A radiator in the Fly?

I wouldn't say it will ruin the look, but it will take away from it a little bit.

I say do what ever you have too, to get the bugs worked out and you can always pull it off later.

I like the blue plexigl*** idea in the mean time.

Gus

 

I wonder how much cooling surface area a guy would have to get to cool one just at the track? Maybe do like some of the guys mentioned and have a small radiator or even just a ****** cooler with a pump circulating the water. That would have to be better than what I have now.

 

how much room between front of motor and crossmember? How about running a tank? Pump and 5 gallon tank would take quite awhile to heat up.

 

Maybe something like this?
http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?autofilter=1&part=DER-15820&N=700+115&autoview=sku

 

This is exactly what i was thinkin. Put it in to do your tuning and keep an eye on temps. And then take it out. Isn't it Dragonfly not Crusingfly.

 

Maybe a couple quick connects and a remote radiator on a cart or something to cool it down between rounds? Tag your battery with a couple clips to run a pump that is mounted by the radiator? Maybe a surge/overflow tank to get rid of any air?

And if you go on longer trips, you can hook it on the back like a trailer and get some longer hoses!

Must be Monday night, but I like the look of the car w/o a radiator.

 

What about an electric pump circulating water through a front mounted MOON style tank (3 gal ?). It is not going to cool it enough to cruise around but just the extra volume of water actually being circulated should be enough to help keep it kool at the drags. The nice thing about an electric pump is that you can still keep the water circulating after you kill the engine. Also, replacing the water in the MOON tank while the pump is circulating should be an effective way to bring the engine temp down quickly between rounds. A tank will look much more "natural" out front than a radiator and electric fan.

Just an idea?

BTW - you have a *****in' car! Looks like fun.

 

Stop being a Sally and put it up front where it belongs.

 

Race cars that don't run because they are too hot are lame

Hiding stuff on a car is lame, it is what it is and don't try to hide it.

Putting modern stuff on a car is lame.

Just go ahead and do what they did back in the day. Go grab the radiator out of some car, mount it up front, plumb it in and go racing. Do not run an electric pump and fan.

Dumping the water after every run is an option too. Just make sure whoever is dumping the water knows what the hell they are doing.

Or swap the pistons for some more compression and run methanol. I put an injector on the plymouth and was planning on trying a few different fuels this next summer ranging from methanol to ethanol to E-85. David

 

I seen somewhere where someone run the coolant through there boxed frame.......if I remember right it held like 23 gal. and never had a problem with overheating.

 

Actually this motor had an electric pump on it in the 60's. It was an inline style. Asa matter of fact, we were still using it with our quick disconnect cart last year. But, the car was a 36 Ford running c/gas with full fenders and a hood. The altereds really never ran radiators but all of the altereds had the same amount of cool down time between rounds.

 

Littleman's car ain't lame!

Root, your car looks TOUGH! I think a radiator up front would take away from it.

 

hehe - what he said leave the four wheeler/tow strap combo at home and drive it up to the line.I like the plexigl*** idea...

 

Put in a radiator, it will be even cooler than it is now!!

 

I am wanting to build a small trailer this winter to haul the car on. I have been looking at pics of the old single axle trailers trying to get some ideas. That way I wouldn't have to have that dang 4 wheeler.

 

From a pure useability angle there's nothing wrong with mounting the radiator up front. It is what it is. On the other hand you have a real unique, uncluttered look right now and that would be a hard decision to mess with it. I would want to mount it out back and keep the look you have now.

Regardless, the car will be much more enjoyable if you can just race it at the track. Dumping water tanks and flushing the system at the track between rounds seems like it would detract from the your day, not add to it.

 

Put a rad on it. You work to damn hard to have fun with that thing!

 

Thanks guys. I think I have an idea brewing.....

 

use a small aluminum Honda radiator less than $100 on ebay and an electric fan and pump to cool it between rounds. No it would not cool it enough to go cruising but thats not what it is built for any way. The whole package would be small enough to lay flat out back.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/92-93-94-95-Honda-Civic-2-25-Racing-Aluminum-Radiator_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ33602QQihZ013QQitemZ230041442672QQrdZ1

 

Funny you should say that. I have this one on my bookmark. It should fit in the A shell and has outlets that are almost perfect.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/e...&item=290042183120&rd=1&rd=1#ebayphotohosting

 

Cool car. I don't have an opinion on the radiator or not, but you'd take a ton of heat out of the fuel system with an accy. pump drive instead of the cam drive, which means free hp increase.

Good luck

 

I was gonna suggest using the frame to cool the car as well like the other bloke suggested but that would be a PIA and too darn invasive for a already done car.... lemme regale you with what we used to do on the cheap...we used to use the VW socoro (yeah I spelled it wrong) radiators on our BBF blown 460 pinto with great results...yeah not a crusin temp but cool enough for back to back bracket racin. My point, itty bitty radiator BIG motor....now what would happen if you plumbed in a loop of pipe around the paremeter of the frame and installed heatsinks where you could? seems to me in the loop system on a best guess of measurements you would have 7' on each side times 4 plus 3' in the back times 2 for a total of 34' of cooling pipe....yeah it would be a ***** to plumb but if you did it right you'd never see it and its not like you gotta use big inch diameter pipe either1"-1.5" should work fine....just a crazy hairbrained idea...I've also done the bed mounted radiator in an izuzu pup with a blown 472, had a full size 4 core in the bed and had more cooling probs with it than anything....highly restrictive airflow....great wheel stands though

 

I would really hate to see the radiator shell filled up. It makes that car. Putting a radiator up there would look almost as bad to me as putting a modern overhanging fuel tank and air dam on the front. Maybe it's just because no altereds ever had anything in their radiator shells back in my day, except maybe a Moon tank.

I don't think circulating through a tank would gain you much and it would weigh a ton. But then so would the plumbing to get the water to the rear for a hidden radiator. I believe that running fluids through frame rails is frowned upon by sanctioning organizations and I especially would not want water in the frame rails.

There may be value in just moving water around in the block and heads to get a fluid exchange around the hot spots, but if you are going that far, you may as well add a radiator of some sort. I had a friend that used an air conditioning heat exchanger for a radiator in his front engined dragster. It was small and not too con****uous. It kept things cool for him, but he did run alcohol.

So, I guess I would try a hidden radiator with an electric fan in the back somewhere.

 

' flips up only for access underneath, not necessary to flip up for use.

Bugs? Worked out of the Fly?!
Stop it! My sides hurt!
No, really.

 

Thanks for the vote of confidence...no really.

 

Root I think he was getting at bugs/fly insect kinda thing not that the fly had bugs....aw never mind I just confused myself.

Anyhow I think no radiator up front, yes radiator stashed somewhere else. And I'll be closely watching this post 'cuz I'm setting to run one in the bed of the truck.....

 

Hey Root I went as far as to buy a stock replacement Honda fan that bolts directly to the radiator brackets that are already welded to the tanks. If I remember correctly it was in the 30 dollar range on ebay. When I bought mine the ad said it would cool a 400 hp turbor or supercharged Honda. I figure it should do just fine cooling my turbo 2.3 Ford motor. The cool thing is it looks like it was made for my track nose.

 

I used to use half of the dual electric fan setup off a wrecked caddy with a northstar. It moved a ton of air, way more than any aftermarket fan I've seen. It was free and the shroud fit my radiator just about perfect.

 

I'm gonna try and live without the fan if possible.

 

Sounds like a good way to add a ton of weight... might have been for a car on the salt... but not a good idea for a drag car.

I still think you need to run without. It will look cool, granted, whatever you do. (I love the plexi idea... I remember you talking about it when you were building the Fly) But I think you will lose a little bit of that 'it' your car has now.