| Author |
Message |
Kyle Brandt (Kyle4501)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, January 28, 2005 - 12:59 pm: | |
My original 50 year old radiator is cu-brass and showing it's age (abundantly, I must add).It isn't leaking yet, but from the looks of it , it should be :^(
Is there a problem in having an aluminium radiator custom built for it? Initial quote was ~$1000.00 from Griffin. Will the alum last? Are there 'corrosion issues' that the antifreeze can't handle?
My top & bottom tanks seem to be OK, but the fins in the core seem to have corroded mostly away.
Thanks for the input.
Kyle |
Jon W.
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, January 28, 2005 - 2:27 pm: | |
Almost all radiators in high performance cars today are aluminum. Aluminum is susceptible to cracking under certain operating conditions such as vibration. |
Ken Kushner (Kudu)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, January 29, 2005 - 12:10 am: | |
...and there is a special anti-freeze that must be used. Prestone and others make it. |
BrianMCI
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, January 29, 2005 - 12:13 am: | |
Jon is right, however if you could properly isolate the aluminum radiator from vibration, you'd have one heck of a heat exchanger, aluminum sheds heat fast.
Brian |
Marc Bourget
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, January 29, 2005 - 7:14 am: | |
I believe the current "popularity" of aluminum in automobiles as a radiator material may have more to do with the effects of weight on CAFE than its "superior" heat transfer characteristics.
In a recent trip to a local large truck repair/body shop, I noted the use of aluminum in an air to air intercooler but "conventional" materials for the radiator on the same truck.
I'll inquire further, but am curious whether current aluminum design and material considerations (i.e., size of core tubes, or factors that exeprience exponential increases, leave current aluminum designs "ready" for the application of aluminum to diesel.
Has anybody out there seen an aluminum coolant radiator om a large truck? |
Johnny
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, January 29, 2005 - 9:34 am: | |
I've run an aluminum radiator in my Cadillac for about 5 years. I use regular green coolant. No problems. |
BrianMCI
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, January 30, 2005 - 12:39 am: | |
There is certainly a wieght bonus with an aluminum radiator, but in all honesty the differece in cooling ability for an aliminum radiator as opposed to one made of brass that's the same size, is pretty significant.
Brian |
FAST FRED
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, February 01, 2005 - 6:18 am: | |
The newest brass radiator cores have special "dimpled" passages in the core that improve the heat transfer by 30 or 40%.
For longest life , if the engine had been hot rodded with jumbo injectors , this might be best solution , long term.
FAST FRED |
Stephen Fessenden (Sffess)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, February 01, 2005 - 10:18 pm: | |
Aluminum radiators seldom have trouble with leaks or scale and calcium deposits clogging them. The plastic tanks on aluminum car radiators are what get old and break. Local radiator shop told me I will get a little less cooling with a brass radiator, but it can be repaired anywhere. That is probably why trucks use brass radiators. If you have a crack in an upper or lower plastic tank on an aluminum car radiator you cannot repair it and have to wait for the new part to arrive. An upper or lower cap can cost 2/3 the price of a new radiator. With a twenty year old plastic tank, you have the possiblility of the upper hose connection snapping off. Doesn't happen to everybody, but toasts the engine when it does. |
Kyle Brandt (Kyle4501)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, February 02, 2005 - 12:46 pm: | |
Thanks guys,
Your input is helpful.
Griffin radiator is only 20 minutes away, they build custom radiators and can tell you how much heat it will transfer under different conditions. They also make the welded alum end caps. I have used them before (for hot rods) and they are the best people I have ever dealt with. Even though aluminium transfers heat slower than cu-brass, with the same heat capacity would an alum radiator be lighter? Or would the larger volume of water add more weight than was saved?
FF has a good point about the dimpled core tubes, but since I'm in the thinking/ planning phase of my conversion, I 'need' to know why it was done the way it was so that I do the best conversion for my needs. The fact that I'm converting a Scenicruiser proves that I think a little differently. O.K., assuming that I can think might be a stretch :^) But just because everyone else does it another way doesn't make that way the only way.
Kyle |
Gary Carter
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, February 02, 2005 - 12:46 pm: | |
Wow! I must be missing something as I have never heard of a brass radiator. Copper yes. Copper also has better heat transfer than aluminum. If you want better heat transfer than copper you will need to use silver or better yet gold.
Second point is we are suppose to run low silicate anti-freeze in our engines. High silicates are used in multi-metal installations to help prevent electrolysis. |
Kyle Brandt (Kyle4501)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, February 03, 2005 - 1:04 pm: | |
Gary, you seem to be right in target. I did some research on engine coolant. The way I understand it is the silicates are needed to mimimize alum corrosion. Silicates wear out and drop out of solution in a year or two forming a gell that cloggs passages & reduces efectiveness of the cooling system. If you don't flush and refill you run the risk of pitting corrosion in the alum parts of the system. The speed of coolant flow efects this pitting. Faster flow = faster pitting. Which explains why alum water pumps leak faster than Cast iron, and why the alum radiators seem to last ao long in cars.
I hope I got this right, thanks guys for helping me understand!
Kyle |
BrianMCI
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, February 04, 2005 - 12:15 am: | |
Actually, no radiators that I know of are made entirely of copper. They are copper and brass, at a minimum, the tanks are made of brassm though I believe the tubing and fins are copper.
Brian |
BrianMCI
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, February 04, 2005 - 12:19 am: | |
I should have said, "...no automotive radiators that I know of..."
Brian |