easily proved.
take your grandmas 1985 buick, remove tstat, let idle till it melts.
Actually, I had a 1977 Olds Delta88 with a t-stat stuck wide open. It never overheated, but took a half-hour to push heat into the cabin in winter.
I didn't see the other parts of this thread, woops. I just always respond in that way when people say slower flow is better since outlet temp is lower. I'm not saying that no t-stat helps. In fact, with the pontiac 400 we raced, we tried washers with different sized holes. They actually did help, but that's because the entire system was running balls-out the whole time. With nothing, it would be too hot on the track, then get too cold in the pits. The driver had the most accurate butt dyno I've ever known, but it was also proven with stop watches. The t-stat's MAIN job is to keep ECT's at 170-200F, which is idea for power production.
In this case, the rad thickness may be an issue. With no ducting, the higher pressure drop (air flow) through the rad, combined with the slower water flow inside it, can actually recuce it's efficiency VS a thiner OEM dual core. The best rad we had for that pontiac 400 was a quad-core full width that had 2/3 of the last row brazed shut. A collision pushed the steel fan into a new radiator, chopping it up. When another failed, we tosed it in since they were on backorder. With less pressure drop and faster coolant speed in the rad, it worked better.
hiprofile you're missing a key point.
the tstat will close, and stop the flow. letting it sit in the radiator. tstats DO CLOSE while you're driving. it would not be flowing at this point, it would be sitting.
The tstat closes, but not 100%. There's the tiny weep hool to prevent cavitation when shut, as well as help remove air pockets in front of the closed t-stat. When they do close, it's because the coolant has cooled down below the t-stat's thermospring temp. Once the coolant heats up, it starts to open again.
My only guess with the Jeep thing is it had such poorly designed water passages, that the fast water speed bypassed large parts of the coolant system. If you look at the Honda headgaskets, and many other cylinder heads, you'll see the holes are smaller near the water pump. It's both due to rising ect's and pressure drop. Put a water hose in a bucket near the side. Full-blast it creates a vortex, and there's not much movement inthe middle. Put it in the middle, and everything moves.
So if you see my perspective, if the coolant system is designed properly with equal flow and pressure drop in mind, you can keep raising flow and keep removing more btu's of heat.
Design anything wrong, and many proven theories get tossed out the window.[/b]
no experience ass clowns = you = wrong.
Read my info with teh ponticrap 400. I have experience, but not with some failure Chrysler product.