Radiator Angle

[st3v3nw]

Does anyone know how much of the radiators efficiency is wasted by mounting it at 45 degrees like RHSC suggest?

also what is the smallest radiator that you could fit that would have, if any, the same efficency due to it being mounted vertically and closer to the front grille.

cheers in advance for the tips

 

steven

[Guest Phil in Cheshire]

Hi Steven

 

Kevin (spannerman) has a mini rad mounted verticaly and i have never heard him complain of overheating.

 

Phil

[Big Jim]

Kevin (spannerman) has a mini rad mounted verticaly and i have never heard him complain of overheating

you're right, but it's not been used in anger yet, lets see how it goes in the heat of the summer in France. I hope that it's fine, he's made a good job of putting it in.

 

another one is a VW Polo rad, twin cored ally job. It goes into a 'silding pillar 2B' see here! but check it first for the wishy chassis. (it should fit)

[Guest TerryBarry]

One way of improving things is to fit a duct that forces the air through, rather than over the angled radiator. ( there's a good pic of one on the NW site)

The new 2B/4 has a bigger radiator - again mounted at an angle

See attached photo of the car at Detling.

Terry

[Guest Ant]

The trouble with angling them is that they act as an aerofoil and push the air over them rather than forcing it through. Vertically is better, but it's always going to be a compromise.

 

My pinto has a RHE double cored (standard issue) rad. It survived an endless queue on the M1 last summer on the hottest day in UK history. Fuel vapourised and caused a few problems, but the cooling was fine.

 

Ant

[st3v3nw]

thanks for the replies lads,

im going to have a scour round the scrappys and see what i can find that will fit up front and vertical. i forgot to mention that im fitting a vauxhall 2l 16v but i dont know whether that makes any difference as it is still the same size as a pinto.

steven

[Guest Ant]

Just thought of another issue. Coolant volume plays a significant part in this. More coolant takes longer to get around the system. The engine contains a fixed volume of coolant so increasing the volume means that the coolant spends more time away from the engine, and hence cooling down. This is why double cored radiators are better than single cored ones even though they have the same frontal area, and hence the same air flow. Double cored also means they're thicker so the air has more time for the heat transfer to take place before it leaves the radiator.

 

Ant

[Guest markh]

On Ants last note this would be the case, my 3a has two rads fitted one in front of the fan verticle and another at 45 degrees in the nose cone never had any probs with overheating and only have normal fan on engine.Can only put it down to the amount of water in the system.

 

mark

[Guest boggie]

I managed to get hold of a one-off fabricated aluminium triple cored, high capacity Mini rad from ebay! It has the manufacturers name on so if you are interested I could take the nose off and tell you where it came from. It's tiny when compared to the RHE rad so fits well within the nose. I was concerned that it may not be good enough for a highly tuned Pinto (maybe fitting nitros soon!) but the guy told me that it was built for a 230 bhp turbocharged Mini (but never used due to writing the car off before the rad arrived) so should be able to cope well - haven't tried it yet but it looks the dogs!

Boggie

[steve in stockport]

i'm experimenting with a seat marbella radiator at the moment, fits vertical right at the front of the chassis on a wishbone 2b,it's a two core aluminium job, the connections are the same size as the sierra and in roughly the right places.

got it fastened to a nissan micra expansion bottle and i'm tryin to find a front mounted fan to blow through it.

this set up will give me shed loads of room between the rear of the rad and the engine for other odds and sods - will keep you posted with how I get on.

 

steve

[Big Jim]

Try a Citreon BX fan (there's 2 on each car)

And I'd be interested in some photo's of it all when done.

 

PM me when you're ready, and I'll send you my e-mail address.

[Big Jim]

thanks for the photo's they are now on the "build tips" of our web site Just here in fact!