Dyno radiators? How big?

[Mechanicaldan]

How big are some of the radiators that you are running on your dyno stands? We have about a 24" square, 2 core, brass radiator that was donated from a local salvage yard. It has just sprung a leak, and we need to get a bigger one because we can't map more than one row in our fuel map without the temperature getting too hot and needing to shut down. I'm planning to head to the salvage yard again and see if we can get another, larger one this week, and I was wondering how big the radiators are to keep an engine cool on a dyno. I'm thinking twice as big and aluminum?

Cyclone Racing
www.cyclone-racing.com/fhome.htm (http://www.cyclone-racing.com/fhome.htm)
Iowa State University
Engine Team Leader

[Mechanicaldan]

How big are some of the radiators that you are running on your dyno stands? We have about a 24" square, 2 core, brass radiator that was donated from a local salvage yard. It has just sprung a leak, and we need to get a bigger one because we can't map more than one row in our fuel map without the temperature getting too hot and needing to shut down. I'm planning to head to the salvage yard again and see if we can get another, larger one this week, and I was wondering how big the radiators are to keep an engine cool on a dyno. I'm thinking twice as big and aluminum?

Cyclone Racing
www.cyclone-racing.com/fhome.htm (http://www.cyclone-racing.com/fhome.htm)
Iowa State University
Engine Team Leader

[Kevin Hall]

Run your rad in a water bath with continual circulation similar to what your dyno probably has. We have a good supply of river water here, and we just like to warm it a bit for the cool world. Our rad is two core aluminum, 14x12, and we never heat up. If you must go for a big one, and it is free, then try get one with an electric fan already shrouded and bolted on though

Kevin Hall
University of Saskatchewan
Engine Guy in Need of Help

[James Waltman]

Brass will transfer heat better than aluminum. It will weigh more but that shouldn't be a concern for the dyno.

What you really need is a cooling tower (I thought that most dynos had them).

James Waltman
waltmaj@cc.wwu.edu
http://dot.etec.wwu.edu/fsae/
Formula SAE
Vehicle Research Institute at
Western Washington University

[David Alexander]

You really should get yourself a heat exchanger. The one we had at Birmingham was about 2ft long, and about 6" dia. We connected up the mains water to one side, and the bike to the other. You just run the outlet of the mains water into a drain, you probably wont even use that much water.

[ben]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by David Alexander:
You really should get yourself a heat exchanger. The one we had at Birmingham was about 2ft long, and about 6" dia. We connected up the mains water to one side, and the bike to the other. You just run the outlet of the mains water into a drain, you probably wont even use that much water.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Still using it!

Ben

[David Alexander]

The other thing you should get is a big f**k off fan to cool the exhaust because if you dont, it wont be long before they start melting.... well glowing at the very least.

[Mechanicaldan]

Thanks for the tips, but I went to our local salvage yard, and once again, they gave us a free radiator and fan. I didn't even have to take it off! After about 15 minutes of flushing in both directions, the water finally came out clear. It's about 24" x 30" and copper, but it was free. The dyno facility we have access to is kind of crud, but it allows us to load our engine, so that's the important thing. I started our engine, and it doesn't look like there are any leaks, so more tuning this weekend!

Our headers only glowed at first when we didn't have our fuel and ignition maps right. An infared temperature gun gives us header temps of about 700 degrees F at about 3" from the head.

Cyclone Racing
www.cyclone-racing.com/fhome.htm (http://www.cyclone-racing.com/fhome.htm)
Iowa State University
Engine Team Leader