924Board.org

[Qik Nip]

I'm assuming that you are using aluminum radiators to race and I was hoping for some information on cost and the name of a supplier who sells one the fits a 79 NA. I figure the 35 year old piece in the car has got to be about half as effective as a good, modern one! But so far my Googling hasn't turned up anything that I can be at all certain will match the existing mounting hardware, or for that matter the hoses.
Rick
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'79 NA 924 Land Speed Car
Bonneville G/CPRO record @ 149.825MPH
Arkansas Mile G/CPRO record @ 138.0 MPH
Great Lakes SCCA SM points champion '09,'10,'11

[emoore924]

Nope. Not alu. Stock 944S.

[Rasta Monsta]

[fiat22turbo]

You can the original re-cored as well with as many cores as you want.

The "cheapest" solution is to convert to a 944 radiator and fan assembly, the drawback is that you'll have to build adapter mounts and cut a few hoses to get it plumbed. Finally you'll have plastic end tanks to worry about eventually failing, but you can buy them at a parts store.
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Stefan
1979 924 Carrera GTS (clone-ish)
1988 944 Turbo S (Silver Rose)

[924RACR]

Stock here too, believe it or not... the main key to cooling seems to be big oil cooling.
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Vaughan Scott
Webmeister
'79 924 #77 SCCA H Prod racecar
'82 931 Plat. Silver
#25 Hidari Firefly P2 sports prototype

[Qik Nip]

Interesting (and surprising) that the stock unit does the job. My experience with Maita's is that with a stock radiator, running in race traffic on a 80F day results in temps in the 220F range. That of course reduces horsepower pretty significantly. I guess the Germans had it figured out better that the folks in Nagassaki.
As for the 944 upgrade, I assume it's the S bversion being used? Also how much fab is required to get it in?
Rick
_________________
'79 NA 924 Land Speed Car
Bonneville G/CPRO record @ 149.825MPH
Arkansas Mile G/CPRO record @ 138.0 MPH
Great Lakes SCCA SM points champion '09,'10,'11

[fiat22turbo]

The Miata's benefit from oil cooling quite a bit as well. Also the more modern motors tend to run a little closer to the edge of power output.

100hp from a 1.6L is a lot harder to do than 100hp from a 2.0L.

The stock 924 radiator is a pretty decent piece when it is in good shape. Time and the elements takes a toll and the cost to replace the core at a radiator shop tends to cost more than a Craig Davies aluminum unit or a replacement 944 radiator.

The factory radiator fans tend to fail and weren't very efficient to start, the 924 Turbo and 924's with A/C had two cooling fans versus the single which of course worked better.

Removing the factory undertray hurts cooling as well and many ditched them as it made maintenance harder.

As for the 944 radiator, the 944 Turbo and 944's after 88 used the same radiators which are slightly taller than the earlier 944's which are also taller than the ones used in the 924's.

Since you're eying this as a land speed vehicle, I'd focus on ensuring that you can effectively move air through the core of the radiator while at speed versus while stationary. So paying attention to air flow into and out of the radiator and especially out of the engine bay will help quite a bit as you want to minimize the amount of frontal area and drag for your runs.
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Stefan
1979 924 Carrera GTS (clone-ish)
1988 944 Turbo S (Silver Rose)

[Qik Nip]

Stefan:
Thanks for the input. You are correct about air flow. I will likely remove the fans all together for LSR runs as fans interfer with air flow at speeds above 100 or so. As for installing a 944 unit, you mention it being taller. Is that added height such that I'll need to lower the bottom mounts, or will it fit under the hood when mounted in the same bottom brackets as the origional?
Rick
P.S. I looked at the Craig website and it only listed oil coolers (which I'll install with the dry sump system). Did you mean some other radiator vendor?
_________________
'79 NA 924 Land Speed Car
Bonneville G/CPRO record @ 149.825MPH
Arkansas Mile G/CPRO record @ 138.0 MPH
Great Lakes SCCA SM points champion '09,'10,'11

[fiat22turbo]

The 944 radiator extends lower and you'll need to modify the mounts to match.

Remember the 944 is based off the 924, so there are subtle differences, but with some mild fab effort the parts will fit like stock.
_________________
Stefan
1979 924 Carrera GTS (clone-ish)
1988 944 Turbo S (Silver Rose)