F2000 Cooling/Radiator Question:

[TerryE]

Hey guys, Jim up a Pegasus suggested this post...I'm bringing an '84 Reynard back to life for track days and have just about everything in order except that it's running hot. I've replaced the water pump, installed a thermostat, complete flush of system, and am running a 50/50 Prestone mix w/water-wetter. Still running hot, I'm looking at the positioning of the rads in the side pods and question if they're correct. They're mounted parallel to the body, and although there is some aero apparent coming around the front outside of the pods, it sure looks to me like incoming air shoots right through the pod and out the back without crossing through the rads?? Should the pods be a straight-thru shot like this? Is there a forward baffle missing that would re-direct the airflow outward & through the rads? Should the rear of the pod be baffled or sealed off to keep air in the pod and forced out through the rads? Should the rads themselves be positioned at an angle inside the pods? It sure seems to me like the air is shooting right by the rads & doing very little if anything to help in cooling. All thoughts & comments welcomed! Thanx, Terry

[Nardi]

Terry, the 84's will overheat without proper rad positioning. They should angle out from back to front. Back tight as possible to chassis with material at that point to block any bypass air. Use dense foam, weatherstripping or something creative to accomplish this. The front of the rad should be ( I guessing here) about 4-5 inches from the chassis. Your sidepod will basically dictate the amount.. Enclose as best you can the areas top and bottom around the rad to prevent bypass air. If the outside face of the rad is exposed to the airstream you will want a small angle acting like a gurney tab on the leading edge of the opening on that outside face. This will allow an air disturbance and help the air in the sidepod go through the rad and exit to the outside.
It make perfect sense in my head but feel free to contact me if I was not clear!!
Also, no thermostat.
If all of that doesn't fix it be sure to double check your plumbing layout.
Beyond that things will start costing money, not time.

[wake74]

Terry,

There seem to be a couple of various side pods for the 82 and the 83/84. The 82 side-pods on my car are slightly different than my spare ones, and I know IRP sells a different version as well. See pictures below, but on mine, the radiators angle back towards the car in rear. There is foam above the radiator and below to seal that gap,and a piece of flashing between the radiator and the metal along the side of the car.

Mine ran hot once last year in 95 degF+ temps. After that I pulled them, let them sit with some radiator flush in them, and rinsed. That seemed to spit out some of the crap in them after sitting for so long. Didn't have a problem after that.

Looking inside the inlet to the side-pod:



From the top:



Hope this helps!

[kea]

Old Radiators?
If so,
Purple Frog had a over-heat problem on his current Reynard for a while until he had me make him a new pair of radiators.

[Nardi]

Using wake74s second pic, if you took a piece of angle and mounted it at the leading edge of the rad exhaust, that should help improve the airflow through the rad. Thanks for posting the pics wake74!
BTW, I ran a pair of 84 Reynards here in the Southeast for quite a few years. If you follow the above sugestions, you should not have any problems even on the hottest Florida days.

[ASRF1000]

50/50 Prestone? Isn't the use of anti-freeze against the rules?

[Gary_T]

Make sure your plumbing is actually forcing water through the rads as well. The setup on my '84 requies a 'plug' in one of the tubes. The water all goes through one rad, then across to the other, then back to the motor. Without the plug the water just bypasses both rads.

[BWC54]

50/50 Prestone? Isn't the use of anti-freeze against the rules?

Depends who's rules. SCCA no.

[rickb99]

50/50 Prestone? Isn't the use of anti-freeze against the rules?

NOT against the rules but very very much discouraged.

[Matt M.]

As somebody who had a bad crash at an SCCA event because some dope used antifreeze and leaked it all over the track. I would strongly discourage the use of it.....

My neck has never been the same - in fact I'm probably lucky my head stayed on......

[ChrisInAtlanta]

50/50 Prestone? Isn't the use of anti-freeze against the rules?

Oh, and 100% water (well, with water-wetter type additive) will extract much more heat than any mix that contains coolant. Coolant really only provides anti-freeze protection. Well, a bit of rust protection and water pump lubricant, too, but the right additives fix that (as in, the correct brand of water-wetter). A bit of research here will show a significant temperature drop likely just by going to 100% water.

And, of course, everyone hating you for the rest of your life because you dropped coolant on the track figures in there somewhere, too. . .

Chris

[P Burke]

We have had a number of Reynards currently with an 84 in the barn. If all the aforementioned tricks don't fix the concern I highly recommend Averill's radiators. They just plain work, many of the area Reynards around here are using them. Froggie will concur should he desire.

Regarding coolant. For years I used a NAPA coolant protection recommended by Dave W on this site. Unfortunately it is no longer made. I call Ashland and asked for a recommendation and they said to use Zerex water pump lube and coolant protection. It comes in 14.5 oz bottles. It is not anti-freeze for us in the north. It does have corrosion inhibitors however and that should help. This year I am also using distilled water, somewhere around $.80 per gallon at Kroger. Normal water has minerals and other products that supposedly don't help with corrosion. Anything with glycol is highly frowned on. My $.02 worth.