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badass tech Magicpotatoes

I keep peeking over to the electric fan side of the fence for my personal rig but havent made the jump yet. If I did, I would look at that 850 watt brushless fan Bggrnchvy is using.

I have no cooling issues in 4 low in hot weather, or at higher speeds. In low range, the severe duty fan clutch moves some air at higher rpms (easy to achieve 2500-3000 rpm at low speed in low range. I see more issues when the AC is on, at idle, at red lights or in traffic when its 105* outside. Low rpm the fan clutch just isnt moving air. It makes sense seeing the data provided. 570 cfm at idle in Magicpotatoes application while an e fan could be on 100% moving a crap load more air at idle.

I also have contemplated moving my 2 trans coolers and PS cooler that is in front of the AC condenser and rad as it is probably heat soaking the crap out of it at lower speeds.

I am hoping we see some additional improvements on e fans soon. The technological improvements are massive but I am guessing there is still more to be had.
 
Idled the buggy for extended period of time and stabilized at 230* in 100* ambient
Fans were going 100% trying to cool
Inlet was 210*
Outlet was 105*
More than enough rad and fan, not enough water flow. Wasted a lot of electricity, fuel, and hp on cooling.
Going to delete the thermostat and let the fans regulate the engine temp.
Hoping the thermostat is the issue and not the rear mounted radiator.
What distance and line size is everyone running?
14' of -20 for me
 
HYDRODYNAMIC said:
Idled the buggy for extended period of time and stabilized at 230* in 100* ambient
Fans were going 100% trying to cool
Inlet was 210*
Outlet was 105*
More than enough rad and fan, not enough water flow. Wasted a lot of electricity, fuel, and hp on cooling.
Going to delete the thermostat and let the fans regulate the engine temp.
Hoping the thermostat is the issue and not the rear mounted radiator.
What distance and line size is everyone running?
14' of -20 for me
Click to expand...
Any idea on pump flow at idle?

Watching KSR the other day and a ls water pump cost 15 HP above 6500 RPM.
(Not related to this just interesting)
 
HYDRODYNAMIC said:
Idled the buggy for extended period of time and stabilized at 230* in 100* ambient
Fans were going 100% trying to cool
Inlet was 210*
Outlet was 105*
More than enough rad and fan, not enough water flow. Wasted a lot of electricity, fuel, and hp on cooling.
Going to delete the thermostat and let the fans regulate the engine temp.
Hoping the thermostat is the issue and not the rear mounted radiator.
What distance and line size is everyone running?
14' of -20 for me
Click to expand...
Don’t see how the rad location could be at fault here. The water is cooling. You just arnt getting enough. I don’t know if the thermostat slows it down a lot, but certainly worth a try. You might need a better or extra pump.
 
Shouldn't the LS be plumbed -20 upper and -24 lower. That's the way my LS3 is. Kinda makes sense too.

This will move more water than a stock pump.

www.meziere.com

Mechanical Pump, GM LSx, High Flow, Std Rotation

Our line of cooling system products currently includes items such as: electric high flow water pumps, cooling system accessories, recovery tanks and radiators.
www.meziere.com www.meziere.com
 
BKOR buggies are plumbed with AN16 hoses upper and lower.
Radiator is a 31x19.
Stock LS water pump.

They cool 850hp blown engines just fine.

HYDRODYNAMIC : I literally just fought a buggy with this on Tuesday. Ended up buying a vaccum bleeder tool. Was fairly cheap and made it suck down another full gallon after I thought it was full. Went from overheating while idling to never going above 200 when beating it around the block. No thermostat and no block off anything.
 
Bebop said:
BKOR buggies are plumbed with AN16 hoses upper and lower.
Radiator is a 31x19.
Stock LS water pump.

They cool 850hp blown engines just fine.

HYDRODYNAMIC : I literally just fought a buggy with this on Tuesday. Ended up buying a vaccum bleeder tool. Was fairly cheap and made it suck down another full gallon after I thought it was full. Went from overheating while idling to never going above 200 when beating it around the block. No thermostat and no block off anything.
Click to expand...
That’s a good point. HYDRODYNAMIC, do you have a steam port reservoir plumbed in up front or are your steam ports just plugged?
 
so i run 1.5 stainless OD tubing. maybe 8 foot of run each way. factory LS water pump.
steamport is plumbed back to front and have a bleed valve set up. nothing fancy. and i also use this crazy coolant funnel to burp all the air out it works like a champ too.

factory thermostat and mech temp says 180-200 all day long. computer will say about 10-20 warmer. and i run the a ford taurus fan with volvo relay and it will stay in low 90 percent of the time.

my guess is there is a air pocket like mentioned. so between these two parts i can burp all the air out of the system.

1728045000578.png

1728044884925.png
 
Good point about air
My dads 5.3 in a c10 had similar air purge problem that fixed it self after some manual bleeding.
 
Also reading your thread you have to have some sort of flow problem.
IF your pump inlet was 200*+ but the radiator water outlet was 150* it wouldn't be running that hot.
 
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Factory pump, 10.5 compression head and cam LQ4, 31x19 rear mount radiator and dual fan. It’s been high 90s/low 100s at Trail Hero this week and highest temp I’ve seen is 210* and the dual fans pulled it down quickly.
 
Bebop said:
Air pocket creates a big flow problem
Click to expand...
Since you’re a buggy guy and seen a bunch of rear mounted radiators and LS builds. What the best way to burp the coolant system?
 
The radiator has a steam port up top that returns to the surge tank. The engine steam ports also return to the surge tank. The surge tank is on the low pressure side.
I am building a new radiator as the current one has a drip/leak between the core bars.
Current radiator and new one are both double pass cross flow. New core is 14” tall core by 28” wide.
 
Last edited:
Bebop said:
BKOR buggies are plumbed with AN16 hoses upper and lower.
Radiator is a 31x19.
Stock LS water pump.

They cool 850hp blown engines just fine.

HYDRODYNAMIC : I literally just fought a buggy with this on Tuesday. Ended up buying a vaccum bleeder tool. Was fairly cheap and made it suck down another full gallon after I thought it was full. Went from overheating while idling to never going above 200 when beating it around the block. No thermostat and no block off anything.
Click to expand...
Are they double pass cross flow? Ports on same side so water flows through half of radiator then moves to side tank and onto second half and flows back.
Restriction is twice as much.
 
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HYDRODYNAMIC said:
Idled the buggy for extended period of time and stabilized at 230* in 100* ambient
Fans were going 100% trying to cool
Inlet was 210*
Outlet was 105*
More than enough rad and fan, not enough water flow. Wasted a lot of electricity, fuel, and hp on cooling.
Going to delete the thermostat and let the fans regulate the engine temp.
Hoping the thermostat is the issue and not the rear mounted radiator.
What distance and line size is everyone running?
14' of -20 for me
Click to expand...
Supercharged 6.7 LS, -20 lines, I think 10ft for each. Steam vents all combine into a block and then single line (high point on engine) goes to the thermostat neck. I crack that top line to let the engine bleed. Thermostat has a couple 1/8" holes drilled in it to let some flow through to make sure warm water gets to it, I've had issues before where the thermostat is stuck in a cold zone even when the engine is warm.

Griffin 3" radiator, twin Taurus fans. At idle it'll chill right above thermostat opening temperature forever, might even turn off a fan.

Should also mention I'm using an Edelbrock canister style water pump. Though honestly I don't think that makes a difference since I've done a number of rear mounted radiators with stock water pumps just fine. But on all of them I do religiously drill 3x holes in a triangle around the thermostat to ensure there is water flow so the thermostat can get hot water to fully open.
 
Another comparison case:

2JZ swapped 1978 Hilux, rear mount radiator, single Taurus fan on a 3" Griffin, 12-14ft of -20 line per side. The engine is at a decent slope and the block bleed is the heater core port on the back of the head, so I HAVE to jack the back of the truck up to get the engine level for it to bleed. Same thing, crack the line and let the air out. Even though the heater core line is always the high point, the front of the head will get an air bubble otherwise.

Same thing with the thermostat, couple holes drilled but I still have the heater core and a stock thermostat location so less critical. At idle it will cycle the fan on and off to stay at 170F. Stock water pump.
 
HYDRODYNAMIC said:
Are they cross flow? Ports on same side so water flows through half of radiator then moves to side tank and onto second half and flows back.
Restriction is twice as much.
Click to expand...

American passenger vehicles commonly have side tank radiators, many foreign jobs and a lot of heavy equipment I have seen have top and bottom tanks. :confused:
 
I think the "cross flow" he actually meant "double pass", but maybe not. When he mentioned more restriction that's what I assumed he meant. I can't imagine there is much pressure loss from cross flow to top/bottom.
 
CarterKraft said:
I think the "cross flow" he actually meant "double pass", but maybe not. When he mentioned more restriction that's what I assumed he meant. I can't imagine there is much pressure loss from cross flow to top/bottom.
Click to expand...
I meant double pass. Cross flow would be a single pass left to right. Top down would also be single path.
A double pass has ports on same side tank with a divider. Restriction would double as well.
 
HYDRODYNAMIC said:
I meant double pass. Cross flow would be a single pass left to right. Top down would also be single path.
A double pass has ports on same side tank with a divider. Restriction would double as well.
Click to expand...
You get it burped?
 
HYDRODYNAMIC said:
The radiator has a steam port up top that returns to the surge tank. The engine steam ports also return to the surge tank. The surge tank is on the low pressure side.
I am building a new radiator as the current one has a drip/leak between the core bars.
Current radiator and new one are both double pass cross flow. New core is 14” tall core by 28” wide.
Click to expand...

14"H x 28"W doesn't sound like a very big radiator. Each pass is only working with 7" cooling area.
 
gt1guy said:
14"H x 28"W doesn't sound like a very big radiator. Each pass is only working with 7" cooling area.
Click to expand...
IMO it's the same area...

The question is either he doesn't have enough pressure at idle to get the required flow through the double pass or he's got a air bubble problem.

With 150* cold side water the radiator isn't the problem.
 
Need to pressure test this and hopefully the core doesn’t leak. If it doesn’t leak then I’ll make the fan shroud.
Triton core 2.25” x 14.25” x 28”
2.5”x1.75” tanks
-20 inlet outlet
Dual pass
1/4” NPT steam port

IMG_6313.jpeg
 
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HYDRODYNAMIC said:
105* not 150*
I could touch the return side.
Click to expand...
You said inlet was 210 but motor temp was 230? How did it lose 20* between the motor and the inlet? What is the thermostat set at? I thought LS motors ran at 205?

If the outlet temp was only 105, the radiator isn't the problem. Are you using a real bypass thermostat?
 
bdkw1 said:
You said inlet was 210 but motor temp was 230? How did it lose 20* between the motor and the inlet? What is the thermostat set at? I thought LS motors ran at 205?

If the outlet temp was only 105, the radiator isn't the problem. Are you using a real bypass thermostat?
Click to expand...
It can't actually be 210 at the inlet that's the lack of flow causing the coolant to saturate.
 
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