How to cool it, Radiator inquiries

[TucsonHooligan]

'64 Falcon 2 door with a 170. Building up a 200 to swap out and wondering the best radiator/fan combo would be. I'm a resident of the 7th circle of hell (Tucson, AZ) and its a little hot here, so I'm thinking an aluminum radiator with an electric fan. Does this sound like a good idea or does anyone have a better combo? Maybe a 3 row custom fab job with the stock fan? Do they make clutched fans for these motors? Any help in this area is welcome, especially from my southwest bretheren that exist in the heat. How do you keep it cool?

 

[Gene Fiore]

I'm in the Phoenix area, and I currently have a stock 2 row radiator with an electric fan on my 250. It runs around 200-210deg in the heat but I think there is an aluminum fan in my future.

 

[aahsac]

I'm in Chandler with a new 200ci in a 69 Falcon and new two row radiator and stock fan. I don't have a temp gauge on it right not but it shows none of the expected signs of over heating and no puking out the over flow.

In all fairness it's a non-a/c car so we aren't sitting in endless traffic during afternoon drive time, about 30-45 minutes is all I'm good for.

 

[LaGrasta]

electric fan for sure, the biggest one you can get in there (16").

 

[addo]

With a good thermostat, there's no such thing as overcooling. A system that's marginal now, may be tipped over the edge with a little accretion over two or three years.

 

[Bort62]

Made it through a Mojave summer with no fan and my monster radiator

Still haven't needed a fan....

 

[bigcatchdaniel555]

I just got the standard 3 row upgrade from autozone. Then since I have a/c I put in two 10 inch fans in the front. yhis is on a mustang so im not sure how much room falcons up front.

 

[TucsonHooligan]

I found a 3 row radiator at autozone for about 130. I found an aluminum 2 row radiator with more fins on ebay for about 200. Whats the better deal? Is it worth the extra couple bucks for the aluminum or what? Corrosion is an issue as well, will I have to use distilled water in the aluminum? Also, does the aluminum make up for the lack of the 3rd row? The seller claims its cools better than a stock 3 or 4 row, but who knows whether they're full of S just to sell the thing. Opinions?

 

[Gene Fiore]

I have heard that the aluminum will dissipate the heat better.

 

[page62]

The 2-row aluminum radiator will dissipate heat very well. Highly recommended. I even ordered one...but it doesn't fit in the round-bodies without significant modification, so it went back.

 

[66 Fastback]

The 2 row aluminum will cool better than the 3 row copper / brass. The aluminum tubes are much wider and have more surface area than the 3 row copper brass radiators.

You should use distilled water in either radiator whether it is copper or aluminum. It will provide better service and less scaling tendency. Scaling leads to underdeposit corrosion, and general fouling of the system.
Doug

 

[TeddyXY71]

Just to throw a bit of my engineering into the mix....as a chemical engineer, one of my skills is the ability to design heat exchangers. Now, I haven't designed radiators, but the same principals apply. I recently did some calculations at work for a replacement heat exchanger. I had to swap between copper and stainless steel. What I found was that the metal type didn't effect things that much. The biggest effect is from what we call the heat transfer coefficient. This is best described as a layer of fluid that covers the metal sufaces through which you are trying to transfer heat. They are your biggest resistances, not the metal. So it stands to reason that if you can improve the heat transfer coefficient, you improve the heat transfer. For the radiator scenario, this would entail the following:

1. Keep the transfer surfaces as clean as possible. Stands to reason that ANY build-up of crud acts as a resistance to heat transfer. Especially on the liquid side of things. Rust and mud-like deposits will hurt the heat transfer.

2. The only way to really effect the heat transfer coefficient is to increase the turbulence of the fluid layers over the radiator surfaces. On the air side, the more air you pull accross through the radiator the better the heat transfer coefficient, the better the heat transfer. Also, this method means you are transfering heat into a larger volume of air and are effectively increasing the the temperature driving force. ANY air that stagnates across the radiator heats up and slows the heat transfer. On the liquid side, there probably isn't much us mortals can do the increase the heat transfer coefficient on the inside surfaces. About the only thing that comes to mind is to be mindful of your water pump and if there is doubt about its performance, consider replacing it.

That's my two cents worth.

Teddy

PS. The bigger the available surface area teh better too! 8)

 

[AzCoupe]

You can also use an additive.

DEI's Radiator Relief
Red Line's Water Wetter
Hy-Per Lube's Super Coolant
Justice Brothers' Radiator Cooler
Royal Purple's Purple Ice
Pro Blend 40 Below
Kwick Kool 101

Here's results from a test of the four most popular additives.

Full article http://www.turbomagazine.com/features/0 ... index.html

Summary

DEI's Radiator Relief gave our Civic the lowest cylinder head temperatures and lowest idling temperatures out of the bunch when mixed with pure distilled water. It also came in second place as far as average temperatures go when mixed with straight water.

Red Line's Water Wetter proved to be the best all around cooling agent when mixed with a 30/70 antifreeze/water mix. We saw readings as low as 197 F at the cylinder head and the most efficient heat transfer through the radiator at just over eight percent.

Hy-Per Lube's Super Coolant was almost identical to Red Line's Water Wetter as far as results go when mixed with antifreeze, but it did better the Water Wetter when it came to heavy load and lengthy idling - not by much though.

Justice Brothers' Radiator Cooler gave us the lowest temperature during our testing - 177 F - and provided the lowest average temperatures overall when mixed with water alone.

 

[Asa]

first things first, how clean is your coolant system? when is the last time you had it completely flushed? (i'm not talking about you flushing it with a hose, i mean at a shop where they pressure flush it to get all the crud out), how is everything in the system working? nice and new? no old parts that should be replaced?

and Jack found a good place to get an aluminum radiator

The radiator we're using on the Crossflow Coupe is the 22" unit from Speedway Motors. It has two 1" rows, and is the right size, but has no mounts. You have to come up with those yourself. You also have to adapt the hoses. It's a race car piece, so that's to be expected, but you can't beat the price.

http://fordsix.com/forum/viewtopic.php? ... m+radiator

also, cooling additives, as shown in the post above mine, are a great addition

 

[Frankenstang]

Here is a pic of one I picked up from a feepayer about 4-5 months ago. My three core copper had undoubtedly seen better days, but even after a fresh rebuild years back, I never experienced operating temperature as low as I do now with the aluminum. Sorry I haven't thermometered the new one yet, so no specifics, but even while we've been hovering around 100* here in Texas it has not gone far beyond the first tick on the guage while idling...(I'm going to have to put the thermostat back in ). Basically as mentioned above everything said about efficiency of heat transfer is true for my experience.

http://s282.photobucket.com/albums/kk27 ... 0Radiator/

Posted a pic of the top tank to generally show quality of welds (also shows how bad I need to address the engine compartment asthetics...looks aren't everything ). Long story, but there is also a pic of receipt to show part no., cost, and supplier, Silla (who I believe is a reputable and recognizable manufacturer). This one actually listed for a '60-'64 Comet, but fit my '66 200 stang perfect. I wouldn't be surprised if Silla had direct sales counter. I paid 60% markup on this price. Lastly, hopefully no one thinks it inappropriate to disclose the this information, but I'm a fan of pure competition in terms of markets.
-Robert