Radix heat exchanger upgrade... well, "my twist"

[K.Brown Customs]

for those that know, ya... I'm i paralyzed and in a wheelchair.

and ohhh YA, I got a few pills that I fly on. so call this a dumb idea, or not..... I did this, cuz I CAN!

 

first off,

I took a good size Front Mount Inter-cooler that I got locally on Craig's List for $20

it has 2" in and out necks, on either side that where welded at 45 degrees

the face of it, "cooling part" is- 24" wide, 9" tall, 2" thick

I used the stock Radix mounts on the bottom, I just slotted the rubber mounts some.

then I used 1.5" wide flat stock and made a new upper mount... with rubber.

I got some badass stainless bolts and big stainless fender washers and shoved them threw the fins.

ALL of that was the easy part!!

NEXT,

I cut down the necks in half cuz they were way too tall.

then I had to go from 2" to 1/2"

I took a 2" boost coupler cut it in half, then I cut (2) 2" to 1/2" bell reducers... the rest you can see for fittings.

I know the Radix set up used bigger coolant lines, but this is why I went with 1/2''

THE KICKER,

so far I got more capacity for cooling, but this is the main reason I did this.

I did away with the Bosch pump and put in a bad ass, brass gear pump that I wired to a relay to run "full time"

that way, as soon as the ignition goes on, I'm moving fluid!!

I welded 2 bolts to the frame horn, right next to the washer tank.

 

I cut the grills out... that way when my billet grills get here and I put them in... you cant see the old grill behind it... ( I hate that )

these are the best pics I could grab..

and yes, I DID ALL THE WORK... no help

 

 

 

 

[shawnss]

Its different. I dont know if i would call it a dumb idea. everybody does there own thing. like if it keeps the charger cooler then it would be a slick idea. you never know what works until you try it. I think its neat you tried it. ya never know if it works some other people might try it.

 

its awesome that you do this kind of stuff. instead of sitting back without a care in the world.

Edited November 9, 2012 by shawnss (see edit history)

[K.Brown Customs]

well, from what my old man taught me.... this is gotta work.

move the fluid, re-move the HEAT

right?

[RaMoN_88_SS]

That's very cool and its very creative...it has to work a lot better than stock..

 

This got my mind going a little bit...but what if instead of both the inlet and outlet being on the same level ...what if you put the outlet on the bottom? Maybe it would be a little more efficent? Idk

 

That's awesome that you did it all yourself...I can't wait until I find a dd so I can start working on my baby

[Cramer]

Two things I can bring up on this is the fact that it is a tube and fin style intercooler with open sides. That means that the fluid will flow straight through from one side to the other and actually will have gone through less cooling surface than a regular hear exchanger. This also brings to light that the intercooler must be totally full all the time. The fluid will not be cooled fast enough going from one side to the other since it will be getting pumped from the top and it also enters the top. The heated fluid will in return re-heat the entering fluid and the intercooler will be heat soaked. The other thing is the fittings in the top. They are a huge restriction in flow and the pump might not last as long as it should

Edited November 9, 2012 by sinr98 (see edit history)

[K.Brown Customs]

hmmm,,,,

now idk.

you brought up 2 really good points

the part about how the cooler flows, i thing you maybe right.

the pumpfor that matter, is a great HD brass gear pump. theres nothing cheasy about it. and i dont think its restricked one bit. anyways good points and all together im not 100% finished. i will post up what i find out

thanx

[ThatTallCanadian]

I can't really comment on the cooler, but think u could post more of the grill being cut out? I have the bolt on style and I was planning on getting the cutout style eventually.

[The_aSSet]

I would've put a temp sensor gauge on it before and after to see if there was any change. Good on you for thinking outside the box though

[1BAD2K]

Cool install. I've done some research on this too and that's what made me purchase a tvs1900 for the ss right out of the box. I sold that off and the truck and came across a good deal on a radix, so I picked it up. From what I've read the coolant should be in the H/X for a given amount of time to be cooled. It's good that you restricted it down some imo bc it seems like if it moved through too quickly it wouldn't have time to dissipate the heat before re entering the system. I'm going to do the same again except just add a second cooler in the grille in the front bumper. Frozen boost sells a nice little radiator that fits PERFECTLY! I also still have two small spal fans to mount to it. Then again with the LS6 going in my build, I don't think ill tun smaller than a 3.0 pulley. Nice jobs though!

 

 

On a side note, I hate seeing that you cut an OEM ss grille lol. They are so nice imo. Lol

[chrishoekusmc]

On a side note, I hate seeing that you cut an OEM ss grille lol. They are so nice imo. Lol

 

They are actually pretty damn strong too. I bounced a seagull off of mine at about 45-50 mph a while back.

[K.Brown Customs]

here's whats bugging me now....

the pump is pretty gnarly,. has brass gears, self primping, 20 gallon per min

but when the fluid is being pumped into the top.... watch the arrrows

does it only cross over in the top area? does that mean were the x's are its just standing fluid?

its got me thinking hard now.

KB-

[kissfans03ss]

Technically it should work like a radiator and fluid should flow across the horizontal lines and all the fins direct air through the cooler to cool your fluid.its basically a small radiator but dont damage the flat bars(where your x's are) or you will develop a leak.

 

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[canadianVRss]

Okay, a few things to look at here. You say you got a gear style pump, (herringbone style, or some type of helical gear I'm guessing) which is a positive displacement pump. A positive displacement pump barely has any blow-by (gear pump, air commpressor, even twin screw to an extent) it's mechanically sealed do to tight clearances. Non positive displacement pumps include turbos, pro chargers anything that if you plug off the outlet it won't keep building pressure, it'll let air pass back into the compression side. That being said, your positive displacement pump is probably making those little lines pressure up pretty high. The pump doesn't give a shit, it's going to pump HARD, because it can't release any pressure it's building in front of it back into the inlet (possitive displacement), lines be damned it's going to do its job. I suggest adding a little girth to them to improve flow, and take it a bit easier on the pump.

 

Next you have the intercooler question, Sinr brought up a good point. Yes, if it's a open flow design it will take the "path of least resistance" (fluid and air dynamics 101). So the flow will go straight across. BUT some intercoolers will actually have the inside channeled like this ////// from top to bottom to promote more surface area. Guess you got to figure out which you have.

[Cramer]

That is what I was implying in my post earlier. The fluid at the bottom will be stagnant for the most part and when it absorbs heat it will transfer the heat to the intercooler which will transfer it back to the fluid that is passing through it. Also the heat will be radiated to the top and create air traps since there is no purge valve.

[K.Brown Customs]

what if I cut the "out" side off and weld it on the bottom corner?

would that help the fluid pass threw more veins?

KB-