Aluminum Radiators

[jimraelee]

Aren't Vettes running aluminum radiators

Have you looked at the flow of the vette??? they dont have a big grill area to have RAM air. my experience has been with limited frontal area, they need better efficiency.

 

[LA350]

Riot, I'm not trying to start a ****** match. But I think the wording on the site is confusing, maybe misleading.

Copper absorbs (transfers/conducts), and retains heat better than Aluminum. Thus the copper bottom pots. You don't want your food pulling all of the heat out of the hot pot, when you add it to the pot

The reason HiPo radiators are made of Al is because the Al will conduct heat from the coolant, to the air, faster than copper. = improved cooling over copper radiators.

There is a little more to it, also. Al rads are designed a little different than most copper rads. The fins are either, more compact, wider, dimpled, or some combonation of designs. Thus providing improved cooling VS most copper rads.

Actually copper is a better conductor of heat thus the copper bottom pots. But due to the fact that copper is leached from acids in the food isn't real healthy. This is the reason for cookware being copper clad or lined w/ Tin or other metals.

Aluminum is a great conductor too, not as good as copper though, but it is cheaper. Copper radiators will be made from dissimilar materials (plastic/steel) and require a different assembly approach. An Al radiator can be welded up easily as it is constucted from one metal. The Cooling fins are shaped to take advantage of the wind and to transfer the highest amount of heat in the most efficient manner. Custom Al radiators are designed to be highly efficient w/ more channels, larger surface area, ect due to the lower cost of the material. A similarly designed all copper radiator most likely will be cost prohibitive, yet will be more effective transfering of heat. So it is a give or take thing.
Plus Al radiators are all shiny and look

 

[Jim73]

The Rodney Red page also claims that aluminum radiators which are welded up with aluminum rod have an added real-world advantage since the soldered construction of copper/brass rads results in areas with much poorer heat transfer due to the "lead" solder. No idea how big the effect is.

Icanfixall, if you do run that comparison test, I'd be really interested in what you find out.

 

[f-two-fiddy]

If you look under the hood of the Vette, it's funny that they cool at all. The rad is sitting allmost horizontal. What with the low hood.

There were tales of peeps without front licence plates being allmost radar invisible from the front. The fiber body would absorb the radar, and the radiator, laying at such a low angle, would reflect the radar to the pavement.