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TCS Radiator - I did this

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GavinT:
There's this idea which I quite liked. (stolen pic)
Looks like a neat job.

Dilkris:

--- Quote from: GavinT on Monday,January 02, 2023, 07:02:53 AM ---There's this idea which I quite liked. (stolen pic)
Looks like a neat job.

--- End quote ---
  :I-agree: For me that's it !!  Now all I have to do is sort out how to make it  :FUNNY: 
I'll post when its done - could be a while  :-\

BDA:

--- Quote from: Dilkris on Monday,January 02, 2023, 12:40:51 AM ---BDA - did you forget the picture??  :FUNNY: I read with interest Joji's approach and I have mixed feelings about that - I understand the effectiveness of the shroud when the fun is "pulling" (as most automotive applications are) but we are all "pushing" - so the shroud in this case surely just decreases radiator area to that of the swept area of the fan. No ?  :confused:       

--- End quote ---
Oops!!! Here are my pictures although they are anticlimactic after the interesting ideas others have posted.

As for pulling fans, I'm pretty sure a couple of us (not I) on this forum use pullers mounted in the wheel well to good effect.

As of Joji's writeup, he hadn't tried it on the road yet but a few years ago, I met a fellow Europa owner at our Lotus Ltd. LOG (Lotus Owners Gathering) who did the same thing and claimed his car ran cooler and the cabin was cooler. IIRC, he said that air from the wheel well would blow through the areas of radiator not covered by the fan. This heated air would find its way into the cabin. I don't remember his rationale for cooler coolant temps. I was skeptical too but I seem to remember another person implementing this other than Joji so I feel much more confident that it is worthwhile trying it.

WRT hot air getting into the cabin, the factory addressed this by putting a piece of foam rubber that covers the access hole in the backbone under the elbow pad. Mine is long gone (I might expect most of them are long gone by now) so I need to find a replacement.

Another, more elaborate cooling mod I've thought of is to run a large duct directly from the front grille to the radiator pretty much as described in the Jensen Competition Manual (http://lotus-europa.com/manuals/misc/jensen.pdf). Since this was for a competition car, they deleted the fan. This duct would negate the need to make sure holes in the forward compartment are sealed as well as eliminate any air from the radiator getting into the cabin but would require some method of dismantling it for radiator service. I think it's way overkill anyway since my car doesn't overheat anyway.

Grumblebuns:
Outstanding job on resurrecting the original radiator. I did the same for my TCS. The only advantage to going with an aluminum radiator in my opinion is cost. I paid $600 to recore my stock radiator. I could have bought two or three aluminum ones for that cost.

When I put my stock radiator back in I took a look at the stone guard and thought it has to restrict flow somewhat. It didn't look as crusty as yours did but I thought that there has to be a better alternative. than the large gauge mesh used. I actually counted the number of wires in the stone guard and calculated an area that the guard took up. I but don't remember the percentage now but it was a surprisingly large amount of blockage. For a cooling system in tip top shape, it wasn't a problem. It's when the system starts to degrade with time that all of these little things start to have an effect on the amount of heat that can be rejected. To eliminate any possible future air blockage I also decided to use a nomex honeycomb mesh for my rear stone guard. The nomex is just thin enough to fit inside the lower lip of the lower frame. My photos show my system to secure the nomex in place. I'll need to tighten up on two of the cables before putting it on the road. 

GavinT:
Back in the late 70' when I first acquired my S2, the radiator seemed partially clogged. The car had lots of other problems – carb literally rattling because the bolts came loose all the time, a piece of water pipe used as a rear axle bearing spacer . . lots of things.

Anyway, I took it to the radiator guy who said he'd need to remove the end tanks and rod it out.
Living in a hot climate (similar to California), the conversation turned to potential improvements. He suggested a four inch core with staggered tubes & increased fins was the maximum that could be done within the existing package & end tank size, so that's what we did - can provide a pic if anyone is interested. The car never overheated again but this can't be fairly compared to a stock unit working correctly.

Perhaps others have noticed, but when travelling on the highway at steady speed and waiting for an overtaking opportunity behind a semi-trailer, the temp creeps up a little.
Air flow rates even at speed seem to be detectable.

Initially, I also wondered about the ally fan shroud as per Joji's implementation but it's quite common with modern auto manufacturers. All the air now goes through the circular shroud, so the reasoning appears sound.
Below is a pic of a Toyota Corolla radiator fan in just such a pusher configuration.

I can believe there's flow restriction from the wire screen mesh but if it flows more than the already restricted radiator core itself, what has been lost? . . perhaps nothing?
This could be tested.
Immerse the end tanks in water and measure the volume.
Immerse the whole radiator in water and measure the volume.
Subtract the end tank volumes from the whole and deduce the area taken up by the tubes & fins – thanks Archimedes.

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