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Heat Exchanger in Hot Climates?

20K views 74 replies 22 participants last post by  CavemanB52 
#1 ·
Sorry if this has been discussed before; im looking at getting an uprated Heat Exchanger but there seems to be some discussion that they shouldnt be used in Hot climates, i presume theres a risk of blocking airflow to the radiator, especially those fitted behind the bottom grille.

Is there any truth in this? Also can the stock HEX be used in tandem with an aftermarket, im just thinking that the fans wont have much of an affect on an aftermarket as its so far in front of the radiator...

Many thanks
 
#44 ·
Wish i would of read most of this prior to buying. I was able to boil the fluid out of my stock Hx while at the track making 1/4 mile passes. Maybe it wasnt entirely filled to start with i dont know. So I bought a Track Attack from WeaponX. It is five times the size of the stock Hx. But the fins and tubes are definitely further apart so probably not as efficient by the size... But I'm hopeing size rules in this matter. Was this a bad decision? It goes on in a few days. And I heard those super coolers are really complex to tune.
 
#45 ·
Wow how do you boil fluid in only a 1/4 of a mile must be something wrong.

I have my car for more than 3 years changed hx 3 times the worst was the kdi it made my whole car hot even the trans, Ac ,power steering and engine coolant ac compressor blew up cos it didnt get any air circulation large hx block the whole lower grill.... stock was second best for me very fast cool down it was good if you only do wot for 1/4 mile at a time the best hx is the ketch hx more than a year with it iat 2 colder that 1 and a lot more cooling power than anything else and dose not block the limited grill space to cool everything else..

Here is a video it shows you how good the ketch hx dose it was 47 deg in hot dry desert climate that day pistons should have turned to liquid metal at 14 psi for this long
This run is legal in the middle of no where http://youtu.be/k-VSzp_P7DA
 
#63 ·
Hey kj I know it's very hot these days in Saudi ill tell you here maybe it will help others I did this long time ago its been great help to the cooling ...It took 5 minutes try it.

If you remove the plastic cover on top of radiator look at rad there is big gap maybe one inch gap between rad and Ac condenser then there is another 1 inch gap between ac condenser and HX.. When the fan is pulling air I think a lot of air is pulled in from this gaps form on top of radiator bypassing the Heat exchangers and condenser..

All you do is get 5/8 heater hose cut to size put very little high temp rtv to hold it and push it a little in theses gaps blocking air from getting pulled it will close this gap so now air will only have one way to get pulled which is thru theses radiators only. This made big difference can't believe this car didn't come with this from the factory...:rolleyes:

I have a picture to give u better idea :thumbsup:

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Only push it down few mm

 
#64 ·
Hey kj I know it's very hot these days in Saudi ill tell you here maybe it will help others I did this long time ago its been great help to the cooling ...It took 5 minutes try it.

If you remove the plastic cover on top of radiator look at rad there is big gap maybe one inch gap between rad and Ac condenser then there is another 1 inch gap between ac condenser and HX.. When the fan is pulling air I think a lot of air is pulled in from this gaps form on top of radiator bypassing the Heat exchangers and condenser..

All you do is get 5/8 heater hose cut to size put very little high temp rtv to hold it and push it a little in theses gaps blocking air from getting pulled it will close this gap so now air will only have one way to get pulled which is thru theses radiators only. This made big difference can't believe this car didn't come with this from the factory...:rolleyes:

I have a picture to give u better idea :thumbsup:

----------

Only push it down few mm
thanks for the great idea,, its blazing hot here,, i will make sure i do this when i install track attack hx i ordered last week,,

did you only filled the gaps from the top or all around?

please,, send me more pics of this and the rtv you used,,
 
#65 ·
Track attack very nice bro Please take foto when you install it before putting back the grill I want to compare to ketch...tks.

About this I only put in the top for ac condenser as the sides have very small gaps but very important for supercharger HX its got big gaps on all sides.. I forgot which rtv just get black color its not needed but will give extra traction

If you want to go extra mile cooling then ...hehehehe yes i know it never ends....you can add about 1 inch metal lip to all around the face of the hx so when you are at speed instead of the air hitting the hx and escaping to the sides it is trapped and pushed into the hx
 
#66 ·
Track attack very nice bro Please take foto when you install it before putting back the grill I want to compare to ketch...tks.

About this I only put in the top for ac condenser as the sides have very small gaps but very important for supercharger HX its got big gaps on all sides.. I forgot which rtv just get black color its not needed but will give extra traction

If you want to go extra mile cooling then ...hehehehe yes i know it never ends....you can add about 1 inch metal lip to all around the face of the hx so when you are at speed instead of the air hitting the hx and escaping to the sides it is trapped and pushed into the hx
i like that too looool
i need a cold country,,
 
#67 ·
I didn't get a picture of the track attack Hx befor the nose went back on. But I can tell you I talked with the track attack designer and he told me that the Katech and the Track Attack are made by the same manufacturer. The Track Attack is just thicker and about a half inch to inch taller.

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BTW when I was looking at it with the nose off there was very little gap. We even had to cut a bracket off and modify some others to fit it in there.
 
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