Wasting that heat more efficiently

[3dplane]

One of the major enemies of drag is the cooling package with it's gaping
holes in the front of the vehicle. I know a lot of ecomodders are using grill blocks or partial grill blocks due to the obvious overheating problem.

Every time I open a hood on a vehicle I find myself looking for unused space in the engine bay area where an extra radiator could be housed.

The extra radiator could be one or more heater core(s) or what ever fits and could be plumbed in with the cooling system. My car for example has plenty of room between the front bumper and a/c condenser for two heater cores.

I keep thinking if there was more surface area for the coolant to get rid of heat,we could possibly completely do away with the air inlet openings on the front of our vehicles or at least just have a tiny opening and benefit from the aero advantages.

Even if you had a full belly pan,there might be enough ventilation around the wheels/front suspension to be sufficient cooling but this would all depend on vehicle and individual driving style,rout,mods,etc.

Of course plumbing would require special T-fittings or splitters,hoses or adapters but I don't want to get into that part now.

Would this work?
Would it be just a lot of hassle for not so much gains?
What's your take on it guys? I'm just brain storming here.

Barna

[NiHaoMike]

It would take a lot of work, but you could thermally bond copper tubing to parts of the metal shell to make it act as a heatsink.

[redpoint5]

Interesting idea. How about a hood made of aluiminum that acts as a heat sink? The problem I see with both of these ideas is the lack of air movement when a fan needs to run to cool things off. My question is, how much can one gain by entirely blocking off the grill?

[Bicycle Bob]

Is the air behind your current rad close to the coolant temperature? If so, there's not much to gain by adding area. There is a lot more to be gained just by excellent ducting and controlled openings.

[Daox]

I completely agree with Bob. If you don't have much airflow (and you won't with a full grill block), the air thats already gone through the radiator is gonna be very hot and not capable of absorbing much more heat. You'll get less and less cooling from the same amount of surface area to the point where its almost going to be useless and just adding unnecessary weight.

Since I am running a full grill block year round on my Paseo, an idea I had was to use an aluminum belly pan and braze copper tubing to it. I would run that in parallel or series with the radiator for additional cooling. I don't like the aluminum hood idea due to possible injury from a 200F+ hood.

Honestly, with my 21 mile commute, my radiator fan comes on at most (peak heat in summer afternoon driving) a half dozen times for 10-15 seconds. I just deal with it and basically use the capacity of the cooling system to do the majority of my cooling. This is obviously not a good idea for longer trips though.

[Bicycle Bob]

Salty water on an aluminum/copper tray could be a short-lived arrangement. I'd stick with aluminum tubing for a surface rad. Zinc-based brazing is easy, and gives minimal galvanic action, still eating the aluminum. To get a sense of the size needed, imagine spreading out the innards of a standard rad. The surface rads on a snowmobile depend on a snow spray. The freezer compartments of old refrigerators might be unwrapped to lay flat.

[NiHaoMike]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

Interesting idea. How about a hood made of aluiminum that acts as a heat sink? The problem I see with both of these ideas is the lack of air movement when a fan needs to run to cool things off. My question is, how much can one gain by entirely blocking off the grill?

It could be possible to add fins to improve heatsinking, but I'm not sure what it would do to aerodynamics. Probably not much if the fins are thin and not too dense. Maybe something like 1-2cm high by 1mm thick, spaced 0.5-1cm apart, and tapered at the front and back to conform to an aerodynamic profile.

[Patrick]

How about a NACA duct in the belly pan running to the repurposed heater core?

NACA duct - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://sports.racer.net/tech_info/ae...calculator.xls

[PaleMelanesian]

Keep the radiator and resize the inlet and outlet.

Phil Knox aerodynamics photo albums

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by Daox

Since I am running a full grill block year round on my Paseo, an idea I had was to use an aluminum belly pan and braze copper tubing to it. I would run that in parallel or series with the radiator for additional cooling. I don't like the aluminum hood idea due to possible injury from a 200F+ hood.

I'm extremely interested in your belly pan idea. Do you have any pictures?

As for aluminum hood scalding... I see it as a cheap way to keep cats and other critters off.

Actually, the more I think about it, the more I like the idea because the hood is commonly replaced with carbon fiber or fiberglass to reduce weight and increase performance.

I wonder if it's possible to have a decent looking aluminum hood fabricated, but I'm scared to ask how much it would cost.