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Hello All.

I was thinking of getting a smaller radiator so I would be able to have more efficient intercooler piping.

I like the idea of the track dog racing setups but not the idea of cutting the front of the car like they require.

http://www.trackdogracing.com/website/intercoolers.htm

My basic idea is to install something like this (try to find better quality if I can)

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/56mm-Honda-C ... 1283wt_811

Its about 300mm less wide than a stock radiator.

Its core dimensions are 350mm h x 360mm w and it is 56m thick.

The cooling pro rad I currently have has dimensions of 320mm h x 650mm w and is 42mm thick.

Overall volume would be reduced by just over 19% and frontal area by about 40%

My question is do you think this would be enough cooling for say 300 engine hp (don't have that much yet) in combination with a coolant re route kit?

http://949racing.com/miata-coolant-reroute-system.aspx

This is not taking into consideration any mounting issues I may come across etc etc.

My car is supercharged and runs around 9-10psi of boost in its current setup.

Thanks for you time.

Test it with some card board blocking off the missing area, will give you an idea

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I cannot see how reducing cooling capacity ie a smaller radiator would be a good plan. Extra power is often accompanied by the need for even more or highly efficient cooling not the opposite. Modifying the vehicle ie things that cannot be readily reversed also sets up problems on resale. Blocking the existing radiator for a trial is not something I would do. Try a 40deg day in traffic and ask the question about the value of optimum cooling.

I appreciate the comments.

The smaller civic radiator is still over twice the volume of the standard unit.

So I am not reducing cooling capacity as such but increasing it by less.

How much of an effect does frontal area play in the cooling efficiency of radiators?

16bit wrote:I appreciate the comments.

The smaller civic radiator is still over twice the volume of the standard unit.

So I am not reducing cooling capacity as such but increasing it by less.

How much of an effect does frontal area play in the cooling efficiency of radiators?

Elementary thermodynamics. Increasing the volume of coolant will only increase its capacity to 'heat sink' The dissipation of the heat is related to the surface area of the radiator, increase that and you have greater thermal efficiency.

is it a linear thing? by reducing surface area by 40% its reducing its cooling efficiency by 40%?

oh edit, by surface area do you mean the frontal area or surface area of all the finds etc?

total surface area, which is directly impacted by frontal surface area.

Dann

Core thickness obviously plays a role.

The main issue will not be capacity - it will be getting the air to the face of the rad, and through it.

Davex3 is right. How you duct it will be critical. If the air just ends up going around the rad, you will cook your junk. Fast.

The minor gain you are likely to get from more efficient intercooler piping isn't likely to be worth the effort IMO. How much HP do you expect to gain?

no idea. i might get 5 or so but its something that I have wanted to do for a while for no other reason than wanting to.

i might save a few kgs too but not too many.

Hopefully Danny can chime in, think he knows quite a bit about this subject.

You may want to consider adding an additional air scoop like this one to improve air flow to your smaller radiator which will now be obstructed by the intercooler, making it even less effective:
http://www.good-win-racing.com/Mazda-Performance-Part/61-0064.html
http://www.bellengineering.net/product_info.php?cPath=5_19_299&products_id=71

After adding an intercooler to my SE which obscures the radiator completely, I installed this on the weekend to bring fresh air directly to the radiator. It was a bitch to install and I still have a bit of additional work to do before I'm happy with it - will post install in my garage thread on teh weekend when it's finished.

i already have the intercooler in place.

but yes good idea to add as much shrouding as I can if I go ahead.

think if i do have a crack at this i will try to find something about 550mm wide which will give me enough room to run the piping and not be so small that it may not work.

thanks all!

16bit wrote:no idea. i might get 5 or so but its something that I have wanted to do for a while for no other reason than wanting to.

i might save a few kgs too but not too many.

Hopefully Danny can chime in, think he knows quite a bit about this subject.

Unless there are aesthetic reasons for wanting to do it there are easier ways to save <5KG and gain 5BHP.

If the car is not a very serious track car where 5KG represents a good percentage of its weight then you wont know the difference anyway and 5BHP can be had with a couple more PSI and a tweak of the ECU.

i know all that.

have found good medium ground in this rad.

http://justjap.com/store/product.php?pr ... 300&page=1

might try it in the new year and see how I go.

Realllllly been toying with this idea lately. Not to allow for better efficiency in an FI system but for a better intake setup (as per the image below). Worked fine here on a time attack NA that produces over 200kw - Not sure if it's really worth it for a mildly tuned street car though

Over 200kw... Nope. Doubt it.

Dann