Tampa 928s

I am in the process of replacing my compressor and condenser and dealing with a leaking side tank on my radiator so now was a good time to address this overheating issue.
Living in Florida now that summer is just around the corner I wanted some feedback from any of you S/C guys and what cooling "if any" issues you are having. With the air on, stopped in traffic the gauge hits the top line and keeps on rising. I replaced the radiator last year with a used one, but the same heat issue persists.
I spoke to Zeus and we looked at a couple of options which seems to make sense, so looking at a lot of surgery I wanted to check with other S/C veterans.
Knowing this is an air flow issue I tested it after installing my belly pan as per suggestion and no improvement.

The following pictures show how this set-up lays on the radiator and the amount of blockage not allowing for correct air flow. Zeus is suggesting that I can cut the air box down by about an inch on each side. This will allow for a larger fan for increased air flow. He caught that the 4-fans have a huge motor and very little blade about 2". Has anyone used another brand of 8" fans with a benefit a brand name and model number would help.

Is there a reason why the factory pusher fan for the condenser was replaced with an aftermarket; it came with the kit.
I cannot drive this car comfortably in the summer and need a solution to this problem, so anyone care to chime in?

Fabio421

Talk to Soupcan. He was having overheating issues with his S/C'ed S4 but I think he solved them.

RCinXS

I only have two 8 inch fans but they and the pusher up front are wired to run all the time. No overheating problems.

But big AMP draw.


I recalculated the ratio from crank to altenator and then found a suitable, smaller in diameter, pulley for the altenator. No longer have a low guage reading or charging problems.

Alan

depending how the fan motor is positioned - you my be drawing air over only a tiny fraction of the radiator surface AND some of it probably recirculates somewhat (corners). Those huge straps also act as baffles on the output side.. I think you probably need better fans, with some clearance from the radiator face and some shrouding so you are sucking air from all the available face of the radiator not just the part right in front of the blades. Given the SC - you will not find stock that works - so you'll probably have to fabricate your own...

Alan

brutus

I too agree that the current setup is very poorly designed and it only moves air on a very small portion of the rad. The reason why fan shrouds are used is they draw air from across all the radiator. But I think you already know this.
Any pusher fan in front of the condensor or rad needs to be mounted as close as possible to force air to pass through or it spills out the sides.

Cosmo Kramer

I am running into the same issues with my system. I have a 12" puller and a 16" pusher wired into an adjustable temperature probe. I am using the stock Vortech air intake and it blocks less of the rad then the one you have. My plan is to put on a 14" high CFM puller and mount it on standoffs on the radiator core. Right now my puller is mounted on brackets and is spaced about 1/2" off of the radiator so it might not be as efficient as mounting it tighter to the core with the standoffs.

Imo000

Did you ask the maker of this kit? Maybe there is some sort of a retrofit solution for this.

Tampa 928s

I have new parallel flow condenser to install which will allow about 3/4 inch between the airbox and the radiator if I tilt the radiator forward. The fans have very little blade area and the whole air flow is blocked. I am trying to mock up some type of rectangle box with a 4 inch inlet to the S/C but even so a portion of the rad is blocked.
I think by replacing the fans this may help but not knowing air dynamics I am at a loss as how to shroud this correctly. Just not enough room to put a 90 degree elbow on it which would solve my problem.

Tampa 928s

? For RCinXS are you using your air and have the condenser installed?

? Cosmo what does the stock Vortech intake look like?

I wonder about pusher fans but room is the issue with the condenser but my new one is thinner, back to a mockup.

Any recommendations on a fan brand?

Any pictures would help with design!

soupcan

The pusher fan wasn't shipped in my kit, once Tim got me the fan my temps went down to normal.
I had the end tanks replaced and radiator rodded last year and so far this year I have yet to see the gauge rise above the first white line.
My heat exchanger are not installed in front of the radiator, they are in the fenders.

Alan

is the pusher fan shrouded? what do you have for pullers? anything? How much of a blockage to central rad flow is the SC for you?

Alan

Imo000

You can't shroud a pusher fan, it will block most of the flow throught the radiator core.

RCinXS

Tampa,

Yes, Condenser is in its original position.

Yes, I use the AC in the summer.

The pusher is a Spal, got it from 928M. It's 16 inches.

Put an original trans cooler in recently and will need to go to a 14" pusher, the 16" won't fit with trans cooler.

The newer Fans push a lot more air so I don't believe I'll have a problem.

I also have a water to air intercooler, though I don't think that would make much diference.

Oh, I use Water wetter in the coolant too. Never ran without it, so it might be droping the temp down 10 to 15 degrees.

Alan

Yep - I guess you are correct in general - though perhaps even a simple deep ring would help avoid recircualtion without too much flow blockage.

But then with the pullers shown here with such a small area of fan outlets - to shroud these you'd still probably need free flow flaps elsewhere in covered areas for high speed operation.. Probably hard to fab these up for most home shop builders...

Alan

soupcan

Summit DER-16516 Pusher fan and the same 4 pullers fans and intake setup as Marks pics above.