[Healeys] Heater query

[Harold Manifold]

Gary,

I had the same options when restoring my Mk1 BT7. I looked into aluminum
radiators extensively to see what the benefits might be. Contrary to
popular belief it is not better heat transfer properties of the materials.
The copper radiator fins on the original Healey radiators have much better
thermal conductivity than aluminum. The advantage of the aluminum radiator
is the manufacturing process and the formability of modern aluminum. The
result is more tube and fin area. I estimated a Wizard radiator has about
25% more fin area than the stock radiator. The greater the fin area the
better to expel heat.

Having said that, there is a third option which is to replace the original
core with a high efficiency core. This retains the stock look of the engine
bay and will be close in performance to the aluminum radiator. The high
efficiency core option will be more expensive than a Wizard radiator and
the difficulty is finding a radiator shop that can access the core can do
the work.

This website has a good overview: https://usradiator.com/cores

Harold





On Tue, Jul 11, 2023 at 9:12 AM warthodson--- via Healeys <
healeys at autox.team.net> wrote:

> My 100 radiator is in need of some rehabilitation. It either needs to be
> boiled out, which would not replace some of the damaged fins, or re-cored.
> I am leaning toward re-coring but that would be more expensive, which leads
> to the aluminum option.
> Besides price what are the pros vs. cons of these options? Does anyone
> know if re-cored 100 radiator is more efficient than an aluminum radiator?
> Gary H
>
> On Monday, July 10, 2023 at 09:02:21 PM CDT, BJ8Healeys via Healeys <
> healeys at autox.team.net> wrote:
>
>
> I live in the sunny South (90° F and 90% relative humidity today) and I
> used to refer to my BJ8’s heater as the “auxiliary engine cooler”; but I no
> longer have to use  it that way since I had a modern core installed in the
> radiator and added a 190° sleeved thermostat that I bought from Kees.
>
>
>
> Steve Byers
>
> HBJ8L/36666
>
> BJ8 Registry
>
> AHCA Delegate at Large
>
> Havelock, NC  USA
>
>
>
>
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