Using a front mount intercooler as a RADIATOR ?

[MexicanBatman]

Have you ever seen a man eat his own head?

Yes

[Jim]

Itll work and probably quite well. While water is obviously a lot denser than air and intercoolers are full of fins, they are much thicker than radiators so will probably work out the same flow rate or better. Easy to test off the car.
the problems you will encounter are blockages due to the internal fins and possibly corrosion of the fins.

[Jim]

Dp

[crack]

the problems you will encounter are blockages due to the internal fins and possibly corrosion of the fins.

for what it's worth i would have said the same

also
the internal volume of the intercooler filled with liquid could be quite heavy if it is going on a lightweight race car

the velocities in a single pass arrangement might be low enough that the solids (e.g. broken off scaling) could settle and block some of the passages

custom end tanks would be required = extra material costs & fab hours

[Mr Ed]

Dont you have to run the water bottom to top in a radiator? If so, that means youd have to turn the core sideways which will make it massively high and likely not fit so well. Either that or cut it down which doesnt make much sense.

I reckon sell the expensive cooler and buy a good quality radiator. Sure the cooler might work but it definitely wont work better than the same $ worth of professionally designed radiator.

[Billzilla]

Dont you have to run the water bottom to top in a radiator?

Other way, in case of any air in the top of the tank.

[AlexinPerth]

ye olde ford 4.1 engines had radiators in which the coolant travelled side to side. The radiator cap was on the top of the end tank.

[0x2DLVR]

It works fine. Just do it. What do you think PWR cores are when you buy them. Air, oil and water are all the same cores. I still have a 68mm PWR core as a radiator and it's 10 years old and cools great in the racecar.

Always makes me laugh the haters that have never tried something and just bag it straight away. Some people on here need to go experience things more before bashing the keyboard.

[Greg Rust]

In the interest of souding professional and like Carrol Smith, we should call them 'heat exchangers'

[Rz]

What do you think PWR cores are when you buy them. Air, oil and water are all the same cores.

drugs you on ?

[0x2DLVR]

drugs you on ?

They were when I bought them. Bought all as cores and were identical. I bought all three just cores 68mm thick. They are exactly the same. As said above. It's a heat exchanger. It's going to cool no matter what you put through it.

[Supercrown]

In the interest of souding professional and like Carrol Smith, we should call them 'heat exchangers'

That's a sensible comment.

You should just shut up.

[baggins]

They were when I bought them. Bought all as cores and were identical. I bought all three just cores 68mm thick. They are exactly the same. As said above. It's a heat exchanger. It's going to cool no matter what you put through it.

Personalities?

[Sketchy]

Always makes me laugh the haters that have never tried something and just bag it straight away. Some people on here need to go experience things more before bashing the keyboard.

Yeah cause engineers for every car manufacturer in the world obviously know less than you and have no idea about the thermodynamics or flow properties of stuff they stick in production cars.

You want a radiator, buy a radiator. Its not a 1912 Austin Humpty Supercharged Quadrofoil he is sticking a HKS ricer part in (I assume anyway) so go buy the one that fits and spend the savings on coke and hookers.

[tinkerbell]

it would be good if you could use the radiator as the inter-cooler AND the radiator at the same time eh guys?

anyone know if you can do this?