Well.... Engine is in for the final time (hoping anyways)- only 3 air lines and 3 waterlines to go and its finished with the engine... Manifolds fit the engine bay... even if the DS downward pipes are gonna be ugly as ****, engine mounts liked up perfectly in their spots , just gotta bolt up GB and do a few oil lines then she should be ready for the all important test fire.. Sadly kevin's modded bonnet didn't even come close to fitting... stay tuned as this is getting close to completion
Tell me about it... I'll just take it to a panel beater and get it done once and properly. Nearly there...
are you confident in the abilities of the fmic to act as a radiator. I dont consider myself as an expert in thermodynamics. So thats why im asking . Is the air cooling side of things different to water cooling?
I'm no expert either, but I am very confident that it will work well as a radiator... FMIC cores and radiator cores are the same thing, so it will act like a big twin pass radiator. FMIC Core size: 600 x 300 x 90mm Capacity: 16.20L -vs- Radiator (eBay spec) Core size: 463 x 500 x 56mm Capacity: 12.96L Cooling ability would be determined by the combined surface area of the cooling fins, which would be proportional to the capacity of the core. That's how I see it in my head... If I am wrong, please someone correct me.
i look forward to see how the intercooler radiator goes , i had considered useing side mounts as radiators on mine but went with a normal set up in the end . Im going to guess it will cool well enough
this thing is gonna be the BEST radiator made.... huge capacity, twin pass, huge dissipation area, nothing in front of it to block air flow, dual fans (damn thing almost cut my finger off and didnt skip a beat in the process)
I think the cowling you put back on (ie. undertrays) will be very important to get that radiator to opperate efficiently. Also be carefull where you intall the air filter. If you put it behind the radiator, near the stock location you will masssivly increase the intake temps, perhaps a stillen nose cone would help?
A radiator and intercooler cores are very different construction. A radiator is usually around 25% tubes, 75% cooling fins. Intercoolers are usually pretty much 50/50%. Water will absorb alot more heat than air, requiring more cooling fins to transfer the heat. Also the internal construction of the cores are different, an intercoolers flow is much greater than a radiator, meaning the coolant willnot stay inthe core long enough to radiate heat effectively. However, in saying all that, the size of the core you are using may just work, but I doubt it. Also duel 10" fans is no where near enough. Duel 12" or bigger would be my choice.
Slowing the flow down through the core is easy. Just use an orifice plate inline before or after the radiator. I'm running 1 14" thermofan on a PWR twinpass TT radiator and have had absolutely no cooling issues at all.
I have an aluminium undertray but the mouth of the front bar will make an excellent air guide to the core. Pod filter goes under passenger headlight. So that means I actually have slightly less cooling fin area than an eBay rad? Chris is using a single 14" thermofan as a pusher and he has no temp issues. Dual 10" pullers would provide at least equal cfm if not more... So something like a 30mm orifice, or would it have to be smaller? FMIC in/out is 63.5mm. That engine is stuffed. There was a redback trying to crawl out of it Thanks for your input guys, I appreciate it!
How far have you actually driven your car, been caught in traffic yet with a heat soaked engine bay, had it out on the highway on a good run? I am running a larger than NA rad with twin 12" fans pushing, with alot more free space in the bay for air flow. I am ok on temps so far, has not been on the highway yet, but everywhere else it is good. The intercooler should work, a proper rad will work much better.
No traffic in mine yet, but did a 25k run one night, mix of 80kph long straight roads and fanging it through twisties. I have quite a good undertray and no air con condensor to get in the way though.
Waiting for the last batch of parts now... just a matter of matching up all the connectors on the loom to the engine... Next time I come down to Aidan's we will be putting in the oil, coolant and the rest of the fluids and connecting up the driveshaft Drew up the VH45 MAF adapter for the pod ...or maybe even... It's bloody amazing what I've learned since starting this swap less than 6 months ago!!
Good to see someone else doing a FM radiator. I've been drawing up the dimensions for mine and am about to have Norm at Aussie Desert Cooler make it up. I'm going to run Dash fittings though as this will be neater. I'm looking forward to hearing the traffic cooling abilities using the old FMIC core. That's a lot of weight over the front. I did find the front chassis bolts were about the only thing to bolt a fully laden rad to. The old FMIC core had caused metal fatigue using the usual two bolts most bolt to, so they wouldn't have much of a chance with anything heavier.
Aww and here I was thinking I'd be the only one! Curious, how will you be installing the fittings on the motor side?
