Billet engine cooler, do they work?

[ReeperLT500]

I keep seeing these on quads. Do they really work or just snake oil? If they do work it would be one more thing to keep my 250 and 500 cool. Thanks. -Mark

[Banshee]

I don't think you are going to see a huge change in the cooling. I woul have to say the logic behind them would say that it should cool. However the fluid inside is flowing so fast that I am not sure it would really cool down as if flys fast. My vote is no they don't work but they do look good. We were thinking of running a double radiator on my buddies 500 or get another small radiator like an inercooler something that is small.

I say if you have the extra cash it won't hurt to have them but I would just spend the money on engine ice

[fiveOnick]

I have seen them make a difference on a banshee, Its physics of course it works. It is minimal though and the larger ones probably make and exponetially greater difference than the smaller ones due to the speed of the coolant, as Banshee said , in relation to the surface area.

[370banshee]

the finning on them is to increas the surface area... i can see where they do work.. but....... don't expect huge huge drops in operating temp..... but hey every littel bit helps..


oh and jason for you extra rad. idea try a heater core from any car... they can be had cheap at any autozone.... a heatercore is nothing more than a small radaitor.. that a fan blows though to give you heat inside the car....

[Banshee]

They do give more surface area but not enough to make a difference I mean the coolant is going to be passing by there pretty damn fast for it to ever disipate any amount of heat. I think the over sized radiator and some engine Ice will be the best way to go. If you can get the inline coolers cheap on ebay I say get them but $60 like some want is just a rip off in my opinion

[370banshee]

ok lets put a bit of thought into this..... it's not like it's runnign through ice....

heres how it works..... it;s not so much that the fins cool the coolant but....... more like the coolant heats the metal.... now with that heat transfer from the coolant to cooler.. now that the cooler is hot the lower outside temp cools the metal while teh heat is still being transfer to the metal from the coolant.. see and with the fins that provides alot more surface area to be exposed to the lower outsdie temperature... i know this works because.........every damn air cooled quad, bike, trike, car, etc.. works on this principle.... doesn this make more sence now??? it should actually be called a rad. hose heat exchanger...... you know what else works this way???? an old radiator type heatign system in older houses and schools......... it works...... science says so.....

[PA_Banshee]

It does work. Every one of the computers you are all typing on right now has a CPU cooler that works in the same fashion by allowing more surface area to be affected by a temperature other than the one it is intended to cool.

In the case of the computer it is the processor that needs to be cooled , which most of you don't actually know how how hot they can (and do) get depending on your setup and what your computer does. I burned myself on an old server we were screwing around with in the office last year by bumping against the heat sink on it. Without that chunk of aluminum the processor would overheat and burn up. I have a huge copper one in my computer so mine stays really cool because of the better heat dissapation properties that copper has and the larger surface area.

To relate that to the coolant, rubber sucks so those hoses don't do a hell of alot especially being black. Adding a better heat transfer medium to the pathway of the coolant helps and then adding more surface area by adding the fins to it effectively increases the cooling potential. Are we talking like 20 degrees? Hell no, not in this situation, but like more than one person has already said.... every little bit counts.

[370banshee]

haha i got the computer nerd on my side...........

[ICBM]

370 and PA convinced me, looks like I'll get two coolers, I need all the help I can get in AZ right now. I saw that somebody on e-bay had them 2 for $20, and they were the 20fins.

[flattrack250]

THey most certainly look cool. but It can't hurt. and as most know... every little bit helps