[Healeys] Aluminum vs Copper/Brass Radiator?

editorgary at aol.com editorgary at aol.com
Mon Jul 14 12:13:45 MDT 2014


 A number of years have passed since I swapped an aluminum radiator for the
original black brass/copper radiator on my MGA race car, but I vaguely recall
from the discussions at that time that aluminum actually is a worse metal for
heat transfer than copper/brass. Can one of you metallurgists comment?

My understanding at the time had nothing to do with inherent heat transfer,
but rather that I needed a new radiator since mine was very clogged up, and to
buy a replacement original, or recore my original was more expensive than the
cool-looking aluminum replacement I could buy from the standard source in
Phoenix. As an additioanal incentive, the aluminum radiator -- which was a
bolt-in substitute -- was lighter than the copper/brass original. Of course it
worked better, simply because it was brand new and totally uncorroded, in
contrast to the 40 years of corrosion in my old radiator.

Any other thoughts?

Gary Anderson
Editor at large, Austin-Healey Magazine.



David Nock wrote:
Cleaning the original style radiator I would not recommend. The original style
is a very inefficient  style of radiator core.The new style cores with the
fins that go vertically between the tube are far more efficient at cooling.
They can have more tubes and fins per inch.
The next best is an aluminum radiator, they will transfer heat much better
than a copper brass radiator and will recover much faster.I have recently
installed an aluminum radiator in my BN4. This last weekend we had temps at
100 degrees. I was out all day. Engine temp stayed steady at 170 degrees at
driving speedsSlowed thru town and thru the local shopping center the temp
creped up to about 200 degrees then as soon as I picked a little speed the
temp came right back down to 170 . Prior to the alloy radiatorI would run
constantly down the freeway at 190 degrees and closer to 200 on a hot day,
then in traffic it would quickly climb to 215 plus and was slow to recover.


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