Rear mounted radiator

Blitz

Blitz

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Joined
Jul 20, 2013
For anyone that has mount their radiator in the back. What are the dos and dont to doing it. Or some good pointers. I may do it in the new buggy but not sure yet.
 
Keep the radiator cap above the inlet on the motor or you will never get the air out. I'm going to install a remote fill cap to help bleed the system.

When you first fill the system use a water hose and cup you hand around the inlet on the radiator forcing the water in while the motor is running. Keep doing that until the thermostat opens on the motor to insure it's full of water. Then you can drain the radiator and fill it back with antifreeze. Hard to explain but once you get that far just call me.
 
Monstercrawler said:
Keep the radiator cap above the inlet on the motor or you will never get the air out. I'm going to install a remote fill cap to help bleed the system.

When you first fill the system use a water hose and cup you hand around the inlet on the radiator forcing the water in while the motor is running. Keep doing that until the thermostat opens on the motor to insure it's full of water. Then you can drain the radiator and fill it back with antifreeze. Hard to explain but once you get that far just call me.
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I mounted the radiator above the engine and I didn't have to do any of that stuff. Just fill, circulate, check, fill. Also, with mine, we don't run thermostats. I know its purpose, but no one that I know of is running one in their ecotec, but it may just be that engine.....

But they also told me that my radiator was too small to keep the engine cool. Which is why I used aluminum tubing instead of all rubber hoses. They work as a heat sink.
 
Mitch said:
I mounted the radiator above the engine and I didn't have to do any of that stuff. Just fill, circulate, check, fill. Also, with mine, we don't run thermostats. I know its purpose, but no one that I know of is running one in their ecotec, but it may just be that engine.....

But they also told me that my radiator was too small to keep the engine cool. Which is why I used aluminum tubing instead of all rubber hoses. They work as a heat sink.
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THIS. If you can, run aluminum piping and keep it as far away from the exhaust as possible. For some people, that's not common sense. lol Make sure you connect to the radiator correctly. I had a customer that brought me a rig that had an LS swap with a huge rear mounted radiator and would over heat in anything over 80* outside. It didn't take long to figure out that they had the hoses backwards at the radiator. Problem solved.
 
Mitch said:
I mounted the radiator above the engine and I didn't have to do any of that stuff. Just fill, circulate, check, fill. Also, with mine, we don't run thermostats. I know its purpose, but no one that I know of is running one in their ecotec, but it may just be that engine.....

But they also told me that my radiator was too small to keep the engine cool. Which is why I used aluminum tubing instead of all rubber hoses. They work as a heat sink.
Click to expand...

I assume you are talking about your rear engine car with the radiator behind the motor. How do you get away with out a thermostat? To me it would seem like the water would not have time to cool off. What is the distance from the outlets of the motor to the inlets of the radiator and what kind of couplers did you use for the tubing? If it will hold up to the abuse you go through each race it should last for ever in a crawler.
 
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Radiator is in front of the engine. The distance of outlets on the engine is opposite sides and opposite ends. The connectors are a rubber molded eldow.
 

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Mitch said:
Radiator is in front of the engine. The distance of outlets on the engine is opposite sides and opposite ends. The connectors are a rubber molded eldow.
Click to expand...
Looks simple enough. Mounted much closer than a typical rear radiator set up. Yours's way above the motor so I can under stand why it was easy to get the air out. Mine is damn near inline with the motor.
 
Monstercrawler said:
Looks simple enough. Mounted much closer than a typical rear radiator set up. Yours's way above the motor so I can under stand why it was easy to get the air out. Mine is damn near inline with the motor.
Click to expand...
Yes, it is completely above the engine. Because it is so small, I had to have it in the most high-flow air that I could get. Since there are no windows, front or rear, it allows for free-flow through the car.
 
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