The AUSubaru.com.au Forums

just read another thread which gave me the idea of mounting the radiator on the underside of the bonnet. Im assuming it could only be pulled off with a large lift kit (possibly 4" minimum) to free up the space required. Would also need a large scoop and a couple of thin thermo's to suck the air in, and im also guessing the inlet of the scoop would make a difference, with the inlet faces forwards so it forces air in, or faces backwards, then the air would be coming in the front grill, and exiting throught the radiator. I cant decide which way would be better. facing forwards it would be forcing air into the engine bay from all directions, where as if it were facing backwards, there would be a smooth consistent flow of air from the front, over the engine and up throught the radiator. I Can see this working well at high speeds but for 4wd i think it would be worse coz with the thermo's going it would be sucking warm air from the engine bay.

im thinking this coz if i can remove the radiator from the front, i can fit in a flat 6 of some descrtiption, i also dont want to put the radiator in the back, so this sounds like my only option. With the correct plumbing and possibly a 12v water pump to aid pumping the water the extra distance, it sounds entirely possible.

so my questions are (and feel free to chip in wherever)

has it been done before?
is it possible?
should the scoop be facing forwards or backwards?
would it provide enough cooling?
minimum size lift kit?
am i stupid?


Cheers, Jay

theres a guy on the usmb doing this, would be worth looking for his thread and seeing what hes found out

heres some links
subarubrat.com's tilting radiator
USMB chef tim's thread
and a pic

cheers. spose ill go hunting for a nice thick radiator to experiment with when its time. cheers for the links

Um.. Are you planning to run an ER27 or EZ30,
I thought the EZ30 was not much longer than the EJ20 cos the EZ30 has timing chains.

I remember reading that somewhere

havent really gone into that much detail yet but ill deciding on the final option when something becomes available towards july/august. I havent physicaly measured any of these motors yet to see whats required to go where but i want to keep all options open. how bigs the eg33 (??) from an svx?

cant c y it wouldnt fit theres heaps of room once u get rid of that ea81 air cleaner
if u wanna measure somethin up let me no

tristan

yeah might have a quick measure before i decide on my lift kit, just so i know im covered

seen an old jap ute with chev v8 in it, this guy ran the radiator and fans in the tray

Would air-locks create a problem with this setup?

not if u use a header tank like in the falcons

i actually read the main reasion behind this idea and i once saw a car with the radiator mounted in the front fender with a thermo fan

you could use this idea by runnin 2 smaller radiators and thermo fans on each 1
donno if this helps much but its another idea
feel free to measure anythin up and if u want mine is engine less atm so if u want i can measure somethin up now just let me no wat u want measurin

tristan

In my mind the scoop facing forward with some thermo's, it'd have to be a decent scoop i'd imagine...

If it were my project i'd be inclinded to have the radiator mounted to the bonnet so it lifted with the bonnet when opened. I don't see the need for an electric pump to move the water around, the engine should do this easily enough on its own...

It'd be a pretty neat mod, but i don't like to think what the scoop would look like - i think it'd be hideous - MHO.

Give it a go, i'd love to see it done in Oz.

Cheers