Radiator Mounting

[Mapes]

Does anyone know the rules for mounting the radiator onto the frame like the height, or the location or angle it needs to be at or anything of this nature.
Thanks.

[Mapes]

Does anyone know the rules for mounting the radiator onto the frame like the height, or the location or angle it needs to be at or anything of this nature.
Thanks.

[Bill Kunst]

Mapes,
There are no angle, height, or location requirments that I can find. What requirements you will run into is keeping the coolant away from the driver, so keep it behind and below the seat line of sight. If you make proper enclosures, you can overcome this. Things to keep in mind:

1. high mount- design judging- how it affects cg height, exposure to driver

2. Rear mount- design judging- protection from rear ending?

3. Side mount- design judging- driver exposure protection/ weight balance R/L

Whatever you end up doing, make sure you ask yourself what are the downfalls/benefits of your choice. Make sure that when it comes time to answer for your choice that you have good answers.
Good luck
Bill

[RonBurgundy01]

Mapes,

As Bill said there are no real rules/regulations as such for the radiator position however:

As far as the angle it needs to be on:
Keep the angle to a minimum. If the radiator is on an angle horizontally then the air is going to be hitting the front most part of the tubes first and could maybe produce un-even cooling rates or undesirable cooling traits through the tubes
Same goes for vertical angles

Keep in mind i have no hard evidence to back this claim up hence they maybe completely false...if so then i apologise in advance!!

As for rear mount/side mount/next to head mount goes...i'm not a fan of rear mount above engine/drivetrain as i don't believe that a great deal of airflow is forced through the radiator therefore relying on either a larger overall radiator or having a thermo fan that is constantly running. We run side mount about level with the drivers thighs and i have seen many teams do this but after reading Bill's post i might think otherwise...i dont fancy having 80-90 degree coolant thrown all over me while trying to wrestle through some tight curves!

As Bill said, whatever your decisions just make sure you can completely justify them when it comes to design judging and definately have your calcs on cooling rates etc and any testing results you've done.

Cheers
Matt