Drag Racing Discussions > Front Engine Dragsters

Cooling

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crider:
Ok, got my shifter on it's way. Now on to the cooling system. What radiator are those of you that run water using? I'm going to be carbed on gas at least for a while. Plan to go stack injection on alky next spring, but in the mean time I'm going to need a decent radiator to cool the bbc.

ricardo1967:
Crider,
I'm a small guy here, so here's my humble advice: I was going to take the same route (carb/gas than injection/alky), but I'm glad I jumped straight to injection/alky. I saved a bunch of hard earned money that way. As a bonus, it's a much simpler setup. No radiator here. No regrets at all.

GlennLever:
I went the gas carb route and took it off almost immediately.

Could not keep it cool.

I went to an alcohol Carb and it ran much cooler

Went from that to blown injected.

It is a steep learning curve, but if possible I would advise you to go to the alcohol injection.

I am still currently running a radiator because in my class they tend to hot lap at the end.

With the new engine I will have no cooling

The radiator I run now was custom built double core cross circuit cooling.

JrFuel Hayden:
I agree with Glenn, just go to injected Alky, no cooling needed, mater-a-fact alky runs better with a hot engine. I run it at 180° to 200° while staging. I know some racers that race bracket, and will adjust engine temp so that they will run the number [ 7.60] ie cooler will slow it down some. I also run water just in the block/heads because I have found it helps seal the rings better, besides more even engine temps. When we are getting close to getting called to the staging lanes I warm it up to at least 180°, and then cover the engine with a packing blanket if we think we might be in the lanes long. If we get caught with a cooler motor I have our driver take his time backing up from the burn-out to build heat. We run raised runner all iron SBC, and by adjusting the barrel valve I can build the heat I'm looking for. I have found non-raised runner SBC have trouble building 200° heat. When I have helped other JF teams I have kept them from staging right away waiting to build heat, and sometimes we lean the barrel to get to heat we want. On a dyno we have seen 20-25 HP loss running the SBC dry.
So save money on gas carb, cooling system stuff, etc, go to injected alky. BTW alky has a much wider tune-up window than gas, case in point when I have helped with Comp elim A/ND and B/ND the other Comp teams don't like racing against FED on alky in hot weather because their cars will slow down in the heat and alky can run the same if not better in the 90°+ heat. You just have to clean / flush your fuel system after a race weekend.   
Have a good time !
Jon Hansen, 805-444-4489

msundstrom:
My BBC FED had one on it when I bought it, ran it for a month and took it off. I believe it was off a VW Rabbit or Jetta. Still sitting in my shop.
Mark

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