Building a Radiator Box

[qdemn7]

Let me say I owe a debt of gratitude to Cathar. It was he that gave me the ideas, information and impetus for this project over at OCAU. I decided my system would not be adequately cooled by a single 120mm rad, and did not want to cut up my case.

The goals are fast, cool and QUIET.

Going to cool a DFI NF4 SLI (including the chipset) / 3500+ Winchester / BFG 6800GT (single). Not going to use any pelts.

So I got my Gaming bomb II case and my Storm Waterblock, an old Antec PSU and a 4 fan controller and 4 Panaflo medium speed 120mm fans for the box.
Just purchased a radiator for an 89 Geo Metro Manual Tranny no A/C. (http://www.radiatorbarn.com/s7.asp?ac=N&year=1989&make=GEO&model=METRO&submodel=ALL+MODELS&engine_size=L3%2C1.0L%2C61ci)

Next purchase is an Iwaki MD-20RZT pump, and some 3/8" Finnish Birch plywood (furniture grade). Will build and stain it in ebony so it looks like a very nice subwoofer on 4 casters.
Will use Sonex and Sorbothane (for a pump mount) inside to damp out any vibration or sound. Might put some HS on the pump.

Couple of questions:

Should the intake and exhaust holes be the same size?
Core size is 13 1/2 X 13 1 /2. I'm going to put the intake on one side and the exhaust directly opposite so I can set my computer(s) on top. Only 1 will be cooled.

What size of tubing should I run to and from the box, keeping in mind I want to use quick disconnect fittings either on the outside of the box or the outside of the case?
I'm going to use 1/2" ID tubing to plumb the case internally.
I'm going to use 1" ID reinforced tubing inside the rad box.
Maximum tubing run between the box and case will be about 6 feet to allow enough slack.

Any advice, ideas, suggestions appreciated.

http://img97.exs.cx/img97/8914/img0087medium6ca.th.jpg (http://img97.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img97&image=img0087medium6ca.jpg)[/

[MaxxxRacer]

is that car rad the one that your going to use.. if so..... ROFLCOPTER!

for inside the radbox go with 3/4 as that is what your pump uses.. any bigger is pointlesss... Just get some nice 3/4tygon that is 1 and 1/8 OD and you will be fine.. nice and thick.

As for outside the case I would use half inch tygon as that is what your storm uses. no sense in using bigger as it will just fall off the hose barbs.. (not a fun experience trust me).

If I were you here is what I would do. Have the face of the core on one side of the box... have it so the entire face is exposed to the outside world. directly opposite of this on the other end of the box have a barage of 120mm fans of your choosing sucking air through the rad and the rad box.. this will give you nice cool air through the rad, cool off your pump nicely and just work very well.. BTW, this idea was given to me by cathar a while back when he showed me his md-30 radbox with dual 302's.

[qdemn7]

is that car rad the one that your going to use.. if so..... ROFLCOPTER!

for inside the radbox go with 3/4 as that is what your pump uses.. any bigger is pointlesss... Just get some nice 3/4tygon that is 1 and 1/8 OD and you will be fine.. nice and thick.

As for outside the case I would use half inch tygon as that is what your storm uses. no sense in using bigger as it will just fall off the hose barbs.. (not a fun experience trust me).

If I were you here is what I would do. Have the face of the core on one side of the box... have it so the entire face is exposed to the outside world. directly opposite of this on the other end of the box have a barage of 120mm fans of your choosing sucking air through the rad and the rad box.. this will give you nice cool air through the rad, cool off your pump nicely and just work very well.. BTW, this idea was given to me by cathar a while back when he showed me his md-30 radbox with dual 302's.Yep that's the rad. I had to search long and hard for a suitable size rad that was a single pass and no larger than 18 x 18 inches. Every one I found was either a double pass or too large. The price was right, too, only $110 USD shipped and it's brand new. To give you an idea just how small it is, it only holds 2 quarts of water. Can you imagine the cooling system on a car that only uses a max of a gallon of water??? :rotf: i've also bought a 2 quart reservoir to attach to the overflow spout on the rad.

Thanks for those suggestions / help on the hoses. I had planned to do as you suggested as far as cutouts for the core and placement of the radiator. I was thinking of attaching the fans directly to the core, or maybe buying a couple of weapon's shrouds. But I see your point about cooling the pump.

Thank you for suggestions, most helpful. :toast:

[MaxxxRacer]

attaching directly to the core would be a bad idea.. way too much noise.. thea farther the better as long as the seal is good..

got any more pics or anyting on that... with that ruler you really cant tell the size of it.. b ut its pretty freeking big. Now having a tape mreasure out I see that it isnt as big as i thought. 18 by 18 is about the size of a 21inch monitor roughly... but still thats bigger than most..

How is the airflow resistance on taht sucker ? you might be able to get away with some 25mm thick papst fans if your lucky. I know that you guys over at OCAU are really into thin rads and super quiet fans. It seems the same trend is going on over at pro cooling to a degree. But there isnt much luck as the cool capabilities of such systems are less than that of the more air flow restrictive rads.

[qdemn7]

attaching directly to the core would be a bad idea.. way too much noise.. thea farther the better as long as the seal is good..

got any more pics or anyting on that... with that ruler you really cant tell the size of it.. b ut its pretty freeking big. Now having a tape mreasure out I see that it isnt as big as i thought. 18 by 18 is about the size of a 21inch monitor roughly... but still thats bigger than most..

How is the airflow resistance on taht sucker ? you might be able to get away with some 25mm thick papst fans if your lucky. I know that you guys over at OCAU are really into thin rads and super quiet fans. It seems the same trend is going on over at pro cooling to a degree. But there isnt much luck as the cool capabilities of such systems are less than that of the more air flow restrictive rads.For reference the ruler is 24 inches long. The entire rad is only 14 1/2 inches wide and 18 inches tall. Like I said it was the smallest single pass rad I could find. It's not very open, but WTF you can't have everything. It'll probably cool fairly well, since it is designed to cool a 3 cylinder 1.0L engine. I couldn't tell the density before i bought it, since no local auto parts store had one in stock.

As far as the fans go, Im going to use 4 of these Panaflos. (http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/pa12mesp.html) I had planned on using the Sanyo Denki San Aces, but the availablity on those shot that down. Coupled with a Vantec Nexus NXP-205 (http://www.frozencpu.com/bus-20.html) to control them.

Heh, heh, heh. I MIGHT even be able to get away with totallly passive cooling (no fans), but I doubt it. :cool:

Worst comes to worst I'll put about 20 feet on hose from the box to the my system and put the damn thing on the patio. I'm going to coat the entire inside and outside of the box with 3 coats of Thompson's Water Seal AFTER I stain it, so it'll be water proof. THEN I can stick 4 of those 220CFM Deltas (http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/de12tfexhisp.html) inside and REALLY do some cooling and screw the noise, since it will be outside.

[MaxxxRacer]

I was wondering what kind of car it would cool, and not much of one for sure.. lol..

those panaflows will work well.. expensive but good.

well i saw a guy use a honda civic rad and get away with totaly passive cooling so it might be possible...

lol... well those 220cfm deltas are pretty amazing.. talk about static pressure.. i bet those babies could make 10 pound weights float above them.

A passive system woudl be cool. I would love to build one.. I could do it fine with one of the a64 DTR's or a winnie. that with a nf3 board and a nice big passive heatsinks for the NB. Could put a maze4 on the gpu and put a mcw6000 on the cpu. Along with a DDC it would work really well.. Then I could maybe put a 302 core or a BIP3 in there. Not totally sure what kind of rad I would need for passive. but it would be interesting. I suppose it would have to be at stock clock speeds as it would get pretty hot.

[qdemn7]

One other thing I'm thinking about is to use the actual rad. cooling fan (http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7956637040&category=33600) OR the A/C (http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=33600&item=7957874457&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW) fan from a Geo Metro. I know they have to run off 12v which a PSU will supply. I'm trying to find the specs on the fans now. Either would be cheaper than the Deltas, but they might be too noisy for inside, outside I DGAF.

[MaxxxRacer]

yah they are a cool option but they are NOISY as hell... some are quieter than others.. go into the cascades forum and ask them for some not so noisy ones... chilly1 and pcice build setups with those all the time.