car heater core Help Needed

[wiggyuk]

I am going to start my first water cooling setup anytime soon I have heard that car heater cores get the best results I know that the 86 Chevette Heater Core & 89 Camaro Heater Core are very highly recomended but the problem being I live in England and I dont know how to get hold of one of these does anyone know of any highly recomended heater cores I could get hold of in England ?

[OCS911]

you should contact weapon for complete mod heatercore and ready to install

[ls7corvete]

YOu can find something there that will work. Just look for something 2" thick or less, less preferably.

Search around, plenty of users in England have found excelent HCs. No need to ship a weapon core that far.

[Moto7451]

Look for a Copper/Brass heater core.

[thegreek]

Look for a Copper/Brass heater core.

yeah, try to keep away from any aluminum rads and you'll be OK ;)

[Sneaky]

yeah, try to keep away from any aluminum rads and you'll be OK ;)
and find one with flat tubes as well - you'll get better heat dissipation with flat tubes vs. with round tubes in the 'core

[l3ored]

do what i did, grab a hammer and hack your way through the dashboards of abandoned cars: link (http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=366610)

[wiggyuk]

Its all well saying the size and type I need but what I really need to know is what car to get them out of otherwise I will be taking heater cores out of every car until I find the right one ?

[l3ored]

worked for me, but seriously, check a car parts shop (they drive cars in england, right?) or generally it seems that old american cars have good heatercores. i found the '77 bonneville in pontiac royale.

[brint]

I took a radiator from an old Fiat, works great and it is BIG! Plus it is made of cobber.

[wiggyuk]

cant you take a air con unit from a car and install it into your case in anyway

[sunrunner20]

Us the AC unit from a car, Not likely to happen unless you mod it. The compressor is driven by the engine. no cool w/o the compressor....

[ukdan]

I havent found any copper/brass heatercores in uk cars yet,(not of a useable size anyway). but you can get usa type heatercores here- http://store.over-clock.com/Generic.html and here- http://www.watercoolingshop.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=27&osCsid=4120b70269680aebf9f634d1ffbf7e31

[rogerdugans]

One option is to find a friendly auto parts store-
They may let you look at various heater cores until you find one that suits; I got my Chrysler core that way.

Things to look for:
copper/brass construction
flat-tube (as opposed to round copper tube with pressed fins)
barb size (a good core will have barbs sized just right to fit the tube you use tightly with NO MODS.)
Single pass is better than dual pass.

To explain the last a bit-
water going down one side of the core and back up the other side is a dual-pass and less effective.
The best cores/radiators for our purposes have the coolant going through the unit in a single pass: in one side and out the other.

Not to say that a dual-pass won't work of course. My big Crysler unit is one and does just fine, but if it was a single pass unit my temps would be slightly lower.
Perhaps even enough to actually see a difference. ;)

[brint]

One option is to find a friendly auto parts store-
They may let you look at various heater cores until you find one that suits; I got my Chrysler core that way.



I agree, just go down to your local auto dealer or do what I did. Go down to your local auto scrap yard and look around in some of the old cars they have. They also have A LOT of good used parts. I got mine for around $10. Works great.

[Moto7451]

Ebay also works well. I payed $11 for my core that I bought from an auction.