VUM14 Cooling System
By Nick Owen, 13/06/2014
One of the key elements of any car is the cooling system weather it be air, water or oil cooled. The VUM14 Mezza car has a closed loop water cooling system. Which at the moment is fed by water pressured from heat and assisted by the CBR600RR stock water pump. It was discussed in the team meeting on 10/6/2014 that an electric water pump might be required but we won't know until we have started testing and evaluating the cooling system.
Mark Sylvester (Team vice captain) and myself (Nick), live in close proximity of each other on the east side of Melbourne. And on 12/06/2014 we both had the day free so as good engineers we went for a road trip to centre road motor wreckers in Clayton.
We were specifically looking for small car radiators that can fit either in a side pod or between the two rear support bars above the engine. So basically a radiator that was no larger than ~ 400 x400mm.
And this is what we found:
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| 1991 Suzuki Swift |
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| 1991 Suzuki Swift Radiator |
The 1991 Suzuki Swift Radiator is a Copper Core radiator with ~28 - 32 inlet and outlet pipes it has an oil cooler in the bottom tank and has a water drain peacock valve. it has top bottom and side mounting holes for mounting on the VUM14 Chassis, suitable for rear mount and side mount application.
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| Suzuki Swift Cooling Fan |
The Suzuki Swift came with two types of electric cooling fans, one with a metal shroud as pictured and one with a plastic shroud, the plastic shroud would be more desirable from a air ducting point of view as it lighter. The electric fan could be removed from the shroud and an after market 8amp performace cooling fan added.
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| 1995 Daihatsu 660cc |
The 1995 Daihatsu is an interesting car as it only has a 659cc motor very similar in capacity to our HONDA CBR600RR engine it has small dimensions than the swift and amble amount of mounting.
The Shroud and fan are similar to that of the Swift
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| Daihatsu 1995 660cc |
I think for the price ($60ea) of a second hand unit we should purchase both and evaluate weight and size versus cooling efficiency and select the best one.
