[Edited on 24/4/23 by coyoteboy]
My striker has 4!! radiators at the front. Currently they are poorly laid out with gaps between them and blocked air flow. What is the best order for
them?
Intercooler
Water rad
Engine oil rad
Rotrex SC rad
I am going to try and get the intercooler Infront of the water rad with no gap between them. The oil rads are also important though and with the
intercooler / water rad all of my frontage is used.
I could try and duct in some cole air but not sure where from.
Thoughts and pics welcome.
To achieve the best overall cooling they should be placed in order of the expected fluid temperature in each radiator.
Coolest should be first (to meet the cold airflow)...
Hottest should be last.
Intercooler
Rotrex SC rad
Engine oil rad
Water rad
Totally depends on the systems in question. Sure, ideally you'd have the coolest rads first so that you maintain the highest delta-T between
airflow and fluid. However if your water rad is right on the limit of sizing, putting it at the back will leave you royally fooked, because
you'll overheat whereas you could have just had slightly warmer intake temps and less power
[Edited on 24/4/23 by coyoteboy]
Thanks for your input to date, keep it coming.
I might have the intercooler followed by the water rad dead centre and then the oil rads mounted to the side back further. I could then play with
ducting and sectioning up the frontal areas to get the optimum.
Reliability is obviously key and therefore keeping temps down. At the moment the oil temps are far too high.
Presumably you'll have to take into account the physical space limitations of a less than massive engine bay with 4 rads in it and all associated
pipework to/from?
The to/from pipework will have additional affects on the temperature as long runs will alter the volume of air/fluid in each system.
Just stick them all over the cabin to keep you toasty in the winter 
I don't know about the relative temperatures of your oil and water, but my tin-top uses a very compact oil to water cooler, so that only a water radiator is needed to cover the needs of both.
205 1.9 GTI oil cooler rad is tiny in comparison to the water rad. That may well affect placement choice.
May be different if you're dry sumped of course.
The answer is *always* BODMAS.
(Facebook users will maybe get the joke! )
[Edited on 25/4/23 by James]
I will have the same issue when I get round to the engine swap in my Westy.
The setup used in the factory (based on the Sport 250) was I/C same size as the rad, mounted directly in front.
I'm planning on mounting the oil cooler in the lower section of the engine bay at the front, somewhere between the steering rack and crank pulley
(probably about 30-45o angle from horizontal, and maybe some ducting where the battery would typically sit behind the nosecone).
The the S/C oil cooler I'm going to look at putting a side panel vent in, and have a direct feed towards it - with the cooler mounted vertically
to the side of the steering column. I've seen this in other vehicle such as Ultima, and Porsche have similar behind front and rear bumper
grills.
All depends on how much space is available, how big the rads are, and how neat you want it to look! As much as I'm a neat freak, I'd
sacrifice for performance every time....
quote:
Originally posted by Charlie_Zetec
I will have the same issue when I get round to the engine swap in my Westy.
The setup used in the factory (based on the Sport 250) was I/C same size as the rad, mounted directly in front.
I'm planning on mounting the oil cooler in the lower section of the engine bay at the front, somewhere between the steering rack and crank pulley (probably about 30-45o angle from horizontal, and maybe some ducting where the battery would typically sit behind the nosecone).
The the S/C oil cooler I'm going to look at putting a side panel vent in, and have a direct feed towards it - with the cooler mounted vertically to the side of the steering column. I've seen this in other vehicle such as Ultima, and Porsche have similar behind front and rear bumper grills.
All depends on how much space is available, how big the rads are, and how neat you want it to look! As much as I'm a neat freak, I'd sacrifice for performance every time....