Half width radiator

madjak · Postby **madjak** » Mon Nov 10, 2014 2:14 pm

Just posting here for anyone interested that I had a successful weekend of motorsport running a half width Honda Civic radiator in 35 degree heat. It was the first time I ran the engine so I was a little worried about cooling, but there were no issues at all. These weren't full races but I was doing 4 laps (5 mins) at full tack without the needle getting past half way.

Engine is a built N/A 1.8 with coolant re-route and oil cooler. Radiator was the ASI Honda Civic 3-core aluminium radiator and fan combo on ebay. The only modification to the radiator was to the output at the bottom to switch to the passenger side.

Might not work for you turbo guys but for a N/A engines a smaller radiator seams fine, at least in my case it is.

sailaholic · Postby **sailaholic** » Mon Nov 10, 2014 2:51 pm

Great news thank you! I've got the rad but hadn't had time to test it.

Did you have the car ideling much to test the fans ability to keep temps down?

Any chance of some pictures of the mounts and fitting?

Cheers.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

madjak · Postby **madjak** » Mon Nov 10, 2014 3:08 pm

yes car was idling for a while to get oil up to temp and also sitting on the grid and it had no issues. The fan that comes with that ASI radiator is actually quite strong and pulls lots of air through. The shroud itself occludes a lot of the radiator on the corners and I was a little concerned there might not be enough airflow through the fan at higher speeds. I was thinking of getting a hole saw out and cutting out the corners of the shroud but I don't think I need to now.

In terms of mounting it... I had some custom brackets waterjet cut out of 6mm ali that hang a 900mm RHS bar across the engine bay that the radiator and oil cooler tabs mounts off. It basically bolts off the two chassis rails using two of the sway bar mounts and a couple of nutserts I installed. You have to remove the two existing radiator supports which have a few bolts and a couple of factory welds that need some persuasion to remove. All up it looks very tidy and is strong and light. I think I could jack the car off it, but I'm not game enough to test it!

I'll also use this bar to mount my splitter. I'll send you some pictures when I'm next working on my car. I have the CAD profile of the cuts if anyone wants them and the RHS you can get from Bunnings.

madjak · Postby **madjak** » Mon Nov 10, 2014 3:10 pm

Oh it also ran on the dyno for several hours... but they did have a nice big fan pointed at the front of the car. Still I think dynoing is probably harder than track work on cooling in many respects as you don't get the airflow at speed.

gslender · Postby **gslender** » Mon Nov 10, 2014 7:42 pm

No pics?

project.r.racing · Postby **project.r.racing** » Mon Nov 10, 2014 7:53 pm

Why do this?

sailaholic · Postby **sailaholic** » Mon Nov 10, 2014 7:57 pm

More space for things like oil coolers or air intakes.

G pics are coming according to the post.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

madjak · Postby **madjak** » Mon Nov 17, 2014 12:25 pm

ASI Honda Civic radiator and fan.

20141115_100857.jpg

I moved the output at the bottom to the passenger side of the radiator. Welded up the original hole. This means it basically sits in the same location as a stock radiator.

20141115_100908.jpg

Custom Radiator Hangers. These hang from each chassis rail and hold a RHS that has tabs welded onto it for the radiator and oil cooler. I'll also mount my splitting from this bar. (the bar is covered with with an ali fill-in plate that goes to the front of the mouth of the nose.

20141115_100920.jpg

Oil cooler sits in front of the radiator

20141115_100932.jpg

So far, the coolant temps are fine under idle, and also at full load on the track. I'll report back in a few months after I have run it a few more times.

sailaholic · Postby **sailaholic** » Mon Nov 17, 2014 5:51 pm

The cad files of those brackets would be awesome. You've mounted it exactly where I wanted to.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

madjak · Postby **madjak** » Mon Nov 17, 2014 7:51 pm

PM sent... I had them waterjet CNC cut out of 6mm ali for around $28 a bracket. The rectangular hole at the bottom fits 50x30mm RHS aluminium tube which you can source from Bunnings in 1m lengths. It's almost tight enough to not weld it but it all becomes a lot more rigid if you do.

I used some offcuts of the aluminium RHS and cut them at an angle though front and back sides to make two tapered 'c' channel tabs to mount the radiator and oil cooler. These weld on at the required height and then drill holes for mounting.