Master
I have some major works about to take place on my engineless 1984 ’90, which was leaning a bit too much in the direction of ‘rock crawler’ and was cr@p on the road, unreliable and illegal with too big tyres and too much lift. It is going to be rebuilt for ‘fast off road’ with it still being fun on road and the potential fit a CAMS cage and enter in an off road rally or two, for fun.
As part of the rework I am considering mounting the radiator in the rear, behind the bulkhead, at 45degres attached to the roll bar or make something up. I have a large 4 core radiator with 2 thermo fans that would do the job nicely.
I need to consider the path for the hoses and diameter to make sure the water pump can handle it, I also need to make sure I can bleed it properly.
Is it going to be a giant pain having the rad right next to your left ear sucking air in as you drive along? Obviously I wouldn’t be able to use the full soft top with this but could still use a bikini top.
The tomcats that have rear rad also have a scoop on the roof to get ram air, I wouldn’t, will it get enough air flow to keep things cool?
This car is a weekend play thing, not a tourer so as long as I can put enough gear in the back for a night away (swag and small esky) then I can put up with the loss of carry capacity.
Anyone else done this? Anything else to consider?
Thanks.
AT REST
How about rules and regs. re. registration, I can't possibly see a road registered car being allowed with a radiator filled with hot water being allowed as you say," the rad right next to your left ear sucking air in as you drive along", can't imagine they would pass that, Regards Frank.
ChatterBox
Sorry, I don't have much to add other than to ask why you want to relocate the radiator to the rear? I haven't experienced any cooling issues with a radiator up front on a 3.9L V8 in a 90, so I'd keep the existing setup. In fact, I'm keeping the same radiator size/position with a Megasquirted 4.8L upgrade for the 90, but will swap to thermo fans and use a 74*C thermostat.
The advantages of relocating (that I can think of) are: it's out of the way so harder to damage or foul, and it creates more room up front for a bigger engine or a recessed winch. Are there others I'm missing?
The downsides are additional complexity / expense routing the plumbing to the rear, increased fan forcing requirements (without ram air effects), additional stress on the pump and last but not least, a reduced rear load area.
Be interested to hear other opinions.
Cheers
Bojan
AT REST
Be rather warm in the back seat, Regards Frank.
Member
Hi
Maybe consider moving the engine and box back and down an inch or two, will help with center of gravity and front to back weight distribution.
Watch the rear prop length and angle when doing this. (And check competition rules)
Could you shed more light on why you would want to do this, for protection of the radiator?
If so try to make the pipes as straight as possible, because air pockets or airlocks, is the biggest problem.
Make the pipes from steel or ally with rubber/silicone at the ends.
What also helped me with bleeding the system was to drill a 5mm hole in the top of the thermostat so there is a bit more water flow before the thermostat opens, some thermostats do not have a bleed valve (not sure about the right terminology).
But with all that said I would personally not recommend this, if there is not a major foreseen advantage with this idea, in terms of practicality, front mount is still the best, in my mind.
The biggest reason for this is that no electrical fan can blow/suck as good as a engine fan.
And if you do go ahead with the rear mount radiator, do yourself a favor and get an aluminum radiator it has a much better cooling capability for same surface area, compared to copper.
Master
Hmmm, not too many recommending this... I should take it as a sign.
A bit more info on the truck, it a 2 seater and will have a (warm - 350hp) small block chev with patrol 5 speed and diffs. It will be a squeeze as it is so wont be able to move the engine back.
The main driver for me considering the rear engine mount was to get it out of the way so no more clogging with mud etc. it would also help with underbonnet temps.
I will have to look at the regs as everything will be engineered/legal.
Master
also, sorry to anyone is offended by the land rover / nissan / chev combo
ChatterBox
It's the sensible / cost effective way to go if you're after more power (more than ~250HP say). To get much more our of a Rover V8 starts to get either exxy or unreliable.Originally Posted by Jitterbug
also, sorry to anyone is offended by the land rover / nissan / chev combo
I'm expecting approx 320HP out of a very worked 4.8L RV8 that would cost an absolute mint to build. To do this reliably, it's got a single piece cradle bottom end instead of bearing caps, forged crankshaft, pistons and conrods, ported heads with small block chev valves (47mm intake & 39mm exhaust), ported intake manifold (45mm intake runners, full radius 45mm trumpets with a 72mm throttle body), custom cam, 22lb Bosch III injectors and a Megasquirt fuel/spark injection system. Fortunately I came across an excellent base motor and am only footing a small portion of the total bill.
A 350 chev will easily exceed 320 HP in stock form, and a fair bit more can be teased out of it with only a small effort. the only real penalty is an extra ~100kg, less if its a thinwall block and/or has aluminium heads.
If you're pressed for room up front, you can always swap the engine driven fan for a pair of thermo fans. This will give you a good 100mm of additional space, at the expense of potentially reduced cooling performance at low speeds.
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