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Original Message
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| RE: El Mongo radiator - worth the trouble? |
| By Gerry Proctor - 03/27/2006 7:43:41 AM; IP 137.242.1.15 |
It's nice to have excess cooling capacity. If the rest of the cooling system is in shape, you could probably keep the engine from overheating even in a traffic jamb in Hell. But do you really need it? And, as you've already discovered, there's a weight penalty that comes with that extra capacity. If you don't mind carrying the extra weight, then you don't have a problem.
Thick radiators do inhibit air flow, but to what extent that affects cooling depends on the radiator's fin construction. Very tight fins tend not to cool the rear tubes very well. You find very tight fins in pavement circle track radiators. And here, they add thickness (or tubes) only to the extent that they are effective. Factory radiators use a fairly loose pack. Dirtrack cars use a very loose pack so that dirt and debris don't clog the fins. You won't have a flow problem with a factory four-core radiator.
The fan should be no closer than about an two inches from the radiator. There is no benefit to having it closer and having it closer opens up a lot of opporunity for you to have fan to radiator contct. A shroud is a very good idea if you can fit one. The blades of the fan should be about half way inside the shroud. Running a shroud allows you to put the fan far away from the radiator and to pull air from the entire cooling surface of the radiator.
Radiators are an engineered product whether it's being done by a race team or the factory. Engineers know how much heat an engine makes in all driving conditions. All you need to do is to use a radiator that has sufficient BTU characteristics to handle that heat. If it's done right with a good margin of excess cooling capacity, an engine will not exceed the thermostat opening temperature and will be easy to keep at operating temperature regardless of the situation.
In your case, it does appear that you are well in excess of what you need, but if it's working for you then so be it. |
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