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      06-28-2018, 09:32 PM   #1
The Wind Breezes
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Moving radiator to trunk

I'm talking about moving the radiator, coolant pump, thermostat, expansion tank to the trunk, ventilating from the side of the car, exhausting downwards and out the back of the car. Essentially the always-flowing coolant circuit will be made a lot larger to facilitate delivery to and return from the rear. This means the car will take some time longer to warmup but shouldn't have any thermal issues otherwise only advantages. Due to all the clutter now in the trunk the engine bay will have really increased potential to become SICK as listed below.

Actually I dunno if an expansion tank will even be used. Maybe just an overflow and catch is simpler. And if I have variable airflow over the rad with the option for no flow the thermostat can probably be removed altogether for simplified plumbing and less stress on the pump.

Finally, titanium hardlines to the rear would seem to be ideal.

Has following disadvantages:

--requires battery relocation depending on your ventilation strategy
--increasing weight with increasing simplicity of pump / plumbing (increasing rad travel pipe diameter)
--costs money
--needs effort
--can't use trunk anymore (who uses it anyways?)

Has following advantages:

--more room in engine bay
--cooler engine bay, aesthetically speaking
--cooler engine bay, thermally speaking
--vastly cleaner engine bay, "shaved" look possible
--better weight distribution. sorely needed because the car becomes front heavy after removing all low hanging fruit weight-wise
--better potential for ventilation depending on where you are willing to draw / exhaust the air, so possibly more cooling ability. also there is more thermal capacity.

Last edited by The Wind Breezes; 06-28-2018 at 10:43 PM..
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      06-29-2018, 12:51 AM   #2
HyeWarrior
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No doubt that the weight distribution would be more ideal/balanced, but it seems like an awful lot of work, money and effort for what may be very little payoff.
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      06-29-2018, 06:14 PM   #3
Gizmo135i
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Please do this and post pictures
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      06-29-2018, 06:44 PM   #4
Ginger_Extract
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You might want to find some Pro Am/FD drivers and see what they are doing to make this work. For drifting rear mounted rad setups are becoming common as they don't get pummeled with smoke like conventional front-mounted setups do and, as a result, help the car stay cool.
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      06-29-2018, 07:37 PM   #5
The Wind Breezes
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To update this thread I decided why stop with the CAR'S cooling system? How about move the human cooling system to the back as well? In my last car I took out the AC in search of full weight reduction but that is too much of a compromise if I'm not racing for money. Anyway the compressor, condenser, filter drier, piping, not to mention the whole blower / evaporator unit can all be moved to the back. This involves gutting some of the dash as well as the engine bay. At this point it probably makes the most sense to run the AC electrically. Unfortunately that is a tall order for our stock alternator but a ram-air turbine can add the necessary power on demand when the car is moving. The stock alternator can run the AC by itself in low power mode when the RAT is not spinning.

edit: stock alternator is 180 amps, damn! It should be possible to run a meaningful cooling system off that even after subtracting demand from everything else.

I'm still thinking about the charging system. It isn't too good stock, with a very heavy generator sitting far forward and relatively high up. Any suggestions are welcome.

Anyway back on planet earth I've been doing a little more research on hoses. Some people run aluminum pipe, which may end up being what I'll do, but in the meantime I have found some sexy braided hoses:

https://www.hosecraftusa.com/model/T...e_Braided_Hose

Advantages are they look good, which is not a total throwaway since they will come up to be seen in the trunk / engine bay. Doesn't corrode either but the Al shouldn't be too bad with the right coolant. Only available with stainless NPT connectors from that vendor.

Anyone know about some sicker hoses than these, or have a vendor to recommend? I think 1" id feed and return is probably realistic.

Last edited by The Wind Breezes; 06-29-2018 at 08:18 PM..
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