How Air Cooled Engines Work: An Idiot's guide to Luftgekühlt - 1988 Porsche 911 Carrera 3.2L 

What's your favorite aircooler, and would you spend the money on a Singer for the modern aircooled experience if you could? And don’t miss the end 😂

Got my German lesson for the day. Danke

Dude the 911 is so badass. Also great internet video 👍

One of the other reasons Porsche ultimately had to move to water cooled engines was the relative amount of noise produced by air-cooled engines. New regulations were coming into effect and in order to raise the performance level of the air-cooled 911 engine it would have to create even more noise. Water cooled engines benefit from water jackets that help deaden engine noise. Not that the GT3 is in any way quiet under acceleration. Great video.

Dude this was actually a very well done video. I've always loved porsches and as the new owner of a 02 Boxster S I realized "maybe I should learn how air cooled porsches work"

The perfect stall (4:46), it's the most satisfying disappointment i can think of.

I really enjoyed this video. I had no idea how Porsche did aircooled engines. Also the short random cuts in between explanations make it funny😂

My favorite air-cooler is the 993 Turbo, such an amazing machine, still quite fast today. The problem with air-cooled engines is more about emissions than power. While it's true that one will need more money to make more power out of an air-cooled engine, emissions will always be the issue. A turbocharged air-cooled flat-6 engine will happily churn out 500, 600 even 700 horsepower with ease. Powerwise, where it gets difficult is with the naturally aspirated engines, where the use of 4 valves per cylinder isn't possible in an air-cooled engine (there's no way of cooling the center of a 4 valve head). Otherwise, they are amazing pieces of engineering, full of character and a symphony of great mechanical noises, especially when compared to a water-cooled lump.

Engineering class with Tedward! Now THIS is the kind of curriculum I wish we covered in my heat transfer and thermodynamics classes!😭😭

I’ve searched RU-vid, I’ve spoken to many many Porsche owners and knowone could even come close to explaining this concept as good as you did!! Thank you so much!!!

"An idiot's guide" yup thats me

Awesome video man, keep doing these informative videos for the air cooled 911's. I am in love with them, and I am sad that the values have went up so far in the last 8 years, and also how expensive a top end rebuild can be, because I would have went with a 993 manual C2 instead of the 991.2 C2 manual. I do love the modern amenities as well as the modern performance the new 3.0L turbo engines have. It is a toss up but there is no doubt which one has more character and also more cool factor.

That perfect stall was hilarious 😂

Awesome video I learned a thing or two. Yes if money was no option I would definitely purchase a Singer Porsche, no question. Their philosophy and attention to detail is like no other.

A lot of my non car guys friends seem to think aircooled means you just hope it doesn't get too hot. They don't understand the engineering behind an aircooled system.

I love air cooled Porsches, especially the G model 911 turbo. beautiful sound, gorgeous to look at, and my personal dream car. I can’t drive yet, but I love wrenching on cars and anything that moves and I would love to get a cheap one of those to fix up as my own project!

Danke! I love how tbe front bumper looks on these, the front extended part after the hood

So Simply explained thanks a lot! My basic knowledge of light aircraft helps a bit too, they love an air cooled boxer 6

this made me feel better about us using water cooled, thanks

Good discussion. Thanks for taking it on.

Great video, even clearing up questions I never had. I still wonder about the airflow in air cooled 911s though. I imagine it to be very ineffective the way the visible openings are placed and also the direction in which the fan blow the air. Maybe a topic for another interesting video.

Love the humor in your videos.

So well explained…Thank you!!

The singing of the transmission, love it!

"Luft kocht niemals über." ("Air never boils") - German proverb

Awesome video! Incredibly helpful. If you had a preference for a weekend drive, is it the 911 or the E92?

Nice explanation!

Thanks for making this Vid- What type of ramps are those? Cheers

You forgot “oh, and the aircooled cars happen to look soooo much better”

I have a 1987 Porsche 911 - this was very informative and well done. I love the writing and how approachable your content is. Is it just me? Or are your Speedo and Tachometer rotated 90 degrees counter-clockwise? I think I have seen this on a few cars now at this point. Is it just a matter of visual preference? Or is there more to it?

Gorgeous 911, i'm jelly

Great video 👍🏼

Yup... And then there is reliability... Most of the issues we have had with the 996tt have been with the cooling system... That thing is so pissed that it is water cooled... But, fuel economy, European noise regs, and going to four valves kinda did in the air cooled. But it sounds cool! Especially the 3.2. The fan is different in the 993 and the curved blades are to reduce noise (mostly). The water dampens the brightness of the sound as well. Still that GT3 sound is just about perfect! Glad to see you are well :) F

Where are those ramps from? They look nice!

ngl i kinda miss the sass of these older videos, almost SuperFastMatt type humor but less deadly 😂

What happened to those bumpers? Is the AC pump missing or is it a non AC car? Are you putting back the square rear mirrors ?

I have a Porsche air cooled flat 6 on my work bench right now ready to be assembled. I've done lots of American engines and they are all similar, so I decided to see what makes the Porsche tick. It's a really spectacular engine to say the least and I can't believe it was designed in the early 60's. Really on that engine high pressure oil is precisely delivered to exactly where it's needed and there's lots of oil to disperse this heat. And more thermostats, bypass valves, and cool tricks moving that oil around than you can throw a stick at. The engine is also super strong with 8 main bearings holding a 6 cylinder crank. Super strong and no wonder why that bottom end lived on for may more years. The other piece of the puzzle was the development of Nikasil and later Alusil allowing better heat dissipation and made the engine displacement increases in the 70's possible. It's a true engineering marvel and the simplicity is very appreciated now given the complex world of modern engines.

The big problem with air cooled is that in order to allow for the thermal expansion that you would see on a 100F day wide open throttle type event, you have to have a piston, and more importantly ring-pack that are undersized/ opened gap to tolerate the heat swelling without interference. As a consequence, there is more blowby...an order of magnitude more blowby.

Those notes around the 7:00 mark made my weenie stiffen up a bit

Disrespectin the drive since 2003, nah just kiddin. Unless... Keep up the good work man seeing those subs go up is awesome :)

great education thank you

I know this is an old post - but can I ask where you purchased those ramps?? Anybody know?

My father had a '68 Beetle when I was a kid in the 80's. Not super refined. The engine had that loud sputter and that Beetle was rock solid dependable. The Beetle's engine was a dry run for the 911's flat six, correct?

Very informative. What do you think will be your next Porsche? You certainly have driven quite a few!

Great video. Thanks. We’re you able to determine where you got those ramps from?

Tedward Engineers! Crazy that Porsche was building air cooled engines until 1998.

Where did you get bumper from?

Any particular reason you do not run a radar detector in any of your cars?

Just curious. Why is your tachometer gauge tilted? 😅

That’s a cracking car they are a sensory delight!

where is the brake light located?

Just droped off my BMW at the mechanic. Coolant leak. Never had that issue in 31 years of air cooled 911 ownership. Second time in years for that BMW, but second time. Meanwhile my mother is coming over to pick me up in her 993. We own many cars, almost all water cooled, but when all else fails it's the 993 and 930 that are the most dependable. Mostly by virtue of air cooling. In fact, if I wanted to build a family car to travel from Paris to Beijing, or from Dallas to Tierra del Fuego, it would be a VW bus with a 993 or 964 air cooled motor. I give not a crap about eekikg out a little more power. It's hammer simplicity and durability I crave.

Very nice video. WARNING: if your fan quits on your air cooled Porsche, turn off the engine immediately! The oil cooling function will not keep your engine's temperature at operational level and you will quickly cook (ruin) your engine. The air cooled Porsche is NOT an oil cooled engine. It is true that oil plays a limited roll - very limited - in keeping all engines cool regardless of whether they are air or liquid cooled. Why might the fan stop on an air cooled Porsche? 1. broken fan belt; 2. the alternator, which the fan is bolted to, seizes and stops turning. How will you know if your fan quits? Your alternator dash light will come on and your temperature gauge will climb rapidly.

Oil cooling is critical for air cooling also. Just look at the old radial airplane engines, with all that oil in the crankcase.

Dope, Dude.

I was born in 1951 and while I was growing up one the most popular air cooled engine cars was the Volkswagen Beetle.

Another aspect is piston rings are designed to be run at a controlled engine temperature to minimize blowby and friction. With a watercooled engine you can have pistonrings matched for the running engine temp. If the engine is to cold or to hot this gets bad. Whereas aircooled you don't have this level of control, meaning more blowby and more bore wear.

that explanation was wicked pissa! Thanks Bro

Very interesting. I owned a 993 for a couple of years and loved the sound, and the design (oh,and the ride and especially the brakes. My God the brakes on a 911 is pure porno). I never got used to the 996 and later interior, less sloped windshield and getting rid of the classic Porsche gauges. Currently though, I am looking at buying a nice e92 M3. Would you recommend it, even if you consider a 997S?

So do all air cooled engines have an oil cooler

Who makes those ramps??

Didn’t the Ruf Yellowbird have watercooled cylinderheads like the 959? Nothing in this video I didn’t know yet, but very entertaining to watch. Thx!

I love the 993

nice video!

Why is your tach sideways? Seen a couple people do this

Please, can you help me with a doubt? Is it possible to overheat a VW type 1 engine? Let me explain this, a few time ago I made some repair and lightly oversized one of these engines. But, in a highway test that I made smoke began to come out from the engine compartment and then it stops. Later in the same day the engine starts again like if nothing happened. What happened there? I just don't understand! And the only thing that makes me doubt is a thermostat placed below the cylinders that controls the opening of the air passages of the air turbine. Please, can you help me?

Can we assume air cooled engines are less likely to fail? They look less complicated compared to water cooled cars where you have to have a water jacket that is water proof, water pump, timing belt, radiator...etc.

The oil cooling contribution is more than you think. Some say more than air. It kind of depends how fast you are moving and which year. Race cars are more oil cooled than air for sure and they make plenty of power.

I think going turbo is a bigger deal than going water cooled. I mean sorry but if you if you put a water cooled engine in this old car, would it be any less good?

My 1970 914-6 had great heat w/ no A/C. My 1980 911 SC had great heat w/ asthmatic A/C. However, my 1999 911 996 has GREAT A/C w/ questionable heating abilities. Heating due to the foam deterioration on the control panel doors in the dash.

Is the air used for the air cooled engine atmospheric or cooled by a heat exchanger?

Dude! I love you Man!

Don't forget the other Luftgekuhlt Porsche, the 914......the redheaded stepchild!

So, aircooled engines needs an “extra” fuel to helps cool the system. Thats why is not appropriate runs with lean a/f ratio.

Love my 993 but a singer YEAH

How does the air cooling work in trafic or low speeds ? Aren't the cars affected by that ?

@2:40 scared the life outta me

2:39 scared the crap outta me, i had headphones on

It’s crazy too, even with regular engine we are at climax of our engineering for fuel and diesel. Electric cars are so stupidly fast the taycann. I’m the kind of driver that likes the ride rather then the speed. 997 are great. The water cooled engine.

Thanks

Neat! TIL

Just guessing: Power to weight. If you can get more power by switching to wasser, do it. And Porsche did.

Geez your property is insanely beautiful

I dig the aluminum ramps.

Couldn’t it maybe have worked if they put more fans or maybe bigger fans if they could manage to make room for it

Thumbs up for past participle!

The front plate on your 911, it hurts my soul ;-)

1:19 I almost shat myself

I hate to disagree with you, but we had Porsches in the 80s making 400 and 500 horsepower, also it's sort of sad that emissions killed off to very great engines, air-cooled and rotaries

Are these Bird-Style air cooled Porsches quick on the highway too?

Nice Corrado :P Is it yours ? I do have one that I'm parting out. Let me know if you're looking for parts.

The name is pronounced "roof" and the car was and is still reliable, the original "Yellow Bird" is still driving today.

Good story..thanks

But what makes an air cooled engine more appealing?

Did you used to have a 993? Asking because the license plate

Wouldn't putting the engine on the front provide better cooling

Every time I see a video featuring your lovely 911, I think I hate you a little bit more... it’s all pure jealousy, envy, nothing else😂. I cannot seem to help it. You Lucky bastard!

Yep I still want one haha.

You should do your next video dressed as Ferrari 360 Man...

I made the same noise watching the video as I did in the video 😂