[DeTomaso] radiator

Garth Rodericks garth_rodericks at yahoo.com
Wed Jul 25 18:32:30 EDT 2007


FWIW, Aluminum is less thermally efficient than brass at heat transfer, therefore the radiator is less efficient. It has to be larger than a comparable brass radiator to make up for the inefficiency. Aluminum is cheaper and more readily available, so I speculate it's a lot easier/quicker/cheaper to get whatever custom part you need made in Aluminum than brass. And, it only needs to withstand a max of 500 miles because it will be replaced often. Same reason pistons, rods, etc are replaced after every race. They're not concerned about longevity like we are with a street driven car. As far as race speeds being hard on a radiator, I don't think so. It's just a heat sink, albiet one that's appropriately sized for the load it's designed to handle.
   
  Ok, I gotta get back to work now.

Ken Green <kenn_green at yahoo.com> wrote:
          I think there's a little more involved than the advantage of an off-the-self part.  It may only be weight, and I'm not sure about that.  I think aluminum conducts heat better, but it's probably thicker also, and that would not be good for flow.
   
        I just don't think it's as simple as you are painting it.  If you look at the parts the NASCAR guys use, cost and off-the-shelf is the last thing they worry about.  But there are politics, and it is remotely possible that the rules require an aluminum radiator?  Otherwise, I'm sure they are using the best part possible.  Also, I'd think running 500 miles at race speeds is pretty hard on a radiator.  Lots of water flow and lots of air flow, and a radiator failure would cost a race, and that's BIG bucks.
   
  Ken
  

Garth Rodericks <garth_rodericks at yahoo.com> wrote:
  Race teams might not use aluminum to save money, but then again perhaps they do. The 
part is disposable to them - it only needs to survive a few laps, not thousands of miles on 
the highway with litter and debris. And, race teams use what's readily available. Fluidyne, 
BeCool and others are ready sources of aluminum radiators. It's actually easier to find an Al 
radiator for most applications than a brass radiator. This is a function of their cost. Just my 2-cents.

Ken Green wrote:
Respectfully,

And do all the race teams also use aluminum radiators to save $s? 

Ken

Garth Rodericks wrote:
Chris,

"...everything Mike Drew said!" It's all true!
(http://realbig.com/pipermail/detomaso/2007-July/086895.html)

The only reason OEM manufacturers switched to Aluminum radiators was because they cost less than copper-brass. 

Pantera East does stock and sell OEM-style copper-brass radiators. I think the price was $550 or thereabouts. Mine was unfortunately damaged in shipping and arrived only a couple of days before Concorso Italiano so there was no time to get another one from Merino before the event. Fortunately, Larry Stock (PPC Reno) had a stock style copper-brass radiator in stock for the same price that he dropped off for me the next evening. Stick with the stock-style brass radiator if you enjoy driving your car or drive it on any kind of road trips. Any service station or radiator shop between here and East Jesus, Arkansas can fix it if you develop a leak. The same can't be said for Fluidyne. 

FWIW, my copper-brass radiator has two thermo switches which thread directly into the fitting in the radiator, however they're just plugging the holes at the moment as I haven't wired them up. Still contemplating whether or not I want to do that since the damn things have such a high failure rate and the fix is to wire them to run whenever the ignition is on.

Also, don't waste your time laying your radiator forward, unless you like adding non-functional hood scoops and the like to your car. It does nothing to aid cooling. If anything, it reduces the efficiency of the radiator, but a laydown leaky aluminum radiator does look cool when coupled with twin sucker fans. Flamesuit on, for those who don't think it looks cool ;^D




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Kenneth L. Green

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