I have this theory that the Fluidyne radiator may help engines create more power. How you ask? Well I've read that by lower the temparture in an engine by a certain degree this will in turn grant you 1 horsepower. And its seems so that the Fluidyne radiator was made to chill the coolant more over than a stock radiator so in conlclusion I think that Fluidyne's radiator will give you a few more ponies. If anybody agrees to this or have experience with Fluidyne's radiator than lemme know. This is also how the AEM CAI makes so much more power than other intakes by sending the coldest air from the side fender to the combustion chamber.

 

if this were true why dont people just hook up there rad fans to be on all the time to keep the colant at 160 instead of 190

 

Hmmm...I dunno. Its just like how intake companies sell you their intakes but don't tell you that now you'll need to purchase a Fuel and Air controller just to tune them down rite or else you'll get bad idle or poor fuel economy. I did hear that tip a while ago in Super Street magazine and othere sites about setting the radiator fan to come on earlier or just let run whenever your driving around, but it beats me how no one's doin it or are they?

 

They had some dyno results a long time ago showing a small gain in hp by upgrading the radiator but I can't remember how much, but it wasn't all that exciting of an amount. It had a theory about why the hp increase also. When materials heat up they expand and the tolerances between seals in the engine become greater so reducing the compression and efficiency of the engine. And so by adding a larger cooler radiator to the vehicle it keeps the engine at a cooler operating temp causeing less heat expansion and closer tolerances and efficiency.

Sorry I don't have the article still, wish I did so I could post it and not look crazy!

 

The CAI works cause colder air= more density. so, basically your sucking more air in.
The radiator thing,yeah as the person said, prevents expansion in the engine.
but leaving the fan on is a no no i think. doesnt the fan turn on when its idling only? when its moving, the air will blow at the radiator, but at the same time, the air from the fan will blow in a different direction, so wouldnt that be kinda meaningless? just my thought. (rather leave the heater on so itll cool the engine bay down)

 

I agree with the cold air theory, if the intake maniold i cooler a larger mass of air is taken into the engine because the air is cooler. There would be little point in leaving the cooling fan on all the time because this would load the altinator more and absorb a good bit of the small increase in hp.

 

I'd think you'd gain more power by running the engine HOTTER. The hotter the block, the less heat transferred out of the combustion chamber, the more efficient the engine runs (to a point, before it disintegrates).

The only way I could see a radiator giving more power is if it was less restrictive to water flow, thereby releiving load on the water pump.

 

Actually by running the engine block hotter, which means less coolant is flowing around coolant passages in the block, you'll end up with a blown head gasket or even maybe a warped cylinder head, I know this because it happend to me a few times but luckly it was only a blown head gasket.

Anyhow the block can't get any hotter anyways if the combusts fuel and air in the combustion chambers doesn't warm up the block. The only time the block would get hotter is if your water pump no longer flows the heated coolant from the block to the radiator to get cooled, so as this continues the block would get hotter and hotter becuase the heated coolant just stays in the block sending extreme heat to its nearest source the block. But yeah this is another theory I have, since I've experienced this a few times already.

 

Uh.... you must be foregetting that the radiator's water reservoir isn't even in use until the engine reached 190+ degrees... the thermostat's closed til then, and once the temp drops back below 190, it's closes, and the water in the radiator is allowed to cool once again...

Lowering water temps simply helps lowre the likelyhood of detonation, it doesn't really make power.

 

An aluminum radiator isnt as much for cooling capability as it is geared toward efficency. Aluminum can dissipate heat better yea, that is a given, but the heat generated by the motor, espicially the water jackets along side of the cylinders stays the saem yes a slight drop in coolant temperature can result in better cooling properties, but it does not change the way that the engine creates heat. I do agree that the cooler the coolant temperature, than the less expansion there is but coolant can only effect this so much, the heat generated will always be present and the initail effect of the heat it what does the expansion, the heat is always being generated while the motor is running the cooler coolant only aids a little, the primary reasoning behind the aluminum radiator is not power, but efficency and reliability. In Texas, we spend all summer at 100+ degrees every day, sometimes it will get down to 98 or 99 if were lucky. This is the ambient air that the radiator has a hard time over coming, when your engine is turning RPM's, you are driving and air is passing over the radiator. The times when aluminum's properties of heat dissapition come into effect is when your sitting in the Taco Bell drive thru at noon, letting your engine idle with no air moving over the radiator while your waiting on the 400 pound fat bitch to order her twenty million bean burritos. This is when the engine gets hot, and I know 90-93 integra owners in Texas will back me up on that, cause everyone that I have ever known with one of those has had the temperature start to "creep" while waiting on the fat *** in a drive thru.

 

I can tell you all about that.