Overheating with Full Race Intercooler

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smurfslayer

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When I was in high school I wanted a fast car, I ended up getting a well used ’70 442 auto. I set about adding power piece by expensive piece. in todays money it was cheap, but in just out of high school budget days, it was pricey.

I was ‘counseled’ about cooling and that I’d be adding a lot of heat, so I added a radiator ... I think it was from an early 70’s Ninety Eight, it was the highest capacity I could find and was a drop in. I fine for a little bit, but someone talked me into a flex fan. I will say, it moved a lot of air. It also moved a huge chunk out of the radiator guard when my motor mount broke.

I didn’t know the motor mount was broken right away, but when it let go, the entire bottom of the radiator shroud got cut into tiny little pieces.
I started running hotter, then as temps went up, I started to run really hot- not overheating, but hotter than it should have been running. A mechanic scoffed at me as soon as he saw it. I was like ‘no way, that radiator is huge, and feel all that air that fly flex fan moves.
:challenge:

He was a 20 year mechanic, I was owning cars maybe a year. After a day or so, i had no better ideas, bit the financial bullet and bought a new shroud and all steel motor mounts. Once all assembled, cooling problem = gone.

I still think this issue is a combination problem; it’s not just one thing. As OP bragged, he was able to cut up off road in this config without obvious incident.

He was also under less load and probably had more air flow / higher speed than while towing and probably wasn’t under the same load for the same amount of time. It’s like the difference in a leisurely hike in the woods and a march through the woods with 75 pounds in your ruck.

The radiator is probably losing 30% of available airflow between the intercooler and lights.
 

zombiekiller

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When I was in high school I wanted a fast car, I ended up getting a well used ’70 442 auto. I set about adding power piece by expensive piece. in todays money it was cheap, but in just out of high school budget days, it was pricey.

I was ‘counseled’ about cooling and that I’d be adding a lot of heat, so I added a radiator ... I think it was from an early 70’s Ninety Eight, it was the highest capacity I could find and was a drop in. I fine for a little bit, but someone talked me into a flex fan. I will say, it moved a lot of air. It also moved a huge chunk out of the radiator guard when my motor mount broke.

I didn’t know the motor mount was broken right away, but when it let go, the entire bottom of the radiator shroud got cut into tiny little pieces.
I started running hotter, then as temps went up, I started to run really hot- not overheating, but hotter than it should have been running. A mechanic scoffed at me as soon as he saw it. I was like ‘no way, that radiator is huge, and feel all that air that fly flex fan moves.
:challenge:

He was a 20 year mechanic, I was owning cars maybe a year. After a day or so, i had no better ideas, bit the financial bullet and bought a new shroud and all steel motor mounts. Once all assembled, cooling problem = gone.

I still think this issue is a combination problem; it’s not just one thing. As OP bragged, he was able to cut up off road in this config without obvious incident.

He was also under less load and probably had more air flow / higher speed than while towing and probably wasn’t under the same load for the same amount of time. It’s like the difference in a leisurely hike in the woods and a march through the woods with 75 pounds in your ruck.

The radiator is probably losing 30% of available airflow between the intercooler and lights.

I'd also bet that even though the IC is air to air, that it is adding a tangible amount of heat to the air passing through it before it gets to the radiator, thus increasing the efficiency loss. The end tanks also completely block the radiator surface behind them, so even more airflow loss.

I remember the first time I had to figure a similar challenge out.

I shoehorned an LT1 into a Jeep cherokee ( XJ). Then I decided to add some freakishly large lightforce lights to the front bumper.

Even though I had spent the coin on a custom aluminum radiator, and the lights were a full 12 inches in front of the radiator, and I was running dual spahl electrics with a manual switched option, I could not, under any circumstances, keep the motor from overheating, even on the highway.

remove the lights? boom! problem solved.
 

Truckzor

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If you put a radiator twice the size in there and it didn't get enough air flow, it won't make a bit of difference.

I don't know why you guys keep saying this. Unless his radiator is completely starved for air, which it's obviously not if his 3 ton truck didn't overheat until he pulled a 3 ton boat up a mountain in the Arizona heat, adding a drop in radiator in the same location with 60% more surface area and 20% more fluid capacity is going to make a huge difference.
 

nikhsub1

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I don't know why you guys keep saying this. Unless his radiator is completely starved for air, which it's obviously not if his 3 ton truck didn't overheat until he pulled a 3 ton boat up a mountain in the Arizona heat, adding a drop in radiator in the same location with 60% more surface area and 20% more fluid capacity is going to make a huge difference.

Easiest way to prove someone wrong is for him to remove the lights and tow the boat again. My bet is that will completely solve the issue - which is why I'm saying the bigger radiator isn't necessary.
 

Truckzor

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Easiest way to prove someone wrong is for him to remove the lights and tow the boat again. My bet is that will completely solve the issue - which is why I'm saying the bigger radiator isn't necessary.

Maybe so. But then what happens when August comes and it's 15 degrees hotter? Better safe than sorry, IMO. It's not even an expensive upgrade. Consider it cheap insurance against getting stuck on the side of the road in limp mode, at best, and engine failure, at worst. :shrug:
 

OPT PRIME

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White hot water cooled turbos and charge air north of 250*F being dumped off in an intercooler immediately in front of the radiator and tranny cooler, all of which is under a continuous load, maybe 50% rated engine output.

Go look at the front end of a new Camaro or ZR1 if you need an idea of what it takes to actually dump a sustained heat load, ELEVEN heat exchangers.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

tmd11111

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Hummm...... oversized inter cooler blocking radiator, light bars blocking radiator, towing at 4500’ elevation. Sure you didn’t leave the ballast tanks full on your boat?
 

996Turbo

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Did you ever try anything? My truck was showing 235°-240° pulling 2 waverunners at 75mph. The ambient temp was 98° and elevation around 1200ft. Without pulling a trailer I am seeing temps up to 225°.
 
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