Aussie Desert Cooler.

[Ed]

Guys,
Im considering purchasing an Aussie Desert Cooler (aluminium).
Anybody use one? Are they as good as they say?
I’ve discovered a small leak in my radiator and during peak hour traffic today had my eyes glued to the temp (more than usual anyway).  I’m hoping to be able to just run thermos and no engine fan if I upgrade to an Desert Cooler.

the car normally sits around 175F with no traffic but goes up over 195F in heavy traffic using an engine fan (no shroud) and win 12 inch thermos.  I have considered fitting a shroud (modified HQ unit) but chances are I wont be able to get the bottom half to fit, so the effectiveness is compromised at best anway.  Thoughts??

Cheers

Ed

[Al]

Hi Ed,    Ben had a lot of trouble keeping the HR cool, he had the Aussie Desert Rad in it with thermos but it still got hot in traffic and really hot days. After a lot of pain, I finally convinced him to put on a large flexible engine fan  (you know how stubburn Ben is  ) and it fixed the overheating problem. The trouble with putting bigger motors in these cars is that the engine bay is too small and the heat from the motor and exhaust can,t get away quick enough which causes heating problems. Ben also has a transmission fan cooler under the front of the car which helps as well. I think any good radiator will do the job with a bit of help from other things.            Cheers Al

[Ed]

that's interesting Al,

sounds like my radiator is OK then, it gets warm but will overheat only in the worst of conditions.

I will get it fixed and add a shroud.

i was in peak hour crawl for over an hour today along victoria road, anzac bridge and then into redfern, the highest it got was nudging 200F.

Cheers

Ed

[Ed]

just to add....

Louvres in the bonnet are great for cooling. if you touch the louvres after driving they are significantly hotter than the surrounding metal, suggesting that the hot air is being drawn out there.

Also exhausts past the frame look great but add to the heating of the engine bay.  Exhausts thru the inner guards may look bad, but have benefits.

[Al]

Ed,    what you can do which I,ve done before is to increase water capacity, I use,t to get a cortina rocker covers drill a hole in the opposite end from the oil filler and soilder a radiator outlet connection in, (same size as the bottom rad hose) then weld a plate the length of the opening on the R Cover with 4 mounting holes. Mount the RC on front panel (close to radiator) put a hose from the bottom of the rad to the connection on bottom of RC then from top of RC put another hose to water pump on motor, gives the motor about 4 extra litres. You don,t have to use a RC. I used Cortina ones because the oil filler neck was long and the right size for hoses, plus every wrecker had them and they were cheap. Try something like that!!!! might be easier than trying to make a shroud fit.  Hope this helps you.           Cheers Al

[Al]

Oops... they were the early 1600cc push rod motor Cortina rocker covers not the overhead cam ones.      Al

[Ed]

Again very interesting Al!

Ive been looking at a HQ shroud and reckon I can make it work without too much trouble.

The extra circulating volume seems like a neat trick, the only trouble I'd have is hiding the tank!

If the shroud fails I will try the tank.

Cheers

Ed

[JB]

Hey Ed, I haven't had any cooling probs with my set up possibly because the thermo fans have the shrouds from the Commodore built in. Maybe just that you need to make the shroud fit properly forcing the air to go where it is meant to.

Cheers
Jason.

[Ed]

Hey Jas,

I think you're right.

At speed the temp is very stable even on + 40°C days.

at low speed and traffic, air movement through the core isn't so good.

Shrouding the engine fan should cure all probs I reckon.  I have designed one, I will get the local sheet metal place to bend one up for me.

I did try shrouding twin thermos on the rear but it didnt work at all, I suspect twin 12's cant pull enough air for a dense 4 row core, cooling at highway temps were terrible, probably due to restricted movement through the core.

i may even change to a genuine GMH VN water pump which will have the added bonus of moving the fan closer to the core as well.

Cheers

Ed

[GOA350]

G'day Ed,
             just my two bobs worth, I have a custom made cross flow alluminium radiator for my car, it has a custom made shroud and runs an engine fan. I also have a 16" thermo fan on the front for those 40C heavy traffic days. My 350 chev has no problems and my motor is not standard.
                       Cheers Scott

[Ed]

Hey Scott,

I remember checking out your radiator closely at the last 2 NAts.

On the weekend i got busy.  I shrouded the radiator but decided to run the twin thermos on the rear.  I reckon last time I must've got the directions of one of the fans wrong, hence why it overheated at speed.

So again im trying it.  I built some nice brackets for the trans cooler (and in case i need to run the fans in front again).  The job of course took longer than expected so I may get to test it this evening.

Using a piece of paper I tested the pull of air thru the core and it really sucks the air through now, so I'm hoping for a good outcome.

the radiator was cleaned and repaired too.. so fingers crossed.

Cheers

Ed

[FB_MAD]

Air, like water and electricity, is lazy.It will take the least line of resistance ( if I had a choice I would too ).

At low vehicle speeds/engine speeds the air would rather take the easy path of over the top of the radiator and under the radiator and then into the fan rather than through the radiator, whilst some air will go through the radiator, most will go around it and airflow through the radiator is diminished as a result.
Moving the fan closer to the radiator and/or adding a fan with more blades can help a bit but we all know the dangers of what happens if we get too close .

Fitting a shroud that fits the radiator neatly over the entire core area and allows the fan to run into the shroud about an inch will give air no other option than to go through the radiator and not around it as with no shroud.

More air through radiator = more cooling especially at low vehicle speed/engine speed such as traffic conditions.

I worked for a radiator expert for a short time and this is what I learn't from him and also experienced in practising what he preached.

Hope this advice helps Ed.

Let us know how you go.

Cheers,

Terry.

[Ed]

thanks terry,

it helps thanks, I figured since my car would never overheat at speed then the capacity of the system is OK.

Airflow as you say is the thing im lacking.  Shrouding the engine fan is a bugger of a job, not much clearance between fan, sway bar, motor.. you name it.

If the twin thermo set up proves inadequate, then I will use a late model VN water pump which will bring the fan closer to the core and i will switch the thermos to the front side again.

shrouding the egine fan it is proving more difficult than I had first thought, but would offfer the best airflow.

previously the einge fan was just recirculating hot engine bay temps, and the thermos were not utilising the max core area due to the push configuration.

will let you know how it goes.

Cheers

Ed

[Ed]

Radiator update...

Rear mounted thermos didnt provide enough airflow to cool the motor... in fact it was alot worse, whether at speed or idle. 

On the up side throttle response with no engine fan was fantastic 
and the transmission cooler was getting the optimum air flow.  I have a sneaking suspicion that the trans cooler was putting alot of heat into the radiator.  When the convertor would lock up on freeway the main coolant temp would start to drop due to increased airflow and this combined effect.

where to from here?

1) back to original setup which is pretty good 95% of the time.
2) original setup with minor inprovements (ie a shroud) which will be a bugger to do but... doable

Does anybody know if you can covert an existing brass copper radiator to the "triple flow" design of an ADC?  do NATRAD have these tanks or is it an exclusive technology?

Cheers

Ed

[FB_MAD]

From memory,

The ADC tripple design used flow directing baffles in the tanks to direct the flow in the radiator by basically separating the one core into 3 smaller cores.They do this by fitting flow stopping baffles in certain sections of the top and bottom tanks ( assuming its not a side flow or crossflow radiator that is)and this makes the coolant flow through the radiator 3 times.

If you were to convert an existing brass radiator ( again assuming its not a crossflow one ) and you were handy with metalworking and soldering then this is how I'd do it.

Desolder top and bottom tanks ( obviously  ) and make up a baffle that fitted very neatly in the top tank about a third of the way along from the top hot coolant inlet and making sure it fitted neatly between the core tubes effectively sealing off this section at the top.Solder this in to the top tank.This would force the coolant to flow down that 1/3rd section to the bottom of the radiator.Then just do the same in the bottom tank again with a baffle soldered in the bottom 1/3rd section of the tank closest to the cold coolant ( hopefully  ) outlet.

The coolant should ( if done correctly ) flow in the top radiator inlet and down the first 1/3rd of the core to the bottom.Then up the middle 1/3rd area of the core to the top and then back down the other 1/3rd section of the radiator to the cold water ( again, hopefully ) outlet.

A crossflow radiator would be done the same way.

Hope that helps,

Cheers,

Terry.

P.S.  Would be a good idea while the tanks are off to clear the core tubes of any crap that might be blocking them but be carefull with any scale deposits if they are jammed into the cores as too much force used to get the scale out of the tubes can actually pierce the tube and render the core useless unless you chop into the core and solder up the hole that is

[FB_MAD]

Forgot something,
The twin thermos would work better at the front of the radiator than at the rear as air is "pushed" easier than "sucked" if that makes any sense

Cheers,

Terry.

[Ed]

Hey Terry,

handy tip!  I  had thought about doing this but im scared of soldering a radiator.. let me chop up some panels instead lol....

anyway I gave Norm a call at ADC and he offered up some good advice as well without selling me a ADC.... yet... nice guy.

He reckons the aftermarket water pump im using should be binned, and the twin thermos im using (ningbo Xingchen brand no less) are crap and since the motor is dropping down to a nice temp on the highway, the radiator is adequate.

so.. I just bought a genuine red motor water pump (ebay) and since Norm was helpful I purchased some thermos from him.   He reckons these are rated closer to the nominal 1000cfm (12inch diameter) most brands claim to be.

so I'm going to try these fans and this waterpump first..

here we go again.

Cheers

Ed

[FB_MAD]

Yep,

Keep it simple.

New water pump and new fans would be an easier option to try rather than time consuming radiator modifying.

I've heard from a lot of blokes about some aftermarket water pumps having cavitation problems from poor design so maybe that could be part of your problem.

Be interested to know how it works out for you.

Cheers,

Terry.

[FC427]

Hi Ed I also tried two 12'' fans on a V8 in an FC they were Davis Craig so weren't cheep ones and it had a large Aluminium radiator and it still got hot . My 6 cylinder with the super charger I again tried this combo custom made aluminium radiator with 2 Davis Craig 12'' fans and it got hot I thought that 2000 cfm of air would be ample it was not, changed both to 16'' 3200 cfm fans and the V8 can idle all day  The 16 '' is the largest I could fit in the front of the radiator . I have got to know Norm over the years and if you want to send back the 2 you ordered and get a 16'' he should have no problems with that ,I have a pair of the 12'' fans here if you want to try them on your car instead of opening the new fans you have ordered I am pretty sure they have mounting brackets on them. FC427

[Ed]

Hi Mark,

If it didn't work for you I doubt I will get a better result.

so you're running a single 16 on the front of the V8 and ute?

I'm going to have to satisfy my curiosity and see how these ICE fans and new water pump work on the setup .  I should have them in the next day or so.

the thermo set up as a pusher and an engine fan is appearing to be the most robust option. I think i'm getting fussy after briefly having no engine fan.. the difference in throttle response is significant!

im not flying in the face of your good advice Mark, but I'd like to see any difference in the quality of fan and water pump used... a little experiment before i revert back to the original set up.

Cheers

Ed