radiator thickness

Could someone please confirm or deny my view on radiator thickness. I'm going to buy a rad off of ebay and have a choice between a few. They are all about the same size, with the expection of thickness. It would seem to me that a 2 inch thick rad. would be more difficult to push air through than a 1 inch thick rad. Conversely, a thinker rad would lower the internal capacity, perhaps raising the flow rate through it. Basically what I'm asking is would the thinner rad. be better than a thicker one. Thanks for putting up with my ramblings.

ChemMan said:

Could someone please confirm or deny my view on radiator thickness. I'm going to buy a rad off of ebay and have a choice between a few. They are all about the same size, with the expection of thickness. It would seem to me that a 2 inch thick rad. would be more difficult to push air through than a 1 inch thick rad. Conversely, a thinker rad would lower the internal capacity, perhaps raising the flow rate through it. Basically what I'm asking is would the thinner rad. be better than a thicker one. Thanks for putting up with my ramblings.

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Depending on how the rad is made the thicker rad will perform better because there is more surface area for the air to pick up the heat. My rad is two inches thick and there is hardly any flow restriction, you can feel the air passing by on the otherside of the rad opposite of the fan.

link and we shall tell...

if you insist

Here are the 3 that I am looking @:

From ebay:
1965 ford mustang
1995 chevy camaro
mazda rx7 86-91

From heatercore4u:
1965 ford mustang
1995 chevy camaro
mazda rx7 86-91

The mustang heater is 2 inches thick and from what I can tell may just barely fit in my antec case, and only if I remove the lower drive bay(which I plan to do anyway). I emailed the seller to ask if he could provide me with actual dimensions since heatercore4u only provides fin area, not overall.

The camaro heater is only 1 inch thick and slightly smaller, so it should definately fit.

The mazda heater is 1 1/4 inches thick.

I plan on using 1/2 hoses with the Dolphin DP385 Submersible Pump and a danger den maze3 waterblock. I know the maze 3 isn't the best block around, but cathar's block is a bit out of my price range. I think I'll go with 1 high speed 120mm fan on a rheostat so I can dial in the noise/performance. Reservoir to be determined, I'll probably make my own, because the Innovatek Tank-O-Matic is just too dang expensive(but sooo cooling looking).

Right now I have an AthlonXP 1600+, but a future upgrade with probably take me 3000+ at least(perhaps a Hammer), and although I don't overclock, I like to keep my options open.

Thanks for the input and any suggestions !!

I'd go with the mustang if you got room. If it's within your budget, a chevette heater core is a bit smaller and is only around 17US dollars.

Thanks for the input. I found a chevette core and will bid on that first. One more thing, I've noticed that a lot of the case pics I see here seem to have much larger hoses than 1/2 inch. Would it be worth it for me to go with something larger?

Thanks again.

ChemMan said:

Thanks for the input. I found a chevette core and will bid on that first. One more thing, I've noticed that a lot of the case pics I see here seem to have much larger hoses than 1/2 inch. Would it be worth it for me to go with something larger?

Thanks again.

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You will face disencouraging diminishing returns by increasing the tubing size over 1/2". I think 1/2" should be optimal for normal to heavy watercooled systems. Maybe if you use a single setup to cool dual AMD's @ 2Ghz + an Ati9700 + Northie with an industrial superpump and a 10x14" radiator... then maybe it would help substantially.

ChemMan said:

Thanks for the input. I found a chevette core and will bid on that first. One more thing, I've noticed that a lot of the case pics I see here seem to have much larger hoses than 1/2 inch. Would it be worth it for me to go with something larger?

Thanks again.

Click to expand...

The hose just about everyone uses has a 5/8 outside diameter maybe a little more so it appears to be bigger. The inside diameter of the hose is actually 1/2 which fits perfectly on a 1/2 barb.

Ahh... i see. Thanks for all the feed back! I snagged a very nice pair of 120mm fans off of ebay. Made in germany, all metal construction, 118 cfm @ 2800rpm. Still trying to decide if I should go with 1 fan or 2 fans in a push pull config. I'll probably start with 1 and add the other if necessary.

ChemMan

If anything a push and pull setup might be worth 2-3C. That can be questionable though depending on the setup. Only way to find out is try it out. If you go with one fan, make sure it's pulling air through the rad or again try it both ways. Make sure you use a fan guard on that fan! Atleast don't accidently stick your finger in it like I did. Those bigger faster 120mm fans leave a nasty bite than a measly 80mm.

Make sure you use a fan guard on that fan! Atleast don't accidently stick your finger in it like I did.

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I did that once, luckily is was a low speed 80mm. It startled the hell out of me, but the fan and I lived through it.

Just for fun here's a pic of the fan I bought:
linky

Looks like a real finger chopper.

ChemMan

Why are you bothering with ebay, why not goto your local autoparts store for the chevette heater core? Some people have reported getting leaky used cores from ebay.

peace.
unloaded

Well, I called one place and they said it would be $40 bucks for a chevette core. Hehe, probably called the wrong place. So I figured it would be easier to get it on ebay. A couple dollars here or there doesn't bother me that much. And as for leaking rads, guess it just didn't occur to me at the time. Sometimes I'm a little bit dense.

ChemMan