Re: Thermostat/Oil Cooler (long... but maybe useful...)

[JaransonT3@aol.com]

I gotta agree with Jim on the cost of magnesium.  I don't have the latest 
numbers, but I will try to get them at work tomorrow.  However, the basic 
rules of thumb are:

Iron - Cheapest, but heavy
Steel - Cheap (25 to 45 cents per pound) but still pretty heavy.
Aluminum - about 50% lighter than steel for the same stiffness, but somewhere 
between $1and $2 per pound.  So even at half the weight it is still more 
expensive.
Magnesium - lighter still, but even more expensive.

Believe me, if magnesium was "dirt cheap", there would be a whole lot more of 
it in cars today.  It is lightweight and has a very high specific stiffness.  
It is more brittle, but that can be designed around.  Ford is investing lots 
of money in mining operations in Australia to try to reduce and stabilize the 
cost of magnesium.  We would like ot use more of it......it is just too 
expensive right now.

And I doubt that the economics of producing these materials was significantly 
different in the 40s, 50s, 60s, and 70s than it is today.  If anything 
aluminum and magnesium are more competitively priced.

Later,
John Jaranson
'71 FI Auto Fasty (Jane)
'66 Square (???)
about half a Late Square (Organ Donor)
http://hometown.aol.com/jaransonT3

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