Radiator/intercooler
Turbo Mini Forums

I have been wanting an ali crossflow radiator for my car (Clubman with original all steel front end). I want the rad to fit immediatly behind the grille and be 28" x 8" in size. I have had quotes around £250 to have one made but being a tight yorshireman I don't want to pay that much. While thinking round the problem I hit on the idea of using an intercooler as a rad and found one almost immediatly that is the right size for far less money. Assuming I reduce the inlet and outlet diameters to the correct size can anyone give me a valid reason why an intercooler wont work as a radiator.
Regards
Dave

Yes, as the internal area is far to small for starters. It's designed to cool air, not water. There is infact some differences between water and air

a metro rad is more than up to the job of fitting in the front of a clubby

get on e-bay, search for radiators, when you find one hta tlooks right, search for toehr auctions for the same one, most have dimensions, or failing that ask the seller! .. hats how i found and decided upon my radiator.

turbo 16v k-series 11.9@118.9 :)

Denis O'Brien.

Yes there is bound to be plenty of alloy rads the right size in breakers yards without going to an intercooler. Useing ebay as a reaserch tool is a good idea though!

Vegard, I appreciate the differences between air and water but if an intercooler can reduce air temps by 30+ degrees at the speed the air is flowing through it surely it can do the same for water at a much lower flow rate?
Iain, I know a metro rad is up to the job but I need the space that it would occupy for other things.
Evo & jim, I have been watching ebay for months but have yet to see a 28 x 8 rad.
Not trying to be clever and appreciate your input but I still can't see why it wont work.I guess I should have asked has anyone tried it?
Suppose there is only one way to find out!
Regards
Dave

have you ever looked inside an intercooler and compared it to a rad?

the radiator has much smaller channels, and alot more fins per inch

also intercoolers have much larger pipeowork unless your using a central heating pump i doubt you'll ever get the water circulating around the pipe work fast enough

by all means try it, but be prepared to be diaspointed

look at motorbike rad's, mayb even use 2?

its all to do with surface area and how well the materials (air and water) conduct heat.

take a regular radiator as an example: -
air does not conduct heat well, so there is a large surface area ofradiator that the air can play on. water conducts heat well, so the water channels are comparitively tiny, surface area is lower.

becasue of the smaller size of the water channels you can fit more of them in a given space. so if you use an intercooler, whic will have massive oversized "water" channels teh overall setup will end up less efficient (for a given size of core) than a pukka air-water heat exchanger.

it will work, how well? no-one knoes :)

turbo 16v k-series 11.9@118.9 :)

Denis O'Brien.

Have a look at Fiat Chinq' rads, some alloy ones on Ebay .... Matty is using a Chinq rad and it looks to fit great, both inlet and outlet on one side though.

I am seriously considering one and I think they are narrower than you want but a fraction taller....

Every day is a school day ...........

How fast and how expensive ...... the same question...

I have a front mounted Sprite/Midget radiator and Renault intercooler frount mounted side by side in Clubman nose. They just fit with careful trimming.