Having heard of the problems with over heating on track nosed modifieds, it got me thinking proactive on the Hoodlum.I've ran the cars heater to cool a hot engine more than once in my life. If I install a bus heater core that I can stack in front of the radiator will it help with cooling? There is enough room and it is a large core. It would increase the coolant capacity and cooling surface. The fan is well shrouded. Is there a down side?
maybe run it away from the radiator, underneath or toward the back??? all it has to do is shed heat, right?
I would try to keep it out of the direct airflow of the radiator. Some shrouding in your nose to make sure you are forcing all the air into the radiator. Good luck!
The track nose overheating issue is almost always due to restricted air flow and not cooling system capacity. Adding a second radiator in front of the main one would just hinder the air flow more. Having that bus heater under the back of the car with it's own electric fan would work better. And I am another one who has kicked on the heater blower to help bring the temp back down on an engine in traffic especially when towing.
Agreed, plumb it out back and get it out of the way of the main radiator. Having two hot radiators right next to each other doesn't do much to help either cool the engine. BTW, Xderelict, how about an update on that little buggy? *****in little thing...
Agree with the above.... The reason turning on the heater helps is that you are using another separate source to cool the coolant. If you stick the core in front of the radiator, not only are you using the same source of air flow for both but your making it less efficient because your robbing the radiator of air flow. To maximize...you may consider running thin wall pipe back to a smaller radiator via hoses then pipe back up front. If you have decent air flow to the back radiator you may not need a fan. The piping and the second radiator with good air flow will dissipate a large amount of heat. Good luck ****....can't wait to see it again!
Real world answer to my original question.Yes the Hoodlum runs cooler with a bus heater core stacked in front of the radiator.In 90 degree weather on just the radiator it ran to 240.With the heater core it runs at 205.The fan pulls hard enough to hold a piece of cardbord to the heater core.You can feel the temperatures hotter on the intake hose side then the outlet hose side of the core.It increased the volume of water from 2 gallons to 3 gallons.
If you have room for that much more core, you'd be better off making one radiator that is that much thicker. You are pre-heating the air going into the main rad with this setup, reducing overall effectiveness.
At $800.00 or more to build it bigger,I'll go with whats working.If the engine is running 25 degrees cooler I'm not buying it's reducing overall effectiveness.
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