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ImpulseRocket89
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Post by ImpulseRocket89 »

Well, it's much lighter than the factory one, I will give it that much. one advantage of it being aluminum. I was contemplating painting it black as well, but thermal emissivity due to surface finish is such a small functional thing compared to cooling efficiency and total surface area and fin count, which this has about double the stock radiator inside and out. It was just supposed to be an inch thicker. Tomorrow I shall complain, and they shall fix it.
1988 Isuzu Impulse Turbo.
2005 Ford Crown Victoria LX

RIP 1989 Impulse Turbo, aka "Rakete"
IZU069
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Post by IZU069 »

It amuses me when people buy Al radiators for their lightness for road cars but fail to factor in their extra volume, hence heavier overall weight.

Plus black pepper AFAIK doesn't work when you spring a leak.
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ImpulseRocket89
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Post by ImpulseRocket89 »

and a copper radiator of the same size would still weigh more with both having equal volumes. I don't entirely care about the lightness. of it. Copper is damned expensive compared to aluminum.
1988 Isuzu Impulse Turbo.
2005 Ford Crown Victoria LX

RIP 1989 Impulse Turbo, aka "Rakete"
ImpulseRocket89
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Post by ImpulseRocket89 »

I got a call back from Ron Davis and the guy was adamant that it would suit my needs, but I still disagree. Sure there are more rows of tubes than stock and a hell of a lot more fin surface area, but I think the stock rad was slightly undersized to begin with (total opinion and no science behind that) hence the need for such a high pressure cap. 5 times or more of the stock power output with an engine that is nearly 30% larger in displacement that will be turbocharged at high pressures with an iron block. I want cooling capacity...

In any case he is going to deliberate with the designers about it because I am not happy with the result and they will get back to me. Considering we discussed making the thing thicker...I was expecting it. Maybe they should have consulted with me more before they just decided to slap it together :scratch:
1988 Isuzu Impulse Turbo.
2005 Ford Crown Victoria LX

RIP 1989 Impulse Turbo, aka "Rakete"
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Post by Piazza_man »

Yeah I agree. Stand your ground. Pitty you've paid them already.
IZU069
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Post by IZU069 »

Obviously equal coolant volumes mean less weight for the Al types.
I was referring to road & off-road vehicles where larger volume is used to compensate for the lower heat conductivity of Al over copper (Al being about half that of Cu). Of course some use extra (~twice as much) surface area to compensate...

That's not an issue for racers which normally have high airflow rates and fins are not blocked by mud or bugs.

Price seem to be the biggest reason for modern cars having Al radiators. And no doubt, the advantages of having no Cu electrolysis.
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ImpulseRocket89
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Post by ImpulseRocket89 »

eyecon wrote:Yeah I agree. Stand your ground. Pitty you've paid them already.
That's not entirely a bad thing. Some of the laws in the US protect me from things like that since I paid via credit card. If they don't work with me to fix it I can file a "Services Not Rendered" through my bank and I essentially get my money back.

However, that shouldn't be necessary with this company. Ron Davis has one hell of a reputation and they stand by their products. My radiator essentially has a lifetime warranty on it. if it fails or has any problems they will fix it for free. So I imagine if a customer feels like he got cheated they are going to work hard and fast to correct the issue. Even if they think they are right and I want something else, I am sure they will do it just to keep me happy.
IZU069 wrote:Obviously equal coolant volumes mean less weight for the Al types.
I was referring to road & off-road vehicles where larger volume is used to compensate for the lower heat conductivity of Al over copper (Al being about half that of Cu). Of course some use extra (~twice as much) surface area to compensate...

That's not an issue for racers which normally have high airflow rates and fins are not blocked by mud or bugs.

Price seem to be the biggest reason for modern cars having Al radiators. And no doubt, the advantages of having no Cu electrolysis.
I get what you are saying there. For me the material doesn't matter, nor does the weight really. A custom copper core radiator would have cost me another $500 just in material cost. (I priced one lol).
1988 Isuzu Impulse Turbo.
2005 Ford Crown Victoria LX

RIP 1989 Impulse Turbo, aka "Rakete"
ImpulseRocket89
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Post by ImpulseRocket89 »

In other news. I used my newly acquired toy, a Percy's Wheelrite, to kind of play around and get an idea of what width wheel/tire and offsets could work on said Impulse with a 17" wheel.

My results with stock suspension height and range of motion came back with:

Front: 17x9 with a +3 offset.
Rear:17x9 with a +25 offset.

I used a plumb bob on each fenders outer edge and gave it a tiny bit of clearance. There is a margin of error with these numbers obviously, but it's fairly small.

What limited width up front was the lower shock mount with the suspension at full droop. I gave it about 1/2" of clearance with the shock mount and about 1/4-1/8th inch with the outer edge of the fender. I do not doubt that with a lowered suspension and shorter shocks you could eek a little more backspacing/positive offset and/or width out of it. Clearance at full lock would be questionable, even with the 9" width and offset I came up with.

Out back the real limiting factor was the upper spring perch on the chassis. As with the front, I gave the spring perch and outer fender lip the same clearances of 1/2" and 1/4-1/8th inch respectively. In both cases this is with the fender lips rolled for clearance as well.

Safe wheel width and offsets would be an 8.5" wide wheel with about a 15mm offset up front (or 8" with a stock +25 range offset) all around Or with a staggered setup you could the above rear 9" width and 25mm offset.

Just some fitment rambling.
1988 Isuzu Impulse Turbo.
2005 Ford Crown Victoria LX

RIP 1989 Impulse Turbo, aka "Rakete"
ImpulseRocket89
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Post by ImpulseRocket89 »

Back on to the cooling system side of things. They called me back this morning and Dennis said he talked to Ron himself, and Ron is confident that it will work. I still disagreed, and so they are going to make a new one for me and setup an exchange shipping thing.

Reasons I disagreed were (and some purely opinion, others based on experience with other cars):
1. I believe the stock radiator and cooling system are fairly inadequate.
2. With a big intercooler, AC condensor, and oil cooler in the way throwing off heat.
3. I am looking to make 5 times the stock power from an engine with 25+% more displacement spinning nearly 20% higher in rpm than the factory 2.0L
4. The car may see track use, but I also would like it to survive a night at the drag strip or maybe even driving around town in the middle of the summer.
5. I consider the absolute limit of the stock radiator to be around the 350-400hp mark in a road racing application with an electric fan. even if this current radiator is 50% better at cooling than the old one, I would still be beyond its absolute limits.

I will say this, they were very willing to work with me and not try to shove their opinions down my throat. They wanted only to make sure that I got what I wanted and that I was happy. Great company to deal with.
1988 Isuzu Impulse Turbo.
2005 Ford Crown Victoria LX

RIP 1989 Impulse Turbo, aka "Rakete"
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Post by Piazza_man »

Just on the Spal fan I presume are you placing it on the engine side and using it to pull (because of your condenser and fan unit up front)?
ImpulseRocket89
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Post by ImpulseRocket89 »

Yes, It is setup as a pull type fan. I am actually going to leave the fan off of the condenser side if I can and have the AC fan control wired into the relay and then just seal the rad. and condenser together with a bit of foam stripping. If that doesn't work then I will put a small slim fan on the condenser.

Oh, and removing the fuel lines is a pain in the ass.

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On the plus side, I am nearly done with this. The rest of what I need should be here Friday. Then all I have to do is figure out how to seal off the two holes for the wiring.

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1988 Isuzu Impulse Turbo.
2005 Ford Crown Victoria LX

RIP 1989 Impulse Turbo, aka "Rakete"
ImpulseRocket89
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Post by ImpulseRocket89 »

I have every fastener under the car for the front and rear suspension soaking in liquid wrench right now. I was going to start taking it apart tonight, but I think I shall wait for that stuff to set in for a while.

In the meantime I got my fuel pump hanger bracket finished for both AN bulkhead fittings. Once the rest of my stuff gets here tomorrow I can clean up the bracket, paint it, and if I have enough time put the fittings on it permanently. Then I can figure out the small stuff and get it assembled.

In other news, as I was at the hardware store to pick up a 1/2" drill bit, I stumbled across these abrasive nylon wheels meant for a drill. I am going to give them a go on the surface rust under the car and see how well they do. They are supposedly guaranteed to not lose abrasiveness or wear out like a wire wheel.
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Oh, and I test fit my wrong radiator. Fit's perfectly... can't wait for the new one to show up. The upper radiator hose inlet does come close to being friendly with the PS pump pulley, but it doesn't hit (maybe 2/3" of clearance). I'm removing the PS anyway, so it's not important. The fan has more than an inch of clearance to the water pump pulley, so we are good there!

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1988 Isuzu Impulse Turbo.
2005 Ford Crown Victoria LX

RIP 1989 Impulse Turbo, aka "Rakete"
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Post by Piazza_man »

Looking good.
ImpulseRocket89
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Post by ImpulseRocket89 »

Lookin' better!

Got my fuel tank back from cleaning and sealing. Decided to strip it down to metal and give it a new paint job since the old paint was half missing and there was some surface rust on it. I just used a wire wheel and my angle grinder for most of it, and a thin block of wood and 80 grit to get at some of the tighter places. It's just a rattle can job. 2 coats of primer, 2 of gloss black so far. I may throw on another coat, but it's not entirely important either. The blue stuff on the inside of the tank is the sealer, and it's pretty tough stuff.

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Here is the hanger. I bent up a new return pipe for the -6AN return bulkhead fitting to dump in the stock location inside the fuel "bowl". I just need to wait for it to dry so I can do the final little bend and cut it. More or less ready to go. Bought some new stainless machine screws for the hanger and sending unit as well.

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1988 Isuzu Impulse Turbo.
2005 Ford Crown Victoria LX

RIP 1989 Impulse Turbo, aka "Rakete"
ImpulseRocket89
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Post by ImpulseRocket89 »

My day today for a few hours... I just had to sacrifice part of my finger to the garage gods to make this happen.

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I even did it the proper way,

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1988 Isuzu Impulse Turbo.
2005 Ford Crown Victoria LX

RIP 1989 Impulse Turbo, aka "Rakete"
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