shaft into the sprocket and out to the chain, I doubt that is the case. The drive sprocket was cooler than the chain while running.

You could see the heat of the sprocket vs the chain above it. The more red the color on the IR the hotter it is. This shot was taken right after I shut it off to check that.

The chain itself is creating the majority of the heat and is the main issue. The chain itself is heating up the sprockets IMO. This could be easily tested by pulling the chain off and running the motor for the same period of time at the same speed.

The sprockets were a lot hotter at the tips where it touched the chain too. It got cooler as it went to the center.

[nutz4sand]

I know the chains likely to be hotter than the sprockets. But I have tried to change sprockets before on a hot motor and the nut and the nut keeper were to hot to hold for long. Its all heat adding up.

I would imagine on the front sprocket you have it coming at it from both ends. The chain and the motor.

Still the pictures do show an interesting story. Be neat if there was an easy way to load the system and see how much different. Know anyone with a dyno?

[Gene]

I wonder how the gear driven STAK4x4 project is coming along or if the enclosed Quaife might be a solution for the heat problem.

Very interesting data on chain temps. How warm was the 40 psi air you were blowing? Would ambient air improve temp?

Arrowhead is using the bilge blower and I'm guessing that the air temperature is lower than what come out of your compressor. Why not try a bilge blower just to prove it one way or the other?

[arrowhead]

I'm telling youse guys the blower works!

My chain is worn out now but it went 950 miles at Glamis 40 miles at a time at an average of 25 mph

Before I installed the blower my chain was blue and the Orings crisp (36 pin 630 chain)

And if I really want a cold chain I just stick the Honda in 5th and the chain barely rolls around

Dale

[chopshop]

Since we are talking about chain heat. I would like to share my picture. This is a RK 530 o ring chain. Close to 400 miles in sand. 16 tooth counter 18 on diff. Never lubed and I actually wipe most of the new lube of the new chain with solvent. I hate having to clean that spatter grease off.

My point is it and my other chains turn color at no particular spot. As you can see the rivet type master link is semi clean. It will turn in different spots with no pattern.

Also Standfast. I am pretty sure when you run your RPM box in neautral that input shaft is not getting any gear oil what so ever. So caution.

[bdkw1]

Originally Posted by chopshop

My point is it and my other chains turn color at no particular spot.

Now thats just plain old freaky.

[standfast]

Chopshop, the gear box is full to the plug so the gear is running in oil. I felt inside and felt the gear spinning with a piece of wire while turning the chain by hand. Its slingin oil like crazy in there still. Also, you might want to give a 630 a try on your car.

I did some more testing tonight.

I started by running the car as I always did again at the same speed (60mph). I let it run for nearly 20 minutes like that. It peaked around 215 degrees but averaged 210 or so. It doesn't continues to build heat past that point. The article posted by damien suggested that O-rings start to break down at 200 degrees. I wanted to see what it would do past 5 minutes and it didn't seem to climb anymore.

Next I took the sprocket cover off, put a tab over the end of the clutch pushrod so it wouldn't shoot out and ran it again. Without the cover on it ran at 190 degrees to my surprise. Nearly 20 degree difference? WTF? Tried it again... same thing. I am measuring the chain in the same place for consistency on all these tests BTW.


Next I took a stock busa rad fan and pulled the cage off it so it would push air properly. I mounted it (rigged it) at the CS sprocket and wired it up. It pushed a decent amount of air for a small fan. Ran the test again and it only got to 170 degree average and stabilized there. Tried it again, same thing!!! Damn this just might work.

Now I want to add another fan (i have another of the same busa fans) at the rear sprocket to see how much that helps. Then maybe by some fans will be mountable and build a shroud that is actually ducting the air properly. This forced air cooling is starting to look up a bit. I am glad I stuck with it and tried this out. I was kinda discouraged after the air compressor blower test. Or possibly try a bilge blower (not sure what will work better). How is your bilge blower setup arrowhead? You have any pics?

Here is some vid of the testing.

YouTube - chainplay 2

Some more cool shots.

Guess which is the masterlink.

Check out the heat coming out between the link plates. This was during the test with nothing done.

Cool shot of the chain bending on the top of the driven sprocket. If you notice in the video it does this on the bottom side of the drive sprocket too. Kinda interesting.

One thing I am a bit concerned about is the fact that the back side of the chain is not getting quite as much cooling. It is probably much much better than the fan not there but the cooling is probably a bit biased. Next test with the second fan I will test the other side of the chain if I can get a good view of it and see how it differs.

[arrowhead]

My 4" RULE blower moves a lot of air.

It's mounted off a cylinder head mount bolt and sits horizontal and I slipped a 14" piece of flex hose the exhaust cause that's the way it was designed to do and it turns down at a 90 and I squashed the end into an elipse and it actually touches the drive side of the chain run.

Not pretty but it really works. I was so paranoid last winter that I checked the temp every time we stopped and it was never too hot to touch

Dale

[yoshi]

Originally Posted by arrowhead

My 4" RULE blower moves a lot of air.

It's mounted off a cylinder head mount bolt and sits horizontal and I slipped a 14" piece of flex hose the exhaust cause that's the way it was designed to do and it turns down at a 90 and I squashed the end into an elipse and it actually touches the drive side of the chain run.

Not pretty but it really works. I was so paranoid last winter that I checked the temp every time we stopped and it was never too hot to touch

Dale

I did some research on your fan a while back, was around 140cfm I believe? I found some SPAL fans that have sealed motors, and the 4" fan pushed like 150 cfm. I'm gonna make my own clutch cover and mount the fan directly to the cover to get the most direct hit on the front sprocket. I'm also leaning toward making the cover longer at the back so I can mount a 5.2" fan on there, and hit more of the chain, the price difference between the 4" fans and the 5.2" fans is minimal, and the 5.2 puts out 313cfm..

[standfast]

Originally Posted by yoshi

I did some research on your fan a while back, was around 140cfm I believe? I found some SPAL fans that have sealed motors, and the 4" fan pushed like 150 cfm. I'm gonna make my own clutch cover and mount the fan directly to the cover to get the most direct hit on the front sprocket. I'm also leaning toward making the cover longer at the back so I can mount a 5.2" fan on there, and hit more of the chain, the price difference between the 4" fans and the 5.2" fans is minimal, and the 5.2 puts out 313cfm..

This 4" rule bilge blower does 235 CFM. Rule 240 4'' Inline Blower - Blowers

The have different ones pushing different amounts. Which one are you using there Dale?
Blowers - Plumbing/Ventilation

Yoshi, I am a bit concerened about the chain only getting cooling on the outside plates with a fan like I tested with. I am gonna check the inners tonight. I didn't think about checking that last night.