Mod Motor Cooling System

[SlowSVT]

I've made a lot of observations regarding the cooling system in our engine and thought it would be interesting to start a "top down" comprehensive cooling system thread where we can outline aspects of our engine that could see improvement ridding the engine of excess heat. More times than not heat plays a role in engine failures but is not always identified as one of the culprits which is usually blamed on something else. Whenever I build a performance engine minimizing heat absorbsion and transfer are high on the list for consideration. This will end up being a rather long thread so I'm going to submit installments on specific areas of interest to keep the topic focused. My pictures are from both the Romeo and a Boss 5.0 block but this pretty much applies to all mod motors. Keep in mind these are my observations and I may have overlooked something so feel free to comment.

I'll start with the block. With respect to cooling the one glaring choice we have is block material iron and aluminum which have vastly different thermal characteristics. Iron does not readily accept nor transfer heat where aluminum does just the opposite. In this respect iron has a clear advantage but certain aspects make aluminum a better choice mainly it's lightness, reparability and it's tolerance to flexing under high loading where thermal considerations are somewhat lower in the priority list. Iron blocks has advantages of being stiffer, less prone to warping and dimensionally stable which is a better choice for long term durability. Pick your poison!

Here's the water inlet for the 4.6 Romeo block

Boss inlet

(will get photo)


Hard to see in the photos but the Boss inlet is a little larger with somewhat fewer obstructions. What you want to achieve throughout the cooling circuit is the widest path with the fewest obstructions to slow the velocity of the coolant which reduces turbulence and resistance to flow. This is a good place to start!

The port match on the FRPP inlet overlapped quite a bit

After port matching

Cast surface smoothed. I managed to get inside fairly deep with a grinder on a flexible shaft and cleaned-up the port pretty well. Keep in mind water is very heavy and doesn't like to change direction or get scraped along rough surfaces it's called "drag"


Plugging the heatercore return port is something I recommend. It is here mainly to speed heat to the cabin at the expense of engine warming but what it also does is recirculated uncooled coolant the engine if the heater is not turned on. I'm not into that

On the flip side the water pump plenum has the boss to the recirc fitting that projected into the chamber. The coolant enters from the side and bumps into this obstruction

Off with it's head! It would be hard to find a mill with enough quill depth to handle this so I turned the block on it's end under a drill press with a 1/4" end mill and brushed the boss aside (there will be a bit of "movement" between the cutter and the block best to take small bites to minimize chatter)

Finished results

One thing I noted between the Romeo and Boss block was the 5.0 had a deeper plenum in front of the water pump. The more volume in the system the better.

I like the integral water pump design as opposed to an external pump as it takes-up a lot less space in front of the engine and minimizes the coolant path to the engine. The path leading up to it, not so much.

Here is the Cobra water pump with the cavitation ring and a discontinued Evans water pump

If I recall correctly the OEM pump moves about 35 GPM (with no restrictions) and the Evens pump moves 55 (ditto). The extra volume is nice but the restrictions imposed by the thermostat (about 2 1/4 sq in) will pretty much determine how much volume the pump can move so I'm not sure how much the system can take advantage of the extra volume of the Evens pump, my guess is "not by much".

What I do like about the Evens pump is the parabolic impeller vanes which will "displace" the water to the outside of the scroll where the sheet metal OEM pump acts more as a paddle wheel and more or less "flings" it there. Not the best arraignment to minimize cavitation. To reduce drag and cavitation even more I polished the cast surface of the pump and turned down the hub.

before

after

It's too bad Evens no longer makes this pump. With what's available I think I would be leaning toward the OE Cobra pump posted above. The Stewart 4.6 pump looks like a good choice as well

This one looks to be at the bottom of the mod motor heap

I'm not a huge fan of electric water pumps. They do have some advantages mainly in a dedicated drag racer. In a streetcar it adds a whole new set of things that can go wrong. Adding a controller will extend it's capability by regulating it's flow but now adds electronics to the mix now your depending on something as small as a diode. On a mechanical driven water pump I'm pretty much assured as long as that belt is spinning that pulley the pump will push water and is regulated by engine speed.

The next place the coolant goes exiting the water pump are the ports to both banks of cylinders on either side of the scroll. You can see them in the picture above showing the recirc plug. They are a bit larger in the Boss block than the Romeo. Not much improvement to be found here other then snoothing some of the casting flash and surface finish.

Once the coolant enters the cylinder water jacket it just empties into a large cavity. Cylinders don't get as hot as the heads so they don't pay as much attention to the distribution of coolant in the block (passing it on thru the heads is a different story). What I can say is the iron 4.6 and the 5.4 blocks uses full 360 degree cooling around the cylinders which is optimal for maintain cylinder roundness. The Boss and aluminum blocks all have "siamesed" cylinders which is both good and bad depending on the config. Having the bore with a web connecting the cylinders has the benefit of stiffening the block but it can also distort the cylinders as it heats up and flexed during periods of high loading. As you thin the space between the cylinders it gets worse. The 5.8 block with sleeves comes to mind. I think it leaves about .040" of aluminum between the bores at it thinnest point which to me is horrifying! I can only imagine how the continuity of stresses imposed on those cylinders are distributed in a very uneven way which is something that you don't want.

One of the aspects of this hobby that makes it so fun is the level of technical involvement with what your doing can go as deep as you want to take it. I would say the more you plan on pushing your engine these little details start to take on more meaning. I'll move-on to the coolant transition to the heads and the heads themselves next.

:beer:

 

[SlowSVT]

Moving on to the cylinder head things get a bit more interesting. Since I'm running a Boss block with the 3.700" bore I wanted the best head gasket available since the reduced land between the bores won't seal as well as a stock bore 4.6 under big boost. I decided on a Titan copper gasket with an internal stainless steel ring imbedded around the bores and a silicone bead around the water passages. They are suppose to be rated for +30 lbs of boost if you need to seal better than that your O-ringing the block which brings it's own set of problems. Normally I don't think much about gaskets other than their ability to seal but the changes I'm making to the cooling circuit had me looking at both the stock OE 4.6 cometic gasket and the Titan gasket comparing the distribution of coolant transfer holes punched in the gaskets.

Here are both gaskets side by side

If you look closely you can see how the coolant feed holes get progressively larger toward the rear cylinders which one would expect needing to balance the cooling on the cylinders furthest away from the source of coolant. What I found interesting was the balance side-to-side between both banks of cylinders. Not only that but the openings in the Titan gasket differed from the Ford gasket. Thinking about the stock cooling circuit and seeing how the drivers side head gaskets rear passages especially on #8 were the largest opening between both gasket you can tell Ford was cognoscente of the fact there no exit path for the coolant to escape where they opened those passages the most to compensate. The passages on the Titan gasket are a little more balanced between both sides which to me means they considered the fact who ever uses these gaskets will have fitting to allow coolant to exit from the rear of both heads and this helps to even the cooling both banks of cylinder heads with a cooling mod.

This is the front section of the Titan gaskets overlaying the OE gasket and visa versa

The rear

The passages in the front and tiny where the flow would almost be nonexistent where the majority of the coolant would be traveling forward from the rear cylinders before exiting out the front of the head. I mapped out coolant opening distribution in CAD between all 4 gaskets a while ago but my computer was swapped out and the file went with it. That data provided exact numbers I will make an attempt to regenerate the CAD models but it was a bit time consuming.

Both my cylinder heads have 5/8" coolant taps that have independent feeds to the front crossover which is pretty much a 50/50 balance cooling on both sides. Most cooling mods connects the driver side to the passengers side which means both side are sharing the same line which reduces the flow out the passengers side by half! With this in mind I am considering opening-up the water passage on the passenger side Titan gasket to balance the flow 100% in both side and making it flow like the drivers side. Once I start to assemble my engine I will looking into this in more detail and make a few phone calls. Playing around with coolant distribution can be a risky thing if you are not careful. The thing is if I were to run the stock OE gasket with the factory coolant distribution and a 5/8" evenflow rear coolant tap would favor the drivers side having larger opening in the rear than the passengers side............ that's not right!

If your rebuilding your engine and you have made changes that affects the coolant flow on both cylinders take a look at the hole pattern on the rear of both gaskets as outlined on this post. I might be worth while opening up a few holes to balance the flow. Leave the front holes alone the rear is where the change took place and don't do anything radical be very conservative.

 

[SVT_Troy]

Very interesting Russ. I will be following and taking notes for my future build!

Troy

 

[SlowSVT]

Thanks Troy, just want to pass on what I've learned.

At this point the coolant has passed thru the gasket and entered the cylinder heads. The are a few things that can be done to the head to improve cooling but your limited to where you can get access with a dremel. One vital area you can get access to is the small bend in the water jacket that cools between both exhaust ports which is the hottest section in the whole engine. Using a dremel preferably on a flex shaft with a small cutter radius the inside corner and attempt to open the water jacket leading between both exhaust ports only. Do not do any grinding on the other side leading to the outside of the exhaust ports, you want to cannel as much coolant between the ports only, the outside walls of the exhaust ports are fed by two large openings in the head on either side of the head bolt hole. This is something I highly recommend if you have the patience and the time. You want to do everything you can to keep the exhaust side of the head cool.

Here is the water jacket opening showing the area to be smoothed. It's kind of tight in there but more the reason to clean-up as much of the casting as possible. This head has some grinding already done but is not finished.

Next on the list are the front water outlets. There was excess casting flash in the opening that can be smoothed. You can ground that little "step" till it's flush with the ID of the crossover. I'm not sure it's even needed but I left it there anyway.

I always polish the chamber and the exhaust port with one of the goals is to minimize heat absorption. I may ceramic coat the exhaust port, back side of the exhaust valve and the header flange. I don't not recommend ceramic coating the chamber or the piston crown I have personal experience with that and it's not good!

As I mentioned I fabricated my own evenflow rear cooling taps. Of all the systems I've seen I think this system will shine when it comes to getting coolant out the rear of the head in a balanced manner. The crossover type cooling mod is the most practice way to tap the drivers side head but won't move a significant volume of coolant out of both heads. The drives side rear tap runs directly to the front crossover where it smoothly merges with the coolant exhausting out the front. The RH side is a little different. I still wanted it to connect to the heater core but that is quite a detour compared to the LH plus it has the coolant has to squeeze down to a 1/2" line compared to 3/4" on the LH outlet. The output of the heater core goes back up to 3/4" but will only flow as good as the 1/2" line plus the coolant needs to be pushed thru the heater core. To compensate I connected a smaller bypass tube to the RH cylinder head tap as shown in the photo below. This will make up for the loss of flow thru the heater core and help balance the system.

The factory restrictors in the heater core have been removed. If I remember correctly the input to the heater core is the 3/4" line and the output the 1/2". I reversed them 1/2" input/3/4" output which will reduce the pressure from removing the restrictors plus the bypass should prevent the heater core from bursting. Don't get this backwards you will have problems!

RH tap (this is a modified stock tap with a 3/4" nipple which will be cut off and replaced with a 1/2" tube to match the heater core input line. The bypass line is 1/2")

LH (this originally was the LCD Chicago fitting I cut and rotated to exit along the valve cover which also allows access to the hose)

Fitting including the Y that recombines the bypass with the heater core output that use to go back into the engine

I smoothed the entry in both taps

On this one the factory tube extended into the tap which was ground flush

The LH tube has a nice fat radii leading out to the hose

I used 5052 aluminum tubing to connect it to the crossover. There is a lot of surface area between both tubes this help shed heat the second the coolant leaves the engine. It not nailed down is kinda just hanging there but I think you get the picture.

Note how the coolant will "merge" with the main output.

As you can see here I moved the LH output to line-up with the main output. Before the was blasting right into the RH output at a right angle which is one of the worst atrocity in the whole cooling circuits. Now everything merges smoothly. You can see the sight window I added to the fill tube which will give you an instant visual if your running low on anti-freeze and the port plug is extended high on the engine to aid purging the air out.

One thing I would caution about is tapping the rear coolant from the freezeout plug. This places the output further way from the exhaust ports and will push more of the cooler water out from the intake side of the head and not from the hotter exhaust side of the head.

I am not a big fan of the AN lines marketed to replace the crossover. Anything smaller then what came from the factory should be shunned as all that will do is increase the velocity of the coolant resulting in higher internal pressure, turbulence where you don't need it, lower pump output and increase cavitation.

Another option is to adapt a late model GT500 crossover the thing is HUGE! ............ and expensive.

Up till now none of this has done a damn thing about remove any heat from the engine. All this has done so far is to increase the volume of coolant circulating thru the engine, direct additional coolant where it's needed and help balanced both sides of the engine. Keep in mind each one of these mods stands on there own, some of them are not practical for some people to undertake or it's just something to consider for a future build. I do admit I'm a bit overkill with regard to cooling systems but it's a lot of fun evaluating all this stuff and seeing where one can do better. I have the same approach with every engine I have built which from my experience has served me well.

We'll move downstream from the engine on the next post.

 

[SlowSVT]

The next item of topic is the radiator. Some brands use plastic end caps which won't conduct the heat away as well as an aftermarket unit with aluminum end caps ........ avoid those brands. Regarding the number of cores I've heard from people who have run both a single and dual core radiator was there was no difference in the engine operating temperature between the two in a road racer which is the most punishing form of motorsports from a heat perspective. A single core will pass a higher volume of air than a dual core which has twice the surface area. I would imagine a dual core rad would benefit more from sealing the gaps on the intake side which will force more air thru it to help overcome the added resistance to flow which may result in better cooling then the single core. The fin count is something to pay attention to when shopping for a new radiator where a lower count on a dual core will flow closer to that of a single row with a higher fin count. Some rads have corrugated fins to increase surface area even more but the flow thru rate will suffer having to navigate all those pleats.

With regard to single pass vs. multi pass I lean toward a single pass which will be easier on the pump and will have a higher flow rate. A multi pass is nothing more than two or more smaller radiators connected in series. Here is a diagram I drew to illustrate the difference (sorry about the small print I should have chosen a larger front). This is for a rainy day and Budweiser.

As you can see the single pass has double and triple the cross section coolant path than a double or triple pass and will move slower thru the core reducing the flow resistance and not having to switch directions back and forth.


As far as fans are concerned I like the factory shroudless fan where some have advocated the Lincoln MK VIII fan which is very powerful and heavily shrouded. That's great for a limousine sitting idle at the airport in the hot sun with the AC blasting but a Terminator is designed as a "moving vehicle" which in that case your better off with no fan at all. The shroud itself on the MK VIII fan assembly forces all the air to pass thru the fan opening past all those blades, fan motor mtg struts and the grill work rather then just straight out the back of the radiator. If you are sitting stuck in traffic a low compression mod motor will actually run cooler that an NA car with high compression. The Cobra fan is a nice balance between having a fan with minimal restrictions that won't impede air flow much when it's not needed and will keep the engine out of trouble in stop & go traffic.

there are a couple of things you can do to improve the performance of the factory fan. There is a gap between the radiator fins and the fan scroll which will pull some of the air between this gap reducing the air getting drawn thru the radiator. Aircraft Spruce p/n: 05-01300 is a single channel rubber cord that seals this gap perfectly and just pushes over the lip on the scroll.

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/appages/uchannel.php?clickkey=5038

Something a little more time consuming and of questionable merit is removing all the mold lines in the fan support. If you run your fingers along the molded plastic every opening has a sharp parting line. A piece of 400 grit and scotchbrite will smooth all the ridges which should move a few more cfm thru the support whether the fan is running or not.

 

[01yellercobra]

I thought the 03/04 radiators had metal end caps? I know mine does as does my friends 03. Mine was replaced with a factory replacement at some point, but I'm pretty sure my buddies is original.

 

[NastyNate420]

Wow this is some GREAT info!
Thanx!

 

[SVT_Troy]

Russ factory 03-04 cobra radiators are all aluminum. The GT's have plastic end caps and are smaller. I also sealed my radiator like you described, very easy tondo and worthwhile.

 

[SlowSVT]

Man, out of all that stuff I get called out on one detail due to my confusion with misidentifying GM product for Ford :nonono:

opps

I'll fix my post :idea: ............ "DON'T BUY CHEVROLET!"

 

[tnuce10]

The amount of thought and engineering you put into your car is mind boggling.

Great work OP

 

[01yellercobra]

Double post.

 

[01yellercobra]

Man, out of all that stuff I get called out on one detail due to my confusion with misidentifying GM product for Ford :nonono:

opps

I'll fix my post :idea: ............ "DON'T BUY CHEVROLET!"

I thought the rest was pretty good. :shrug: I like your idea for running cooling lines from the back of the head to the crossover.

 

[SlowSVT]

Let's pick-up where we left off at the radiator output.

I didn't like the factory thermostat housing. The hose coming off the rad takes a sharp 90 degree then necks down from a 1 3/4" line down to a 1 1/2" line all while doing this thru a jogged bend :xpl:

This set-up has the hoses routing in a path that is not very direct and is fairly restrictive. Looking down on the output side of the housing you can see how the thermostat itself shrouds the flow when it is open having to take a 90 degree turn. Note the casting flash on the ID, sharp edges abound! :nonono:

Looking at where the water is exiting out the rad and where it's going to in the engine this all can be done with a more of a straight shot out of the radiator and into the FRPP water inlet with just 1 casual 90 degree bend. That was not going to happen with the OE housing so I set off to make my own. I went to a wrecking yard in search of an external "stand-alone" thermostat housing. I shopped the Ford isle to keep it in the family and came upon this beauty out of a 2001 V6 Mercury Cougar.

Comparing the Cougar you can see the body is a larger diameter/plenum then the Cobra housing which is better from a flow perspective having more plenum. It still has that nasty 90 degree outlet plus the hose size this accepts was still 1 1/2" but nothing a hacksaw can't fix.

This is the form factor I wanted

Here is the finished result

There are now 2" hose connections at both ends. The long boss is recessed for a temp sending unit to keep it out of the slip stream. The short one is a drain port. As you can see the bend is now a short 45 degrees and is gradual. The thermostat now has fairly clear path for the coolant.

One thing I noticed was the poppet valve on the thermostat was pretty shrouded by the housing when open. Here is an image to illustrate this

The thermostat is the biggest choke point in the engine and for good reason, it regulates the flow thru the engine with an opening of 2 1/4 sq. in. at full open. I've heard of people removing them completely in a road race car which might make sense but not something I would recommend in a street car as it may cause problems as there is nothing to regulate the heat and flow where demand can vari wildly.

To unshroud the thermostat I back cut behind the wall away from the valve when it is open to providing a wider path for the coolant to traverse after passing thru the housing. This is a actually a very critical point there is so little space for that torrent of coolant to squeeze thru.

As stated the Cougar housing having a larger diameter housing allowed for a lot more relieving then the Cobra housing.


One thing I maintained on this whole system was the fat 1 1/2" coolant bypass line between the crossover and the thermostat. Some of the aftermarket set-up I've seen use a rather small nipple which won't allow the coolant to recirculate as vigorously thru the engine. When your warming-up the engine the area next to the combustion chamber will get very hot very quickly while the block will still be stone cold. Best to have an engine heat evenly so the onrush of the volume a large bypass provides will do a better job of this than having a skinny bypass hose. Ford put that big line in there for a reason!

The long thin nipple connects to the expansion tank

Here is an overall view of the system. The 2" line into the water inlet has been replaced by a mandrel bent 90 degree aluminum tube which will throw more heat off the coolant before entering the engine and won't collapse from the suction from the water pump.

I love the lack of bends in this system. The pump will have a much less restrictions to work against in the whole cooling circuit which actually means it will be working harder moving more liquid but the thermostat will ultimately still limit the pump output which is OK by me.

Oil coolers next

 

[DSG2003Mach1]

interesting thread, thanks for posting

the aircraftspruce link isnt working, can you check it or give a part # instead? interested in doing this. My car definitely struggled a bit here in FL with the enormous procharger intercooler in the way (I also need to redo the air dam in front of the radiator)

 

[SlowSVT]

Haven't posted in a while have been busy with other things but set aside some time to discuss oil cooling options.

Oil is really a crappy heat conductor compared to water. Most oil cooling systems are there to protect the oil first and to cool the engine a distant 2nd. Once you start to get close to 250 degrees the properties of the oil start to break down. The factory oil-to-water cooler gets first dibs on the cooler radiator output before moving on to cool the engine. Not only that but the internal copper HE will add another restriction for the water pump to overcome. I'm not a big fan of this system. There are 4 HE's already handing off the front clip adding one more would make a tight situation even worse. The factory cooler is a easy solution to the problem from a production car perspective but not so much from a performance standpoint.

My philosophy with regard to hot engine fluids is to get them out of the motor ASAP as nothing cools as long as it's inside the engine. A remote oil filter and oil-to-air cooler is the logical choice. Not only will it cool the oil better but it will get the motor out of the oil cooling business which will do a better job of shedding engine heat. As you can see in the photos in my other post I have an FRPP water/oil adapter which is a very nice piece (the MMR unit looks pretty good as well). The FRPP plate is tapped for AN10 lines. I would resist going any higher as larger AN12 lines add a lot more volume to the system when you consider how much you'll need to plumb the system. Any oil drainback will require the pump to flood the lines are oil galleries delaying lubrication to the bearings. AN10 lines will speed oil to the bearing faster and takes bends easier. The line routing require a lot of thought. I have mine figured out with minimal bends but it took more than a few evenings. Unfortunately I can't show you the system as my car is at the body shop getting painted.

Peterson fluid systems http://petersonfluidsys.com/filter_mount.html has a neat built-in primer pump in their remote filter adapter. This is a nice feature if the car sits for an extended period of time, you just put a cordless drill to it to drive the pump. The problem with this system is the port location is not very flexible and might make hose routing very cumbersome and inefficient. Figure out your line routing before buying and remote oil cooling hardware. This system won't work with my set-up but I'm not loosing sleep over it either.

A while ago I picked up a Fram HPK6000 remote racing filter adapter which is no longer available. This thing tapped to accept lines as large as AN12, can be routed from either side, as an internal inspection screen, tapped holes for sensors, lots of cooling surface area, huge ports and a 2 quart high burst rate racing oil filter. The oil starts to cool the second it enters this housing.

Always look for a remote filter adapter with large passages with a minimal of sharp bends and right angles. Each new restriction reduces the oil pressure at the end of the system. I've seen quite a few adapters on the market I find horrid and consist of a block of aluminum with 2 tapped holes on either side with a filter hung blow it :xpel:

Use mandrel bent AN tube fitting as shown above wherever you need a bend, no not use right angle fitting anywhere in the system! One trick you can do is get filter housing, thermostat and cooler tapped for AN12. This allows for fat AN12 mandrel bent fitting which will lower the restriction as the oil rushes into the housing. Then you use an AN12-to-AN10 adapter to plumb the system. Just make sure everything fits as the adapter add length to the fitting installation.

Next comes the thermostat. Some people consider this as "optional". For a pure racecar I would agree, a thermostat will introduce additional restriction in the system for an engine that doesn't get heat cycles very often. On a street car I would highly recommend them especially if you live in a cooler climate. Cold engines wear very quickly which is why it's important to warm your engine before leaning hard on the pedal. On a cold day your oil will struggle to get warm getting routed thru a cooler with freezing cold air blowing thru it.

I liked the Mocal thermostat http://www.mocal.co.uk/products.html#hermostats . It's an "H" shaped housing. When it's closed the oil crosses over to housing and exits out the other side. When it's open the oil passes straight thru and back on the other side with almost "zero" restrictions. I actually put a grinder to all the sharp edges machined into the housing and blended in all the passageways.

Regarding the oil cooler and placement. Most people mount it in front of the radiator and call it a day.........It's convenient" In that case chances are you are not much better off than when you had the oil-to-water cooler you are just dumping hot air over the rad and restricting the air having another cooler in front of it.

I've elected to place it in the LH brake cooling duct. This is an ideal location, close to the remote filter, it's wide open to incoming air and it looks like it belongs there (the other duct is my cold air induction )

For a road racer this would be better served as a brake cooling duct. On the street an oil cooler would be of more benefit to the car. Best to expose as much of the cooler face to the oncoming air. I've seen guys just place it in the fender well space behind the driving light/brake cooling duct bezel with just the brake tube opening feeding the cooler and with "0" ducting or seals. That set-up renders the cooler about 10% effective as what little area a 3" hole has and all the space surrounding the cooler chances are only a trickle of air with pass thru the core :nonono".

I got a sheet of Kydex sheet plastic. It black, you can fold it on a bend brake and is pretty durable and made an air duct that starts just behind the bumper cover opening with the cooler 4-5 inches recessed then extending to just in front of the wheel well cover curving downward exiting the vehicle. The cooler is housed in a very smooth tunnel and is sealed all around the cooler with near 0 leakage. Keep in mind how the air exits the cooler is equally important as how it enters it. If it's choked on the exhaust side means the air in front won't enter the duct and will go someplace else. Race teams spend considerable effort in designing air intakes and duct work. The more efficient the duct is the more effective what's using it is.

The cooler is rubber mounted to the underside of the bumper support. The plan is to support it on a hinged type mount with a spring type lower brace in the event something whacks the LH corner of the bumper it may save the cooler from bursting open in a mishap. VERY IMPORTANT TO ALWAYS RUBBER MOUNT THE OIL COOLER! and support it at both sides. They are dip brazed thin sheet metal construction and can get rather heavy filled with oil. Vibration and shock loads from a hard mounted oil cooler can fatigue and fracture over time. In that location suddenly dumping oil on your front tire is not advisable. Install the cooler with the lines exiting out the top. If you install them facing downward the fittings will have 4" of air between that and the pavement which will be very vulnerable getting sheered off. Make sure the installation is well thought out and built soundly. Do it right and you will never have to bother with it.

I would recommend some sort of screen for rock and pebble resistance. Do not use fine screen or tight mesh of any kind. The best design system can be rendered mediocre even using expanded mech. What you want is maximum "open area" when you approach 85-90% your doing pretty good. All that's needed is to deflect and slow objects that are big enough to pass thru the grillwork. I find that 1/2" round wire square mesh is the best. You can get welded galvanized wire mesh at most local hardware stores which can be powder coated black (paint will chip like hell).

I can't think of any other way to incorporate an external oil cooler in a Terminator where it will be as effective. It's a lot of work and may not be for everybody. For someone with a real serious car it's well advised. Heat is your engines mortal enemy you can never have enough cooling capacity.

I'll touch on passive cooling next

 

[SlowSVT]

interesting thread, thanks for posting

the aircraftspruce link isnt working, can you check it or give a part # instead? interested in doing this. My car definitely struggled a bit here in FL with the enormous procharger intercooler in the way (I also need to redo the air dam in front of the radiator)

My apologies

The p/n is actually 05-01300

I fixed the link

 

[MalcolmV8]

Dang Russ. I've been off here a while and I come back and see you've gone cooling crazy :banana:
Fun reading though, thanks for posting up.

 

[racebronco2]

Seems like a lot of work when you can just buy a vented hood and temps will drop more than all these mods. The biggest problem is still surface area.

 

[SlowSVT]

Seems like a lot of work when you can just buy a vented hood and temps will drop more than all these mods. The biggest problem is still surface area.

I agree

Your hood will likely be one of the top cooling mods you can get. I was planning on broaching that subject on the next post

 

[racebronco2]

Too bad you didn't have any before data so we could see the improvements.