Tapping into engine coolant for heat

[Swjones214]

Canuck,
I'm using an aluminum tube with an ID of 1/2in. The OD is right at 5/8in, so that will be an easy hose to find, a really common size in the local hardware store. One of the guys at work started on the welding last night, so hopefully I'll have the finished pieces back tomorrow. I'm going to have the heat-exchanger welded directly to the bottom of the Empi plenum. I've seen some discussion of having a plate welded to the bottom and then welding the heat exchanger to the plate, but that seems to me that I'm them heating air, not the plenum. My personal thought is that it will work better with fastening the tubes with the hot water directly to the plenum for maximum heat. Any thoughts or suggestions are more than welcomed - I'm totally "winging" this, so to speak!!

Thx
SJ

 

[canuckxxxx]

Do you have any pix of the heat exchanger?

 

[Swjones214]

Not yet. My buddy has the pieces on the welding table, and hasn't gotten it finished yet. It's a pretty simple deal - one input branching into two parallel tubes back to a single output. I figure, if my memory holds, that I'm slowing the flow by half by splitting the flow into two tubes, each the same size as the input, and then the output is the same size as the input. Pics will follow as soon as it's been welded...

 

[Swjones214]

Couple of pictures of the plenum with my first pass at runners. I'm not really tickled with the outcome, so I'll probably change it a bit. And for the record, If my pictures are upside-down again, I'm not sure why.

 

[dan filipi]

Clear hose is neat. I've wanted to try that.

 

[weightlifter99]

The clear hose might help to identify any flow problems as well maybe? Good job! Looks like your on the right track.

 

[Ansimp]

weightlifter99 » Tue Jun 16, 2015 7:30 pm[/url]":3hqj95qd]
The clear hose might help to identify any flow problems as well maybe? Good job! Looks like your on the right track.

+1 :good:

 

[canuckxxxx]

I like the idea of clear hose too. Looks like a nice, close fit to plenum and elbows. What kind of hose is that?

Brian

 

[Swjones214]

Jeeeez, you guys make it sound like I thought the clear hose idea through. In truth, it was the only hose that the local Ace Hardware had with an inside diameter that was close to the outside diameter of the conduit pipe. Pretty simple decision...

 

[Swjones214]

Ok, I got the pieces back from the welder today. They came out pretty well. Next step is to weld the heat exchange pipes to the bottom of the plenum. Someone mentioned a piece of aluminum sheet, but I'm not sure I understand the application (why) or configuration (how). If anyone has some input on either of those two points, I'd love to hear it.
Thx
SJ

jones214

• AApple
• Jul 3, 2015

jones214a

• AApple
• Jul 3, 2015

(corrected images-aapple)

 

[joedrum]

opcorn: hmmm ive never seen a lot of this ... nice