Todd, just catching up on the blog after a week of vacation ... my main thought is that doubling your Surface AREA will have far more positive affect than the negative effects of halving your CUBIC area ... cubic inches of radiator is misleading - surface area is far more important.
Jeff
I'm considering making some changes to my cooling system as it is not adequate when flying low & slow, as on recent flights on a few hot days. I'm still using a set of evap cores as they fit the limited space on either side of the PSRU in an RV cowl.
Bill Jepson made mention of a curved radiator earlier this summer, which has been simmering on a hot spot way back in my brain ever since. I've spent the last few days looking real hard at the idea.
The size and shape of the curve looks like it would conform quite nicely to the bottom of the RV cowl. so that the top of the rad would be perpendicular to the airflow while the bottom will curve away. This would require a new ducts to be glassed to take advantage of this, but that would allow for more time and room to slow down the airflow for greater efficiency. It would also almost double the square inches of cooling area than I currently have, however as it is thinner it would provide half of the cubic inches of volume as I currently have.
The small thick rads I currently use were chosen more with high speeds in mind (well, and of course ease of installation), but now I'm thinking that I'd rather have a thinner rad that would perform better on the ground and in slow flight. These curved rads seem like they could offer some advantages.
I've just found them listed on
Amazon.ca for $148CAD with free shipping (x2)which seems pretty reasonable, so for $300, it might offer a significant cooling upgrade.... or maybe not.
I wish I could find an old one to cut open to inspect, test weld, check for fit, etc.
Does anybody have any thoughts on the idea? I'm on the edge so it wouldn't take much to push me over, or pull me back....
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