Radiator Placement

[Mikey]

For what it's worth. I'm going with a Suby conversion in my Ghia. I'm going with a front mounted radiator. I'm thinking the Ghia will accept it a little better than the bug. I'll make the hole in the body for the horns bigger and route the air from the front grills to the rad. Should be plenty of air. And I know I'll find enough ways to get it out too.

I even had an idea of small air deflecters behind the beam to help deflect the air towards the bottom of the car.

Just my 2cent.

[Jeza]

Once you get your air supply in and out sorted you can improve the effeciency of your radiator by turning it into a double pass radiator.

This uses baffles to force the water throught the radiator twice, ie through half of the radiator first (eg the top then through the other half (eg the bottom).

You may be able to use a smaller opening (like SteveC) or a smaller radiator if your effeciency is good.

[lazylongboarder]

Well, i'm not sure about you guys and i agree whole-heartedly with the natural air and front mount radiators, but how is that the "ONLY" way to do things? How has Porsche with all of their new cars being mid engined and rear engined having the radiators side mounted gone wrong? What about Ferrari, koenigsegg, ford GT, saleen s7, Lambo, renault...?

My attempt on the watercooled beetle will be with a 400 hp (at least for the first time around) 2.0 liter EJ20TT (single turbo conversion), so the motor will produce plenty of heat.I'm not worried about having a side mounted setup. Both will be assisted with big *** fans and scoops like the gallardo, murcielago, and renault, but I don't think the radiator/intercooler will be starved for air a bit.

The only difference between the cars I listed above and our beetles is that the front fender is in the way of the rear quarter panels, with scoops and fans, an aluminum radiator will have no problem cooling a a naturally aspirated 13b. sandrails regularly use 13btt's with smallish aluminum rads' mounted with fans being their primary airflow and don't have problems if mounted properly.

As stated earlier its imperitive that the radiator gets air in AND out.

At a show here in utah I saw a VW TDI motor from a 99' jetta in a baja and he had the radiator mounted on the roof with a "shark fin" style scoop being the only air inle for it and used sheet metal to channel air out of the radiator behind the rear quarter windows...stupid, but he said it doesn't over heat.

Point is, front mount is a great solution, but not the only one. Check out the pics and all of these cars use side mount radiators and intercoolers, including the 605 hp Carrera GT, and 630 hp Enzo... so if you can dream it, do it.

[ricola]

Originally Posted by lazylongboarder

How has Porsche with all of their new cars being mid engined and rear engined having the radiators side mounted gone wrong? What about Ferrari, koenigsegg, ford GT, saleen s7, Lambo, renault...?

The one BIG difference is aerodynamics. These cars are very slippery and have a lot of wind tunnel time to perfect the intakes of their radiators. The shape of the car guides air into the radiators very effectively. You just can't compare the shape of a bug to any of those cars. Also, I'm pretty sure not all those cars rely on sidemount radiators (I think only Lambo), a lot of them will be just air intakes to help cool/feed the engines.

Rich

[volkdent]

Not all of those cars have side radiators, some have standard front mounted radiators. I was just looking at the rads in the Ford GT, Lotus Elise, and a Noble M12 this weekend, all have standard front air inlets, but vent out of hood, I think the Lambo and the Renault Clio V6 mid. have a front mounted radiator as well. The side scoops are usually for engine or intercooler cooling, not radiator. It can be done, but with the shape of a bug or a bus, it's not as easy as with a car designed to slice through the air like butter.

Jason

[lazylongboarder]

I realize that the beetle is not as aerodynamic as a... well... cinderblock ( if you want to get technical, the beetle has a .458 cd drag coefficient...horrible). But my only point was that there is more than one solution to this.

My car's plan so far is to be full race, no interior, lexan, roll cage, as light as possible with still using the 6 speed g50, 400 hp ej20tt, the 6 pot brakes, ect. So whatever gets me there, i don't care. I may end up putting the radiator up front with the intercooler and oil cooler on the sides.

[Bugscandrift]

Im not sure i really like the idea of putting coolant lines all the way along the car, the whole idea just makes me kinda nervous. What i was thinking about doing is to do a 93(or something) MR-2 style scoop that comes out and ends right about where the heater channels are and sitck out like six inches, have that feeding right into the radiator. The way i see it is that i can try it the way i dont have to cut the car up all that much first, and then if i decide to change it, i can always move it. God help me.

[volkdent]

Originally Posted by Bugscandrift

Im not sure i really like the idea of putting coolant lines all the way along the car, the whole idea just makes me kinda nervous... God help me.

Nervous because...??? It makes me nervous to think about your car getting cut up without a clear plan. I'm all for experimenting, but I'd try not cutting first, then move to cutting.

J