Radiator front or Rear

[gm500hprat]

Is there any increase or decrease in cooling on whether you mount a radiator in front or rear. Either way there is no blockage of air to the radiator. In the front there is nothing in front of the radiator, and in the rear the vehicle is a complete tube chassis, so it’s pretty free flowing. In the front the radiator would connect like a normal vehicle with a short factory hose, in the rear I would have to run about 8ft of tubing through the chassis and have some silicon hoses on each side to connect to the moter and the radiator. Would this extra water help in cooling, or would it hamper it because it has longer to travel before it gets to the radiator?

Vehicle was a gmc k1500 frame, now has a tube chassis welded to what's left of the frame rails, 500hp BBC w'th400, np 205. Will be used for dual purpose sand/dirt. Glamis/Ocotillo

I have a 31x16 Ron Davis Radiator on Dual Derales RAD 13in 4000cfm fans.

Thanks in advance, Art

 

[GsxrMike]

I think the extra water would help it cool but I think the fact you would't have the air flowing through the grill and hitting it at any kind of speed may hinder it.

 

[DR]

Most every race truck in the world runs the radiator in the back. I would think with a good fan set up it would be just fine... Might be worth the upgrade to a high flow pump to.

 

[NorCalKid]

I got nothing on your question but how about some pictures of the truck?

 

[gm500hprat]

Here are a couple recent pics.

Here is a front side shot, this is the reason I want to mount the rad in the rear, it will stick out like a sore thumb up here because it has to mounted outside the chassis and I have to make some kind of cage to protect it.

Here is a shot of the rear side, where I would like to integrate a mount into the passengers head area cage I will make.

 

[gm500hprat]

Here are a couple shots of someone else who has the same chassis, I edited the pictures with ms paint to show the structure I would like to build if I mount in the rear.

 

[NorCalKid]

That looks like its going to be fun, I like the tube work. Are you planing on going to crossover steering? Going to get crazy bump steer with the stock push pull

 

[gm500hprat]

Yeah I will be going to crossover steering. Once I figure out what I'm going to do with the front suspension. Right now I'm planning on installing my rear 52's on the front, but 4 link is still an option. I'll probably run the 52's first and see if it does good enough for what I'm going to be doing with it.

 

[Hogback Fabrication]

Radiator in the rear means more metal surface area for heat transfer, moving your radiator to the rear shouldn't hurt cooling performance.

As for running 52's in the front, I wouldn't if I were you. Once you move your radiator to the rear, the front of the frame limits your approach angle.

I would chop the front of the frame off and stick with some soft 48" springs (you'll have to move the upper shackle mount if you want lots of flex).

Or you could link the front