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The problem
I have experienced was heat at 60 + MPH. Temperatures would rise to
around 220 and up, and wouldn't come down. It seems that air
circulation would be degraded at higher temps. Heat coming off the
engine would be going into the radiator at that speed.
I had the
radiator mounted at the rear of the trike behind the engine. We added
a shroud and fan on the rear of the radiator and a shroud at the front to
block the heat coming from the engine. This shroud had a scoop at the
bottom and was supposed to draw air up and through the radiator.
Like I said, it worked ok at lower speeds but not at freeway speeds.
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THOUGHTS
ABOUT SUBARU (AND OTHERS) RADIATORS AND COOLING FROM THE BTW FORUM
From:
Trikerdon
I have had
real problems with the radiator with my Subaru engine installed. I
mounted in in the rear of the trike and it would work ok up to around 55 mph
then start heating up. We figured the radiator was to small (single core,
stock) so I installed a dual core radiator from a Brat. We made a shroud for
the fan which would suck the air through and made a cover for the front to
keep engine heat from entering from the front of the radiator, it had a
scoop
at the bottom to get air. Didn't work, still was heating up after 60mph or
so.
So now I am having (this is getting expensive) a radiator made to fit on top
of the rear of the trike. It is a Jeep radiator and dual core. The air
should be going through it now. Haven't tested it yet. I also can add a
deflector to force the air into it.
I also thought about a horizontal radiator, but after some discussion it was
decided it would not work, fans or not.
You need to have direct air flow into the radiator. Fans, etc. just won`t do
the trick. Maybe Trikerbob can jump in here and add some comments as he had
the same problems I did.
From:
Trikerbob
I think if
you were to look around you would find very few if any production
vehicles on the road where the radiator is not in the front in direct air
flow
with fans to kick in when needed.
As Trikerdon has learned, bigger Radiators only mean more hot water if
they don't get the proper air flow. In my case where I have built several
Subaru powered Trikes, a few I have mounted 2 little Goldwing radiators
on the floorboards in direct air and they have always worked flawlessly.
Others I have tried to hide the Radiator by mounting it in the rear with
fans
of course and just like Don, it worked fine until I got on the freeway and
wanted to run over 60 for extended periods, then I`d get over heating. I
corrected that proble by adding a small radiator on my floorboard in the
wind and that cured my problems.
On my new Trike, the Gay Wolf, I have found the long lower Radiator
found in the older Jeep Cherokee's to be a nice size to be able to mount
just a couple inches in front of the torsion bar and still have room for my
gas tank and battery and be in direct air flow. While its still untested due
to
not yet regestered, I have no doubt that this setup is going to work very
well.
I firmly believe it isn`t worth the time and effort to try to locate your
radiator
anywhere that you have to rely primarily on fans for your cooling. Its
easier
to build in the room now than to try to make changes later when you find it
FROM JIM
Kennedy
Engineered Products sends out some useful info with their adapters.
What they say about radiator placement is to attach some streamers where you
are thinking about mounting your radiator and take off down the road. Watch
the
streamers and the direction they go will indicate air movement. If there is
little
movement, chances are you have a dead air space. Wouldn't want to go too far
without a radiator but it wouldn't take long.
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