eclou's LS1 track car

Are these rads single core or dual or maybe triple? max cooling, what is the max width you can run(thickness).

eclou, if anyone wants some feedback on rads for our conversions, I'd suggest full fan shrouds.

My RH rad has a single fan and its fan shroud is only the size of the actual fan itself, so at a stop light or slow traffic or whatever there's only air being pulled through the portion of the rad that's in front of the fan, leaving much of the rad with no air flowing through it all. When my AC is running in the hot LA summer weather, my water temps get way too high in stop and go traffic.

If the fan had a full shroud, air would be pulled by the fan through the entire rad at low speeds/stop lights and the cooling in those situations would be better.

I ended up putting in a new 951 radiator. I'm using the factory shrouding and fans and I ran an belly pan extension. Even the factory radiator was a tight fit getting it in and out of the car...

We'll see what difference that makes on the track, the car seemed to run much cooler on the street, but with it being winter it's hard to know for sure.

I'm interested to see what someone comes up with as a specific radiator for our swap.

I'm going to take a photo of the shroud I made when I get home. I think it is a no-brainer to make and you can use a sheet of thin aluminum from Home Depot or Lowes to make one in less than 30 min

acorad wrote:eclou, if anyone wants some feedback on rads for our conversions, I'd suggest full shrouds.

My RH rad has a single fan and its shroud is only the size of the actual fan itself, so at a stop light or slow traffic or whatever there's only air flowing through the portion of the rad that's in front of the fan, leaving much of the rad with no air flowing through it all. When my AC is running in the hot LA summer weather, my water temps get way too high in stop and go traffic.

If the rad had a full shroud, air would be flowing through the entire rad at low speeds/stop lights and the cooling would be better.

A full shroud may be good for a street car in stop and go traffic, but that is the last thing you want on a track car as is cuts down on air flow through the radiator at speed. I opted for a Griffin two-core radiator and use a very open 16" fan (2700 cfm) with no shrouding at all. Yes, it takes it a bit longer to cool the car after coming off track, but that's the least of my worries.

Tim can you explain what you mean by the shroud cutting down airflow thru the radiator at speed? Without a shroud air will typically take the path of least resistance - around the radiator instead of through it.

Lemming wrote:A full shroud may be good for a street car in stop and go traffic, but that is the last thing you want on a track car as is cuts down on air flow through the radiator at speed. I opted for a Griffin two-core radiator and use a very open 16" fan (2700 cfm) with no shrouding at all. Yes, it takes it a bit longer to cool the car after coming off track, but that's the least of my worries.

eclou, is the new rad for DD's or track cars?

acorad wrote:eclou, is the new rad for DD's or track cars?

I think it would be suitable for either. The design mockup I saw would allow for a number of advantages - inlet and outlet of the radiator would be on the same side as the waterpump necks and coolant tank inlet would also be on the correct side as our overflow tanks, thus allowing complete elimination of the crossover pipe. I estimate 75% reduction in radiator hose lengths as well. This would really clean-up the front of the engine bay

eclou wrote:Tim can you explain what you mean by the shroud cutting down airflow thru the radiator at speed? Without a shroud air will typically take the path of least resistance - around the radiator instead of through it.

I was under the impression that acorad was discussing a rear fan shroud and that is what I would not put on a track car. Ducting in front of the radiator is essential to force air through the radiator and not around it.

New radiator sounds good, it would be nice to have less hoses in the car and get rid of the crossover pipe.

For front ducting, remember, ideally the opening in the front of the car is approximately 30% of the radiator surface. The ducting should then the open up and encompass the entire rad. This allows for greater flow through the radiator by preventing flow reversal out of the duct at speed as well as increasing air speed through the radiator. Corky Bell has a great section dealing with ducting and cooling in his book on supercharging.

eclou wrote:I'm going to take a photo of the shroud I made when I get home. I think it is a no-brainer to make and you can use a sheet of thin aluminum from Home Depot or Lowes to make one in less than 30 min

This is a fan shroud, behind the rad to the fan, right? Not ducting in front of the rad? Love to see a pic. How do you attach/seal the fan shroud to the sides of the rad?

acorad wrote:

eclou wrote:I'm going to take a photo of the shroud I made when I get home. I think it is a no-brainer to make and you can use a sheet of thin aluminum from Home Depot or Lowes to make one in less than 30 min

This is a fan shroud, behind the rad to the fan, right? Not ducting in front of the rad? Love to see a pic. How do you attach/seal the fan shroud to the sides of the rad?

no not a rear fan shroud but a front duct. Sorry I should have been more clear in my description. I have no rear fan shroud.

Lemming wrote:

eclou wrote:Tim can you explain what you mean by the shroud cutting down airflow thru the radiator at speed? Without a shroud air will typically take the path of least resistance - around the radiator instead of through it.

I was under the impression that acorad was discussing a rear fan shroud and that is what I would not put on a track car. Ducting in front of the radiator is essential to force air through the radiator and not around it.

gotcha. We're on the same page!

I'd like to see the front ducting you've done as well...

Thanks eclou.

I edited my original fan shroud comment to make it clearer what I meant.

acorad wrote:Thanks eclou.

I edited my original fan shroud comment to make it clearer what I meant.

My radiator is angled forward and I have quite a bit of room between it and the engine. I've been considering adding ducting (not a fan shroud) to pull air out through my hood vents. That will also minimize air that is being pushed below the car. Just need to come up with a good design that is easily removed if I need to get in there to work.

Lemming wrote:
My radiator is angled forward and I have quite a bit of room between it and the engine. I've been considering adding ducting (not a fan shroud) to pull air out through my hood vents. That will also minimize air that is being pushed below the car. Just need to come up with a good design that is easily removed if I need to get in there to work.

Ya, I think some of my insufficent low/no speed cooling issue is getting the hot air out of the engine bay. I don't have hood vents.

I slanted mine the other direction. The top is in the stock location, the bottom is almost touching the front bumper. I shrouded the top to make sure the air flows through the radiator. The advantage to this is the air naturally flows out the bottom of the car.

Seems like it would be tough to force hot air to go down, but I guess if the fan is blowing it down that would work.

acorad wrote:Seems like it would be tough to force hot air to go down, but I guess if the fan is blowing it down that would work.

Down is the way that a stock vette is set up. I think that is mostly because on stock cars there is no where for the air to go up (sealed hood). On the other hand, most purpose built race car are extracting air from a vented hood and trying to keep air from going under the car.

acorad wrote:Seems like it would be tough to force hot air to go down, but I guess if the fan is blowing it down that would work.

At speed or when the fan is on it DEFINATELY blows down. Not the best way for race car though, it will generate some lift and definately more drag at high speed.

Lemming wrote:

acorad wrote:Seems like it would be tough to force hot air to go down, but I guess if the fan is blowing it down that would work.

Down is the way that a stock vette is set up. I think that is mostly because on stock cars there is no where for the air to go up (sealed hood). On the other hand, most purpose built race car are extracting air from a vented hood and trying to keep air from going under the car.

Where do you think I got the idea......

Dawgz83948 wrote:

acorad wrote:Seems like it would be tough to force hot air to go down, but I guess if the fan is blowing it down that would work.

At speed or when the fan is on it DEFINATELY blows down. Not the best way for race car though, it will generate some lift and definately more drag at high speed.

When I have my fan on, the amount of air coming out the top is much greater than what goes down. Internal ducting would work even better!

Lemming wrote:

Dawgz83948 wrote:

acorad wrote:Seems like it would be tough to force hot air to go down, but I guess if the fan is blowing it down that would work.

At speed or when the fan is on it DEFINATELY blows down. Not the best way for race car though, it will generate some lift and definately more drag at high speed.

When I have my fan on, the amount of air coming out the top is much greater than what goes down. Internal ducting would work even better!

I was talking specifically about my setup. I noticed before when my radiator was pointing up (in my 83) it was noticeably cooler when I removed the weatherstripping and raised the rear part of the hood to allow the hot air to flow out.