Coolant Header Tank Philosophy

[Eatoniashoprat]

I'm not quite at this part of the project yet but still need to plan for it. I'm sure anyone who can answer will know this already but just to make it all clear -> On the EJ20 there is a header tank which has four lines going to it: turbo, water pump, expansion tank, and rad. It also has a cap. Its purpose is to be the highest point in the system for bleeding and when the car is shut-off natural convection causes coolant to flow through the turbo and continues to cool it, the tank is somewhere for this coolant to go.

Since my rad is upfront I was just going to take out the header tank and connect the water pump connection directly to the turbo and the expansion tank will be upfront with the rad. The highest point in the system will be my heatercore which I can use to fill the system at that point.

Will this work IF I let the motor run for a minute or two after hard boosting before shutting it off to allow the turbo to cool off enough (possibly run a turbo timer)? Are there any other reasons why people are running header tanks? Thanks,

Mike

[ricola]

I've experimented with header tanks up front but much prefer them at the rear. Worst case if you get air in your system, the last place you want it is in your heads/thermostat so I would always keep it at the back, a small bore pipe from the top of the radiator back to the header tank will keep it bled. Unless you are using a strange radiator set-up the engine tank will be the high point anyway...