Ron Davis Custom Radiators For Cobras
 

Hey guys, there is some radiator threads here, but my discussion is about a radiator built just for Cobras.

Fluidyne has one that was measured from a original Cobra, but it's $715, which isn't too bad, but I've been speaking with Ron Davis about my high HP cooling needs. We are looking into building a radiator to fit most Cobra manufactures, and with todays technology in cooling, we want it to stand upright, nit laying back the typical 23 degrees. We may have options for a fan and or a shroud.

I learned many years ago that a very well designed shroud can be more in need that a high dollar fan. I know from my friend, that after he bought a 1986 Ford Taurus combo fan & shroud, it cooled much better over all others. He had a problem cooling down his 427 side oiler, but after installing the Taurus he never had any heat issues.

Their getting a little hard to find now, so I looked over the net and found one that was a little lower in cost and showed him the link, but he said those are China made and are junk.

Here is part of Ron and I's conversation, where we spoke about specs.

Ron Davis is asking for a drawing of the radiator, including what side we want the inlet, the size of the inlet and the same for the bottom return. So length, height, width and how thick. I think,...we can have the thickness fairly large. We can go by the Griffin I have. I don't know what we can come up with on mounting tabs ? We can make the number of tubes/2.3.4 rows and what size. Single, dual, tripple pass's.

For whatever reason, my Griffin did not have a drain petcock. I would just disconnect the bottom hose, but I still want a valve. Basically whatever we think that would be great for a 427 Cobra. He wants everything noted so he does not get anything wrong, especially for most Cobra Replicas made today.

I don't know if we can improve theirs or not, but we want to market his own.

https://www.fluidyne.com/products/fh...cobra-radiator

You're asking for a custom part. I have always had to provide a supplier with an exact specification for those parts with dimensioned drawings (you're to be forgiven if the drawing isn't cad quality).

My observation with the Fluidyne on my Roush 427IR was that the radiator had excess capacity and over-cooled the engine, that is, the engine ran cooler than I would have liked. Now there's probably a combination of effects including fore and aft fans and the oil cooler that contributed. I eventually put a smaller thermostat in and the next season would have either bypassed or put a thermostat on the oil cooler as well. The message here is that it's easy to over-specify the radiator.

My first Fluidyne developed some very small but annoying leaks in the upper right quadrant. Nothing dripped and I never really lost fluid but they were "weeping" and built up a crust. This was as I was told by some experts, due to electrolysis. So my second radiator included a "sacrificial anode" (yes, exactly like your water heater) AND instructions to ground the radiator to the chassis. Be sure to include the mount for the anode (it was at the top with the drain petcock on the bottom) on the opposite sides of the main inlet/outlets.

So what is wrong with the Fludiyne?

The problem I see in a "one size fits all" is that each of the replica manufacturers have different mounting provisions, radiator size, lay back, lay forward or vertical designs and other specifications. Then you get to radiator cooling capacity which isn't always directly related to physical size but is based on engine output and cooling requirements.

I'm in process designing a radiator for my FFR Challenge Car and 427w motor. It will be different that other FFR installations.

Hope you can figure something out. I've always heard good thing about the Ron Davis radiators.

Jim

The problem I see in a "one size fits all" is that each of the replica manufacturers have different mounting provisions, radiator size, lay back, lay forward or vertical designs and other specifications. Then you get to radiator cooling capacity which isn't always directly related to physical size but is based on engine output and cooling requirements.

I'm in process designing a radiator for my FFR Challenge Car and 427w motor. It will be different than other FFR installations.

Hope you can figure something out. I've always heard good thing about the Ron Davis radiators.

Jim