R32 Handbuilt Race Radiator

[salival]

Hi Guys, I just thought i'd show you some radiator fabrication/porn.. This is the radiator i've made for my r32 gts w/ rb20det in it.. I do these for a job, but this ones for my car! I got it polished as well..

I'm going to run a single 16" fan pulling from the motor side with a shroud (obviously not pictured) as my fan has not arrived, I'll make the shroud unboltable and get this polished at a later stage.

I have no pics of me making it, I didnt take my digicam to work, but it's straight bolt-in to an R32.. It's a 57mm thick 2 row core, Double pass with a baffle in the drivers side tank. Standard skyline pipe sizes with a M16x1.5 thermo boss.. and standard skyline mounts for OEM fitment.

I hand fold/weld the tanks and weld the tanks to the core, The side bands are 10mm folded channel to give strength.. these are built really well.. Although, The standard viscious fan can NOT be used.. Pressure tested to 20psi no problems..

Once again, as per my surge setup, I'd like to see what you guys think/hate.

Thanks,

Scott =)

[mass_iv]

mate that is some quality work. how long did it take u?

[funkymonkey]

and more importantly... how much to make another one? don't need polishing etc.

Is that designed to be used with an electric fan? Which on are you using?

[salival]

mate that is some quality work. how long did it take u?

About a day solid working on it with no workmates wanking on about how their mrs is annoying them =)..

Most of the work is in the prep, really.. with tig welding everything needs to be as clean as possible, I have skyline radiators down to a fine art, though..

I lathe all the mounts for them, the sender bosses etc.. the billet filler necks we buy in..

It's hard over here in New Zealand really, we (radiator shop) have to compete with mass produced chinese goods (no offence to anyone) that can be made with little profit margins.. where as our product is alot of labour/prep..

[salival]

and more importantly... how much to make another one? don't need polishing etc.

Is that designed to be used with an electric fan? Which on are you using?

Greetings,

It's designed for an electric fan, standard viscious fan will NOT come close to fitting.. over all (tank size) is 70mm thick, the channels sit flush with the tanks but the core is 57mm thick..

I'm going to use a high performance A/C fan (I work in the business, they outflow anything) that's 16" wide and make a shroud for it (radiator + fan + no shroud == useless).

I sell these retail for $650+gst NZD.. I'm not looking to "sell" them as such.. this is just one for my own personal car that I thought you guys might like to see.

[unarmed_skyline]

i think the quilty of that job is the reason people would pay top dollar for someone like you to hand make one of these rather than those mass produced ones. very very nice job quality work

[funkymonkey]

yeah the quality of the work, and the fact that its built by an R32 owner for their car means that there's a greater chance of it being a better product than some cheap chinese garbage

With the shroud, electric fan and the radiator mounted how much clearance do you get from the engine?

[salival]

yeah the quality of the work, and the fact that its built by an R32 owner for their car means that there's a greater chance of it being a better product than some cheap chinese garbage

With the shroud, electric fan and the radiator mounted how much clearance do you get from the engine?

I havent gotten that far yet unfortunatly, I had to borrow some cash off a mate to buy another shell (reshelling mine after it was stolen/stripped ) so i'm down on funds at the moment to buy a fan..

I'd estimate it would get close to the crank pully but not close enough to "have a mischief".. The shroud will probably be about 10mm from the core tapering out to about 15-20mm then the fan would add another 70mm or so.. The trick is to get the shroud/fan as airtight as you can..

[Craved]

question regarding the core, are these custom cores? or OEM ones from something else?

i have been involved in making up a custom radiator for a AE86 using a commodore core running in a twin pass like you have used. Soon to be redone for use in the AE86 running a 1jz, looking for thick cores for as cheap as possible.

Also, isnt the temp sender bung on the bottom of the core std? any reason you put it under the top hose?

[Craved]

Also - what guage sheet alloy are you using for the tanks and top/bottom braces?

[salival]

question regarding the core, are these custom cores? or OEM ones from something else?

i have been involved in making up a custom radiator for a AE86 using a commodore core running in a twin pass like you have used. Soon to be redone for use in the AE86 running a 1jz, looking for thick cores for as cheap as possible.

Also, isnt the temp sender bung on the bottom of the core std? any reason you put it under the top hose?

Hi,

This is a custom core, 560x463x57.. I use OEM ones occasionally if I cant find something for a specific job.

I use the temp sender in the top because I use OEM honda ones, you can get differing temperatures for them, I'd prefer it came on when it was "HOT" and not the "COLD" side.. if you get what I mean.. Everyone has their own idea on where it should be placed.. I see alot of manufactures having them in the bottom and alot in the top (esp honda etc).. so.. 6 to 1 half a dozen to the other, I guess?

Thanks,

Scott

[Craved]

yes but the temp bung in the radiator for the R32 is only used for cold start as far as i know, so putting it up top will affect the ECU's temp reading for the cold start.

also using a honda one over the std one seems like it would cause issues with the readings via voltage per degrees.

as you say its for your 32 i would think to mimik the OEM setup but make it cross flow and thicker for higher thermal transfer efficiency.

[salival]

yes but the temp bung in the radiator for the R32 is only used for cold start as far as i know, so putting it up top will affect the ECU's temp reading for the cold start.

also using a honda one over the std one seems like it would cause issues with the readings via voltage per degrees.

as you say its for your 32 i would think to mimik the OEM setup but make it cross flow and thicker for higher thermal transfer efficiency.

Greetings,

The temp sender I use nowhere connects to the ECU. This goes to an external relay to switch the fans.. I've never used standard wiring to control fans in any of my skylines (I've only had GTS's)

The senders I use are for instance: on at 98deg off at 91deg.. From memory the Nissan one is 70ish degrees.

Thanks,

Scott

[Craved]

Greetings,

The temp sender I use nowhere connects to the ECU. This goes to an external relay to switch the fans.. I've never used standard wiring to control fans in any of my skylines (I've only had GTS's)

The senders I use are for instance: on at 98deg off at 91deg.. From memory the Nissan one is 70ish degrees.

Thanks,

Scott

and that makes sense, unless the non turbo dont have a cold start feature (unlikely) they still read from the radiator...

awesome work and not knocking it, just trying to identify something that will cause your car to not run right if the cold start sensor isnt getting a reading then the car will always be in cold start "mode"

check your std radiator, there should be a std bung in it that is connected to the ecu, granted you require the additional one to control the thermo fans.

[salival]

and that makes sense, unless the non turbo dont have a cold start feature (unlikely) they still read from the radiator...

awesome work and not knocking it, just trying to identify something that will cause your car to not run right if the cold start sensor isnt getting a reading then the car will always be in cold start "mode"

check your std radiator, there should be a std bung in it that is connected to the ecu, granted you require the additional one to control the thermo fans.

We use 2mm for all our alloy radiators (tanks/sides) Next one I make i'll take pictures of it being produced.. just finished an oil cooler for a customer today, we make them out of 6mm plate for the tanks..

Non turbos don't have a thermo boss in the bottom tanks but the turbos do, identified by the green plug, I think this was used as well as what you said for switching the A/C fan on in the turbo models?

All my non turbos have had no thermo fans apart from the standard viscious fan on them, I love the viscious fans, but dislike the load they place.. but for airflow they can't be beaten IMO..

[Roy]

Any particular reason why you went side flow ?

[grandmasterb]

Any particular reason why you went side flow ?

x2

[boot_it]

Any particular reason why you went side flow ?

side flow better for cooling the system down

[salival]

Any particular reason why you went side flow ?

Greetings Roy, long time listener, gimme your rb20+td06

We can pretty much only source US cores (which are predominantly cross flow) so I use these, we generally don't have any issues with them apart from they are thick with a tight fin pitch, so without proper ducting they are hard to get air through..

I would personally like to go a 42 thick top to bottom radiator for a street car.. but I can't get any "decent" cores.. we have a shipment coming soon that should fix this problem, but till then I have to stick with these..

Alot of American/Euro manufactures use cross flow with great success, so I don't see why it would be a problem.. especially with the pipes on the right hand side it lends its self quite nicely to the cross flow arrangement.

Thanks,

Scott

p.s offtopic, but Roy.. what BOV do you use in your videos of you at "sandown" I believe? (PI 31-3-07 2.2.avi PI 31-3-07 4.avi)

[turboedsloth]

these look hot. but why the frown whilst taking photos?