who has had a custom radiator made?

[pwnt by pat]

I've decided to take the plunge once more, this time though it'll be on my terms. What I'm looking to get done is something to the BIX. It'll be 120mm wide, probably 140-160mm long, and 1" thick, single pass. I know a couple have had custom radiators made at rad shops...

Anyway, if you have 'em.

1) pic
2) origional core number
3) cost to have made

Thanks.

[lanolar]

I have a 302 and shroud both done by Weapon. Let me say the work is freaking awesome. I went with 5/8 barbs for next to no resistance for flow rate on the core. The shrouds he makes are also perfect and very professional. Cost was under $90 shipped for the pair. Thats to have the core acid washed, barbs fitted is, leak tested, hand made shroud.

[millhouse]

I have a 302 and shroud both done by Weapon. Let me say the work is freaking awesome. I went with 5/8 barbs for next to no resistance for flow rate on the core. The shrouds he makes are also perfect and very professional. Cost was under $90 shipped for the pair. Thats to have the core acid washed, barbs fitted is, leak tested, hand made shroud.

could you send a link... or is that against the rules? If it is could you PM me?

[jchsatx09]

who is weapon?

[sunrunner20]

Weapon is a reasonably athorative figure in the heater core realm. We call him Weapon, because that’s what he is known as on these forums. He has written a guide on modifying a 2-302, which is a standard heater core, which resides in the stickys.

[thorilan]

there was also someone from brasil that made rads but i cant remember is name but they where very nicely made

[Silver]

I would start with weapon. Do searches on him both here and at extreme under the same name. I myself have taken advantage of some his knowledge in my search over the years for good water cooling solutions. I might also take a look at some of the work done by Cathar, again at both sites.

[pwnt by pat]

The brasialian was the first one that comes to mind, but I don't remember his name. Then cathar's custom 160x160 single pass car radiator core, then the dual pass-2x 2-342. I was hoping more would have custom rads. I think I'll stop by a local rad shop tomorrow and seeing about getting one done.

[lanolar]

Yea weapon is his user name at extremesystem's and at hardocp. He is a busy guy so if you PM him be patient. His work is the BEST I have seen to date as far as core's and shrouds go. Not to mention he is a pleasure to deal with.

[voigts]

Just remember if you go by a rad shop that most radiators are made entirely of aluminum. Older cars use copper core rads (dont' know where the cut off is). You don't want an aluminum core rad due to corrosion issues. Weapon uses '77 bonneyville heatercores which are all copper (I know the '77 bonneyville uses a copper core rad also). Most people use heatercores or made-for-PC rads as they are all copper (heatercore) and copper core (PC rad). You might already know this, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

[weapon]

thanks guys :)

I've decided to take the plunge once more, this time though it'll be on my terms. What I'm looking to get done is something to the BIX. It'll be 120mm wide, probably 140-160mm long, and 1" thick, single pass. I know a couple have had custom radiators made at rad shops...

Anyway, if you have 'em.

1) pic
2) origional core number
3) cost to have made

Thanks.

if you use a core as the base for that, you are going to run into problems with the 1" thickness. most in that range are made from aluminum.

are you looking for straight tube and fin or corrugated sheet with seam soldering? either can be thinned down with regards to width but thickness is an entirely different matter due to how they are constructed. On the other hand, making one from copper tubes is possible provided the proper tubing can be found (not round but thin and rectangular) and you can find someone that is willing to mess around with adding fins at a reasonable cost. Of course, tanks have to be added as well and for custom sizes, that requires a decent bit of work on fabbing as well as the soldering/brazing end when they are attached to the rest of the core/rad.

Just remember if you go by a rad shop that most radiators are made entirely of aluminum. Older cars use copper core rads (dont' know where the cut off is). You don't want an aluminum core rad due to corrosion issues. Weapon uses '77 bonneyville heatercores which are all copper (I know the '77 bonneyville uses a copper core rad also). Most people use heatercores or made-for-PC rads as they are all copper (heatercore) and copper core (PC rad). You might already know this, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

that may be changing before long thanks to new technology for manufacturing copper-based radiators. The auto industry began its shift from copper/brass rads to aluminum in the 1970's due to aluminum's lighter mass and perceived stable market price which gave aluminum a comparative advantage. However, copper still holds around 39% of the new auto rad market and about 90% of the rad aftermarket. New manufacturing technologies look to change the current market share...

snippage:
"Aluminum has better conductivity than brass, but radiator tube strength is equally, if not more, important. Brass is considerably stronger than aluminum. This overall strength allows for thinner walled tubes that compensate for the difference in conductivity. Taking advantage of these characteristics-increased thermal conductivity, strength, and corrosion resistance-manufacturers can use thinner material throughout and thereby design a copper/brass radiator having a lower total mass than one made from aluminum, but with the same or better heat rejection capacity."
^description of CuproBraze process.

even more interesting:
"Copper’s inherent superiority in thermal conductivity, corrosion resistance and strength has made it a preferred primary metal for radiators since the dawn of cars and trucks.

Now, with new technologies, it can be used to make smaller, lighter and stronger copper radiators. These radiators will be far more environmentally friendly because they are lead free and easier and cleaner to produce.

Made with a non-toxic, low temperature alloy based on the CuNiSnP system, they can be brazed in the same vacuum and controlled atmosphere furnaces used for aluminum radiators and at the same temperature (approx. 600°C). And since flux isn’t present, cleaning after brazing isn’t needed and no dangerous metals remain in the brazing material."

note that the above is with regards to radiators. the time frames for heater cores are a bit different as most auto makers did not start shifting to aluminum cores until the mid-to-late 80's. Almost anything from the '70s or early '80s will be copper or copper/brass in the heatercore market unless you are looking at aftermarket parts not made to spec. sooner or later, the new brazing technology will work its way into the heatercore arena as well and we will see cores that are lighter, thinner and mainly copper once again. :)

[ls7corvete]

Do you mean core or radiator?

http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=335558

You know I just realized when I replaced my radiator in my car that cathar was most likely talking about a radiator. Take a look at them, seems like a much easier route to make something to our application.

Anyways, let us know hot it goes, I would try it myself If I had not cheated and gone to the blower side. Seems like a DIY thing IMHO, not about building a rad but more like cutting to size.

I knowticed you posted in that thread as well, the search continues.....

[pwnt by pat]

Weapon, that was rather interesting and good to know for the search.

Ls7, shame the cross-reference database is down. I really didn't want to get into the discussion of rad vs core so I kind of figured it was assumed core but now that I think about it, car radiators. Are these pure aluminum or copper tubed or what?

I'm going to take a look into that zip file some more to see if I can once again find something that interests me. That post in made in your thread was a while ago and am skipping on the ex-box idea, tore my current case up - too much planned fabrication and not enough time.

I have yet to stop at the shop. I spent yesterday fiberglassing again as I will do today.

[voigts]

I read that information also regarding copper rads a couple of weeks ago as I was looking trying to see if I could find a copper rad that was the size i was looking for. I ended up getting a BIXIII instead. It sure would be nice to watercooling if you could get copper rads in all kinds of different sizes readily.

[ls7corvete]

pure aluminum or copper tubed
I am sure there is just as much selection in radiators as there is with HCs. I only mention them because they would be easier to mod. Making a HC thinner is gonna be impossible, changing wide and length would be hard. Radiators are close to the right thickness and width and length should be simple enough.

If you find an HC that suits you I would go with that though.

[weapon]

Weapon, that was rather interesting and good to know for the search.

Ls7, shame the cross-reference database is down. I really didn't want to get into the discussion of rad vs core so I kind of figured it was assumed core but now that I think about it, car radiators. Are these pure aluminum or copper tubed or what?

I'm going to take a look into that zip file some more to see if I can once again find something that interests me. That post in made in your thread was a while ago and am skipping on the ex-box idea, tore my current case up - too much planned fabrication and not enough time.

I have yet to stop at the shop. I spent yesterday fiberglassing again as I will do today.

there are still a lot of aftermarket car radiators that are solid copper. I have a link to one of the manufacturers somewhere. I will dig it up and get it posted.

The pure custom fab side of things has hit a bit of a brick wall -- I just got some info back from an overseas supplier for copper tubing for a flat copper tube and fin style radiator design that I have been messing around with - minimum order is 150Kgs for a trial order which would mean 150Kgs on the overseas shipping cost. Without even looking it up, I am certain that is going to be one helluva lot just for shipping - not to mention that 150Kgs of copper tubing is over $1000.

scratch that - may have just found a supplier for rectangular copper tubing in the US -- and I only had to spend a fricken week digging for it. lol.

[voigts]

I spent a few hours over a couple of days a few weeks ago and really couldn't find anything usable in copper radiators. I would like to see some links to where you can find good sized copper rads.

[weapon]

I spent a few hours over a couple of days a few weeks ago and really couldn't find anything usable in copper radiators. I would like to see some links to where you can find good sized copper rads.

yes - that is definitely a problem. The vast majority of rads for cars are basically huge. I dug through a lot of them one day and could not find any that were much smaller than 18" x 12" or the like.

copper motorcycle rads maybe??

[voigts]

Might be an interesting possibility if such a thing can be found. So how do you go about finding something like this (that preferably does not cost a fortune).