To radiate??

[DOUGIEB59]

O-LA ONCE AGAIN R/R GURU'S... OK HERES THE QUESTION, I AM MOUNTIN' THE RADIATOR BEHIND THE CAB OF MY 40 CHEV P/U, SO THE MOUNTING OF THE RADIATOR LEAVES IT FACING FORWARD, (HOSE OUTLETS), THE QUESTION IS... CAN I REVERSE THE FLOW OF THE OF THE RADIATOR (DRAW FROM THE TOP?)? ITS EITHER THAT OR I HAVE TO FIGURE A WAY TO CRISS-CROSS THE HOSES IN ORDER TO PULL FROM THE BOTTOM. HAS ANYONE HAD ANY LUCK W/ SOMETHING LIKE THIS?? THNX D/B

 

[rainman]

Heat rises, so commom sense say's you will lose some cooling! How much I'm not sure, I can think of no reasons it wouldn't work!! Maybe someone else has tried it and will chime in.

There is one problem I can see! Pulling from the top, you would likely pull some air into the system. Once it moves into the system not sure if cavitation would be a problem or not!!

Interesting question, I will be watching!!

 

[King Herald]

As mentioned the moment your water level drops a bit you'll be sucking air into the system, which will ruin your cooling immediately. Unless you have an expansion tank and can get all the air out of your system, before you run it.

Plus, you are fighting against the natural thermosyphoning principal of the system: hot water rises. That won't make a massive amount of different to the operation.

But, it can't be that hard to simply swap hoses, when you are going to all the trouble of moving the rad behind the cab?

 

[Sniper]

Ok, here's an idea for you. If your going to be standing the rad up fairly close to the cab, how about having the lower tank protrude below the back of the cab just far enough to have the outlet and inlet just clear everything while facing forward toward the engine. I'm guessing your looking at a modified brass tank rad, or custom aluminum one, if so this could work out for you. I used this idea on a homebuilt airplane and it worked out excellent. You have to move the upper hose nipple inlet to the bottom tank and have both nipples facing the same way. In this case toward the front of project vehicle. You also have to install a baffle in the lower tank to divide the lower tank into two seperate compartments with the hose nipples one for each compartment. Now your rad is really a 'U' shaped rad. Water is pumped into the one side of the split/baffled tank, goes up half of the core, across the upper tank and drops back down the other half of the rad to the outlet side of the lower split tank, and out the outlet back to the engine. ( And yes the pump will push it up and over with no problem, after that the gravity/siphon affect takes over and pump wouldn't even know the rads in the system.) To purge the trapped air in the upper half, install a petcock in the upper tank to get rid of the trapped air. A number of foreign cars use screw in purge ports on the engine itself, so there is a source also. A/C systems use similar access ports, and they are aluminum if your going that way, could be welded into the tank directly. Just some ideas to ponder.

 

[Ricks Garage]

Its not where you have the inlet and outlet on the radiator, its how low its mounted compared to the engine. Your fill should be above the radiator and so it will not "get air" trapped in it. Moroso used to make a thermostat housing that incorperated a pressure cap. If you move the upper neck down, you will have to block off most of that side in order to use the cooling tubes. The pressure and circulation will move any air in the radiator. Flip the radaitor over and use the drain plug as an air bleeder after you fill the system

 

[sneakysnake]

Gravity plays a big part in a cooling system and with a centrifugal pump its important to keep a good flow of water to it or it tends to cavitate and interupt the cooling process.You may could rotate the radiator so that the filler is still up but changing the hose location.On mine I used a 70' torino radiator that normaly flowed side ways with the hoses upper passenger side and lower driver side.By rotating it 90deg the upper is now on the driver and the lower is now on the passenger and it is a down flow.

 

[donsrods]

Have a radiator shop move the inlet and outlet to the opposite side of their respective tanks. No big deal for them to do that.

Don

 

[King Herald]

If the hoses are coming underneath all the way from the motor, why is is not simple enough to cross them over at some stage?

And if your rad is lower than the motor you'll need to use an 'in line' filler somewhere in the hose at the highest point, which may even be in the top hose in the engine bay.