upgraded radiator? 300kw ba xr6t track car

[trist4nn]

hey all

 

im looking to upgrade my radiator to something that will more readily survive track sessions.

I'm running an oem replacement right now, which works fine on the street but will try to creep above half temp if im really pushing the car.

 

I'd prefer to just do this one and not worry about it again, so I was considering getting a 'PWR Radiator 55mm – Ford Falcon BA-BF Manual'.
 

two questions:

1: is this generally the best of the best for these cars? im really pushing the limits of heat on this thing and I dont want to half-ass this.

2: its a slightly thicker core, but pwr have told me they've never heard of fitment problems when running big front mounts. any experience fitting?

ive got some medium level process west frontmount in there that takes up a bit of real estate but im hoping I can cram it in.

 

I'm open to other ideas as long as it keeps this car cold.

 

cheers!

 

[JETURBO]

You have correct information mate ! 
 

PWR55 is the big daddy and works mint with factory fans/shrouds for circuit work  

 

Bolts in like factory too !

[trist4nn]

Thanks mate, I took the plunge and ordered it.

Do you recall if running the OEM thermostat was ok on these?

I've heard the higher efficiency rad will mean the thermostat opens prematurely on the street and keeps it too cold.

[gaz097]

That would be a faulty thermostat doing that.


The tridon, hi flow 82 deg c (180deg f) is very common, and probably where I would start.

[trist4nn]

have put the big rad in, was a bit of a song and dance to make the factory shroud fit but it seems ok!

what I'd really like help with is how much electrolysis is too much, and how I should go about finding it?

 

I took a volt reading between neg battery post and my coolant with the old rad, showing about 0.18v idle to about 0.2v with all accessories on.

at least according to the pwr owners manual this is too much, could anyone tell me what readings theyve found to give an idea of mine is out of ordinary?

 

and if it is, where should I start looking to try and eliminate it before I run this expensive rad.

 

old vs new and the tightish fitment. hope my engine mounts are good

[JETURBO]

Hey mate 

 

Yep that’s about how they fit up and looks pretty good from here. 
 

B series do suffer from electrolysis no question and the best way to see a reduction is by super good clean earthing system. Upgrade the main Negative to chassis with a pre terminated 4GA “minimum” cable and same for the engine block. Feel free to double up in these areas and obviously clean paint/grime free purchase on the connection points, spring star washers and nut & bolt system. Remember the engine can use earth points in various areas ( sump/block/rockercover/water pump ancillary bracket ) 
 

The factory stuff really wasn’t great new so after 14-16 years she’s well degraded. 
 

At the alternator make sure she’s clean bolted to the block via it’s typical bracket with no loose connections too.

 

secondary use a coolant “inhibitor” additive as part of a new complete fill  

 

This should bring a substantial drop in those figures. 

[trist4nn]

thanks heaps for the help mate.
im having a poke around the earthing systems and working through the points you mentioned.

car has had a little bit of electronic work done on it that I wasnt involved in, battery reloc behind front bumper, but it all seems high quality using premade process west cables, ill voltage drop test it all when I can run the car again.

 

just want to confirm if im full of sh*t here, but ive traced out my negative circuit going:
battery post (behind front bar) -> inside airbox post -> under fusebox -> single ground ring terminal bolted to drivers side chassis rail, right near the chassis to engine earth strap and drivers side engine mount.

 

is that seriously the only ground point from the battery to the chassis? I've got a workshop manual somewhere here which ill try to confirm with, but to my eye its that single terminal is it and its tiny.
also I might again be wrong, but theres no hard connection from battery to engine block, that's done via the chassis and the ground strap?

 

If so, I'll definitely upgrade it to some thicker wire, you mentioned preterminated, is that an off the shelf product or should I just measure the length of my old one and get one made up?

 

again much appreciated. shame youre in adelaide or id just bring it in to you haha.

[trist4nn]

another question @JETURBO, when you say use a coolant inhibitor:
ive picked up some penrite green coolant inhibitor, would you recommend running this additive & deminerailised water and that's it? this is what the box suggests, but its for cars that dont 'require' antifreeze/antiboil. im not necessarily sure if I do or not..

or would you 'add' this inhibitor into a traditional glycol/deminerised water mix, like a 30/70 or whatever.

thanks again

[JETURBO]

you’re correct with above trace out and hence it’s lacking, fine multi strand high cross sectional area pre terminated cable is best in all cases for cost and finish. 
 

 

I’ve previously used the inhibitor as an add in despite it being not recommended under typical ratio mixes ( commonly 50ml to 1ltr of de min ) I’ve added 10ml to around 1ltr coolant 33% ratio Glycol mix ( off the shelf premixed 6year coolants ) 

 

Typically a B series falcon will take about 8ltrs of coolant on a flush and about 12ltrs on a first fill empty engine/system 

 

I will assume you potentially used about 10ltrs of coolant to fill your new system / radiator? If so remove aprox 800ml to 1ltr and add in inhibitor of around this capacity to your coolant and it will help protect the aluminium cores on that PWR beauty  

 

If in doubt under mix vs over mix as even in small dose’s inhibitor works well 

[trist4nn]

Cheers that sounds good, it felt a bit funny running almost entirely water, I'll go with the ratios above and use 33% glycol.

 

So far all I've done is fill and drain with demin water and some radiator cleaner to try and purge as much old sh*t out as possible, haven't done a proper fill with real coolant, Id say she's taking a bit over 10l after a drain (just draining from radiator bung) 

 

regarding the wiring, I cleaned/sanded both the main chassis ground and the ground strap.

From what I could see those grounds actually make contact through the bolt threads, the chassis (was) completely painted. Mine didn't seem in bad condition but not sure about the design haha. My old Toyota's ground like this and its almost constantly goes wrong.

 

What I'm thinking is I'll get it bled up on a real coolant mix with inhibitor, then if the readings are still sh*te I'll bring more grounding work. 

Edited 01/01/22 07:16 AM by trist4nn