I've just been thinking about pitfalls resulting from placing engines designed for FWD cars into mid-mount positions. In particular the potential problem of late thermostat opening as a result of the long cooling pipe runs, or even the opening and then prompt re-closing of the thermostat as it is hit with cold water from the radiator. This is a known problem with the K series in the elise and MGF for example, which can suffer high thermal stress in the engine and blown head gaskets, annealed heads, etc. Rover solved this with a thermostat which opened with pressure as well as temp (i.e. opened at high revs). Does anyone know of any similar problems with the honda K20A? Afterall we have the same layout with the thermostat on the cold return line - great for quick warmup in a front engine layout but not really intended for mid-mount where the "system" coolant capacity is probably a lot higher than the engine capacity.
Discussion of the issue in Rovers here:
http://www.lame-delegation.de/mgf-ne...ystem_Mods.htm
I don't really want to risk screwing up the head so I'm considering working up a remote thermostat arrangement near the head outlet of my honda to replace the existing inlet thermostat. Anyone have any thoughts or done anything similar?
Richard