more heatercore goodness

3 of my favorite cores in various stages of the mod process -

the black one that is in the foreground is a 2-342 ('70 chevy c10 truck, single pass) - it has flat side panels soldered onto it, a shroud for dual 120s, slight extensions to the factory pipes and brass barbs along with several coats of black gloss.

the second one back is a 2-199 ('77 b'ville without ac - dual pass) - it has had the factory tubes cut down, deburred and polished, flat copper side panels silver soldered onto the core and it is about to go to the paint room.

the one in the back is a 2-302 ('77 bonneville with ac - dual pass) - it has had the factory tubes removed and 1/2" brass barbs soldered in place. no side panels or paint...yet.

Very nice!

From the 3, which performs better? Is there any benifit to the single pass core?

Zork said:

From the 3, which performs better? Is there any benifit to the single pass core?

Click to expand...

the performance of any of the 3 cores will depend to a considerable degree on the pump used, the shroud design, the fans, etc. With a good pump, some nice 120s and a shroud with the correct amount of standoff, the 2-302 can outperform the rest due to its overall surface area advantage. the 2-199 is fairly close though and it's easier to mod. The 2-342 is slightly shorter than the 302 but taller than the 199 -- it can be either easy to mount or really difficult depending on the size and the layout of the case due to the placement of the inlet and outlet.

However, with a lesser pump, the 2-342 can really shine as it is single pass and won't cause as much flow restriction. It has approximately the same surface area of the 2-199 which is roughly 94% of the available surface area on the 2-302. any of the 3 cores will take dual 120s but the shroud for the 2-342 is usually a bit more of a hassle to make as it is a fairly tight fit because of one pipe being on one tank and the other pipe on the other tank.

the advantage of the 2-199 is in its size and the quick mod that is required to get the factory tubes ready for watercooling (some 2-199 cores have tubes that are a pain to deal with - make them pull it out of the box so you can look at it before you buy it). The 2-199 is a bit shorter (but wider) than the 2-302 so it can squeeze into some cases that the 302 will not fit into without heavy chopping.