Hi all,

Can anyone point me in the right direction for which rad to get for use in the race series? None of the ones i have collected so far seem up for the job and most don't fit very well in the nosecone.

Kind regards,

Darren

VW Polo or Nissan Micra rads seem to be popular (and reasonably priced) choices. Assuming the race regs let you fit 'em....

I'm running a pinto and fitted a capri rad which fits well in the mk nose and has a large capacity, and resonable price.

Is this for commercial research (ie now you've told me I'm going to corner the market in them and flog them on....) or are you finaly going to appear with a racing car Darren?

he he he

Early Polo rad is good as it is cheap new £40, very light, fits node cone and can handle engines up to 200bhp. I've got one fitted with a 10" electric fan and no probs last few days even sitting in traffic for long periods.

Here's a question. is there some kind of rating of cooling capacity for radiators? Presumably some cool more than others but I don't know how to find out.

I'm a bit paranoid about getting enough cooling for our V8. I doubt the standard SD1 radiator would fit in.

I think you'r not allowed to use 'Aluminium' cored rads for the race series. I think dave might correct me on this

Jason

There is indeed a loophole in the regs Mr Deckman......radiators constructed soley of aluminium are banned but almost every production car radiator has one or two plastic bits.........

Blueshift :- yes there is but you'll never find any published figures for it, for my degree disertation type thing I tested a few and early VW Golf ones seemed to come out by far the best - only just fit under a Locost nosecone but they do with a bit of fiddling, add a decent set of silicone hoses and a header tank and the setup should do the job easily.

Cheers

Dave

quote:

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Originally posted by macspeedy I'm running a pinto and fitted a capri rad which fits well in the mk nose and has a large capacity, and resonable price.

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Nice one Dave. Is it a width thing? cos we're building ours +4.

I expect I'll learn about hoses at some point.. a header tank is the expansion tank thing, right? that water goes into and gets sucked out of?

oh, also do you have any year / model specifics on "early golf ones"? ta!

[Edited on 22/7/03 by blueshift]

Blueshift: yeah it's mostly a width thing, with a standard sized car the top corners of the rad tend to be a bit tight under the nosecone - but shouldn't be a problem with a wider car, the other slight fiddle is getting the bottom hose on but it can be done. Bear in mind that if there is a big gap around the radiator in the nosecone the air will go round rather than through the rad so some kind of baffle might be needed

The ones I've used in the past have been from MK1 or 2 Golfs (I think the same radiator was fitted to all engine sizes, not a VW expert though so don't quote me on it!) but there are loads of similar ones in other makes and models. In an ideal world I'd start making friends with a small local vehicle dismantler to the point where they'll let you rummage round their store room, they normally have a stack of suitable old radiators. What I'd look for is one with dense aluminium fins and top and bottom hoses at the top and bottom of the same side. Oh and if the tubes the hoses fit over are made of plastic it's a good idea to reinforce them with a length of tight fitting ally or copper tube tapped down them otherwise they can collapse when you tighten the jubilee clips on the hoses.

No, you're talking about an expansion tank - a header tank is a remotely mounted version of the bit at the top of the radiator with the pressure/radiator cap. You'll find that a lot of modernish car rads dont have a radiator cap actualy on the radiator which is why they need a header tank to
a. fill the cooling system
b. pressurise the cooling system

It's not a good idea to get them mixed up - or end up with more than one pressure cap btw oh and you need to get the plumbing in the right order as well.............

Thanks, things getting every more complicated. as usual.

I'll just focus on that good tip about the VW radiators, and try not to worry about the fiddlier details of the plumbing yet.

ah, now I'm happy