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Author: Subject: feedback on cooling system please?
craigdiver

posted on 6/1/18 at 11:24 AM Reply With Quote
feedback on cooling system please?

cooling system hooked up (no clips, just setting up pipe work), does it look ok?

second image red arrows showing proposed coolant bottle connections (from engine to bottom of coolant bottle and radiator to top)









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craigdiver

posted on 6/1/18 at 11:26 AM Reply With Quote
another photo







If it ain't broken, fix it anyway (just because).

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CosKev3

posted on 6/1/18 at 11:39 AM Reply With Quote
Connections to header tank will be fine,as long as that one on the block is pulling coolant into the system,not pushing it out
Don't know the engine sorry so don't know how the coolant circulates!

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rodgling

posted on 6/1/18 at 12:20 PM Reply With Quote
Rad connection looks good. I don't use an expansion bottle on mine (E36 M3 engine), don't have any issues with this arrangement - I end up with 5 cm of air at the top of the rad but it works and cools the engine just fine. It is a bigger rad than you've used though.

BTW I have a spare 11" fan (Spal) if you need one? (I switched to using a suction fan because of moving the oil cooler in front of the rad).

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craigdiver

posted on 6/1/18 at 12:55 PM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by rodgling
Rad connection looks good. I don't use an expansion bottle on mine (E36 M3 engine), don't have any issues with this arrangement - I end up with 5 cm of air at the top of the rad but it works and cools the engine just fine. It is a bigger rad than you've used though.

BTW I have a spare 11" fan (Spal) if you need one? (I switched to using a suction fan because of moving the oil cooler in front of the rad).


thanks rodgling, I think the polo rad will be borderline but car will not be pushed too hard, just for road use. I do have a fan that will be mounted behind radiator, just need to pick up some more flat bar to fabricate some mounts. once through sva I think i will look at an M3 upgrade.

cheers

craig





If it ain't broken, fix it anyway (just because).

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mcramsay

posted on 6/1/18 at 03:16 PM Reply With Quote
I used an uprated Ali polo rad in my m3 Marlin and it could not cope with the m3 lump being strapped to it! It was borderline at higher speeds but around town there was just not enough airflow through the rad to do its job properly, even with ducting round the rad and bonnet louvres added.

I ended up swapping it out for a bigger radiator sorted the problems out. This was on an S50B32 lump by the way

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craigdiver

posted on 6/1/18 at 05:27 PM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by mcramsay
I used an uprated Ali polo rad in my m3 Marlin and it could not cope with the m3 lump being strapped to it! It was borderline at higher speeds but around town there was just not enough airflow through the rad to do its job properly, even with ducting round the rad and bonnet louvres added.

I ended up swapping it out for a bigger radiator sorted the problems out. This was on an S50B32 lump by the way


the bigger rad, was it a standard production rad or did you have it made?





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mcramsay

posted on 6/1/18 at 06:10 PM Reply With Quote
It was from coolex I believe it was a Granada radiator but a few bits custom made to my requirements. This was on a Marlin though which has no room for a radiator so I had very limited choice of what was available off the shelf.

The m3 engine as standard uses a viscous fan, which I would have kept if I had the room, it would have probably have meant the polo type rad would have worked.


If I remember my sums when working out the size I required for the rad the polo rad is has 55% less surface area than the stock radiator fitted to the m3 production car.

I Cannot reccomend cool experts (coolex) enough they will make any radiator you want with the inlets and outlets any position you want and for a really reasonable price!

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rodgling

posted on 6/1/18 at 08:03 PM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by craigdiver
quote:
Originally posted by rodgling
Rad connection looks good. I don't use an expansion bottle on mine (E36 M3 engine), don't have any issues with this arrangement - I end up with 5 cm of air at the top of the rad but it works and cools the engine just fine. It is a bigger rad than you've used though.

BTW I have a spare 11" fan (Spal) if you need one? (I switched to using a suction fan because of moving the oil cooler in front of the rad).


thanks rodgling, I think the polo rad will be borderline but car will not be pushed too hard, just for road use. I do have a fan that will be mounted behind radiator, just need to pick up some more flat bar to fabricate some mounts. once through sva I think i will look at an M3 upgrade.

cheers

craig


I'm not sure... the hardest work the rad gets is when you're stuck in traffic, on track it has an easier job because of the airflow. On my car, cooling is a bit tricky because I have an oil cooler blocking half the rad, so it's all a bit borderline.

I suspect if you don't have an oil cooler in front of the rad, you should be OK on the road with a decent fan. Try it and see I guess. One thing that helped me a lot was using a coolant flush which gets rust out of the system - this made a big improvement.

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mcramsay

posted on 6/1/18 at 08:39 PM Reply With Quote
I thought the same as above about the radiator and being stuck in traffic however I was wrong, on idle there is very little heat input to the cooling system, however at slower speeds with the engine under load is where the cooling system will struggle more as due to the low velocity of air through the rad.


I only mention it out of experience and great expense .. 3 different radiators finally the last one worked. I also went down the Davies craig water pump route... this doesn’t work on the s50b32 engine without major replumbing and modification of the stock thermostat which cannot be removed as suggested by Davis craig... the cooling system needs it to be there.

In short the polo rad (especially the plastic one) is not man enough for the m3 engine unless you have 15” kenlowe fan on full pelt running at all times. That’s the only way I could get it to not over heat.

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craigdiver

posted on 6/1/18 at 09:44 PM Reply With Quote
my engine is the M52TUB25, hopefully should produce less heat than the M3 lump





If it ain't broken, fix it anyway (just because).

Building - BMW powered Haynes Roadster/442E hybrid.

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rodgling

posted on 6/1/18 at 11:45 PM Reply With Quote
One modification I would make to the above setup is to bring the intake forward so it sits in front of the radiator. On my car the filter is enclosed and the duct sits just next to the radiator. The theory is that when moving, it gets a good cold air feed, and when stationary, it generates some moving air over the radiator... probably doesn't help much but might as well.
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