Rad upgrade and coolant hoses

[SXRORY]

13 hours ago, Rusty Nuts said:

Hi where did you buy yours from?

eBay Same valeo brand that's on the car currently  

[Rusty Nuts]

On ‎18‎/‎10‎/‎2018 at 23:01, SXRORY said:

eBay Same valeo brand that's on the car currently  

Hi do you have a link by any chance.

[SXRORY]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VALEO-Radiator-engine-cooling-VOLKSWAGEN-POLO-DERBY-SEAT-TERRA-883818/153195505026?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

this is the one but i think there was only one, and he took best offer of £40 

[Weekend Warrior]

On 15/10/2018 at 22:07, Thrustyjust said:

Polo rad can cope pretty well with a Zetec. Did Le Mans in 40 plus deg one year and the Zetec was spot on Sat in that temp for 2 hrs getting into the car park and temperature was controlled. So, I would question the original being efficient or slightly tired. Is it holding temperature when at speed ? Also on how the fan is on the rad. is it right up to the face ? How good is its operation ? Something like a Spal fan will move more air and control temperature better than a standard one. Just some thoughts.

Mines a spall fan but the frame mounting it sits between the rad and the fan ,meaning the foam solution wouldn’t be the best .

Any thoughts on this set up ?

 

 

 

[Thrustyjust]

It will work better if you can box the area between the fan housing and the radiator.

[Weekend Warrior]

47 minutes ago, Thrustyjust said:

It will work better if you can box the area between the fan housing and the radiator.

Forgive my ignorance ,do you mean the void between the fan and rad above the frame ? 

Do I need to block up the  holes in the frame (my gut says not as they’re needed for airflow )see picture with tape 

 

Thanks 

 

 

Steve

[Greenstreak-Andy D]

If you’re intent on a cooler rad, which I would also recommend as a quality replacement, i would consider tabs for radiator, if a rad switch boss is required and any bleed bosses.

Here’s a couple of  photos of my Coolex rad install, fan tabs can be seen. I used plastic 90deg adapter required on fan housing, Spal part.

[Thrustyjust]

Andy has the better option , but you could either get a fan which has fittings than hold it onto the radiator, so negating the bracket completely , or design an alloy plate, which the later rads seem to have or the rad and fan as Andy's above.

With mine, I used some sticky foam to draw the air through the fan and stopping it from missing the rad core , by taking the easier path. It made a huge difference to cooling capability with the fan running.

 

 

[Weekend Warrior]

Thanks for all of those that have offered advice on this post so far. Please remember that I ,like some others ,had no mechanical knowledge when I brought my car and basic stuff on a car like an oil change and brake pads was a job for a garage . I’ve come on a bit and changed the oil and filter ,plugs since them so am learning.bit still have a way to go 

Today I took my bonnet off for the first time so I could have an understanding of the front end which I’d never seen .I scraped off the dead wasp and fly arses that were welded to the rad and blew it out with the compressor (2nd time Ive found a use for it ) I then took an hr and a half  to get the battery out before I realised I had to remove the oil filter housing and pipes .

Ive got the just or the rad (I think ) the mounts closest to the engine simply hold it in place so they should be standard ford -Westfield spacing ?

However as far as ordering a new rad goes what about the mounts for the spall fan ? are they in place ? will the front have the mounting points in for the oil cooler .?

I appreciate I may not need a new rad however I’d like to know what to do if I wanted an upgrade 

Thanks 

 

Steve 

[neptune]

Hi Steve,

Your garage looks great! 

Below is a picture of my coolex radiator which is a direct swap for the polo rad. The westfield fan bracket fitted directly to the mountings on the rad and there are the same mountings on the front which many use for ducting, but possibly could be used for your oil cooler. Personally I would ask coolex due to weight of the oil cooler.

 

[Weekend Warrior]

34 minutes ago, neptune said:

Hi Steve,

Your garage looks great! 

Below is a picture of my coolex radiator which is a direct swap for the polo rad. The westfield fan bracket fitted directly to the mountings on the rad and there are the same mountings on the front which many use for ducting, but possibly could be used for your oil cooler. Personally I would ask coolex due to weight of the oil cooler.

 

Thanks Neptune ,your car looks familiar I managed to get to a couple of the Nothhants meets at Sewell when I first was looking to get a car ,then a couple when I first had it ,Ive a feeling I sat in your car outside the pub ,but could be wrong .

Unfortunatley ive been working away for the last year and a bit so I’ve not managed to get to amother one yet .What width of rad did you go for ?

 

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

Don't use the Westfield pressed bracket for a fan mount on a Coolex radiator, it just make the fan less efficient. The Coolex rad can be ordered with fan mounts directly welded on, in fact, you can actually order it with a fan as a package, if you wish! The closely fitting fan attached directly to the rad, will work significantly more efficiently than when mounted in the dismal Westfield bracket.  

Not all Polo rad equivalents, whether the plastic end tank types, or the all aluminium versions like the Coolex, have the mounting bosses on the front, so always better to check a time the time of ordering. Again, if buying from Coolext, they're very good and doing customised one versions of their standard rads, and would do one with specific oil cooler mounts welded on, if you required.

[tc3nitro]

On ‎16‎/‎10‎/‎2018 at 09:33, Rhett - Joint Black Country AO said:

I purchased hoses from Auto Silicon hoses (ASH) 

1 meter of each - 8mm, 16mm & 32mm plus a 90 degree elbow reducer 35mm to 32mm

I also purchased a Coolex Radiator, but did not have the fan mounted on it. I'd advise having it done though as I'm going to get it shipped back to them over the winter to get a fan mounted direct to the radiator.

I did have cooling problems while on track before but with the coolex and a ducted nose it's been great, the only remaining issue is that it can get very hot while moving slowly or stationary, which is why I'm going to get the fan mounted on the radiator rather than on the Westfield supplied mount which leaves a gap between the fan and radiator and therefore reduces its efficiency.   

 

@Rhett - Joint Black Country AO Is this all that is needed for a blacktop Zetec ? I am just about to fill my coolant system on my zetec build and hate the supplied hoses so might just go for this before I have to waste coolant draining It down.

[Rhett Turner - Black Country AO]

It’s all I purchased, I did keep one original hose though, the bottom hose to the rad which is the bent hose or offset hose, not really sure what the official name for it is though

[maurici]

As usual, I´m late where i could have helped... XD.

Polo Rad; For heavy use, for me is insuficient by all means. of course will depend a lot of the tunning of the engine, but in my car wouldnt even keep the car stady at 90ish when in traffic after a heavy blat. If someone wants one, for 20 quid plus postage, drop me a line, is taking space and is pretty much brand new.

Fan: For me, the ideal bit is using a very small SPAL, lightwight and very little intrusive trhough the airflow... and mounted direct to the rad, with the fitting kit trough the fins (I know most people don´t like it because will damage 20 fins of the thousands around the car, but is the neater solution for this application by far... then the fan sroud is self sealing against the other side of the rad, and no dodgy solutions are needed).

The foam solution is really dodgy, never seen that in a OEM car, and will fall appart pretty fast if the car is used often.

Rad: Coolex 42mm polo twin pass. Sweet and stupidly cheap, pretty much a direct fit (no if you use ducted nose, but easily sorted, only needs a bit of fiberglass cutting) That cheap that I can´t quite justify having the s***ty polo one...

Since the upgrade the car will sat on 82 degrees (thermostat temperature) in any situation, and the fan doesnt´t stays on more than 40 seconds when an extra push is needed. All of this, with a water-oil exchanger to keep the oil pretty much stable at 100 degrees (is being cooled down with the heater bypass... 85 degrees waterflow, so... happy wit that).

In the zetec, by the way (as in any other car with hidraulic tapets) is really really important a fast warmup of the oil and keeping it stable at the right operating temperatures, so, a laminova cooler, or some sort of arrangement like this is as important as keeping the car cool... (would avoid air blast coolers for the oil if the watercooling can handle it...)

I´m happy to trow some pictures of my instalation if someone have any insterest. As very often, is not nice to see... but is the most practical way I found to make it work. and is absolutely reliable.

**Edit. I´ve found enough pictures...

 

The rad. Appart of a bit of cutting in the ducting and doing the attachment holes a tad bigger... worked pretty much straight away. Hoses were a bit long (can be seen in the picture) and a new bleed from the top was connected to a T piece in the expansion tank vent line.

 

Also the fixing kit... can be seen in the image above... and bellow from the rear.

Then the oil system. Sorry, is really dodgy, but works perfect. It comes from an HVAC chiller (rated at 35 bars, so super safe) from a scrap car... using some random OEM hoses with the right shape and bends (ish) a visit to the scrap yard should sort this...  and a high pressure hose for the oil lines, with some very dodgy clamping and retaining... System is been tested at 10 bars with heath and pulling, so a bit of a peace of mind. I know n0-one will do that with their oil lines, but I needed a way forwar as I was stucked using a conbination of HVAC lines and aluminium stubby pipes... 

 

 

I think the whole install is about 300 quid including the visit to the scrap yard... the tricky bit is having a decent oil fitting in a random laminova cooler... and despite i though I would show my arrangment for the oil fittings, rather don´t do it XD.