Upside down radiator

Ok the title is a little cryptic, but I noticed on a large number of the build logs on the forum that the radiator inlet and outlets are at the bottom.

This may be a dumb question but are you guys turning a standard radiator upside down?

The reason I ask looking at a number of Chinese radiators on eBay they all have the inlet and outlet at the top. I even asked the manufacturers who all say they are genuine copies but the inlet and outlet are designed to be at the top.

Now I am clearly no expert but other than the gt40 cars on here I have never seen inlets and outlets both at the bottom. And it also begs the question how you deal with trapped air and airlocks in the system.

So what's the go gents?

Regards,
Mike
 
GT40 setup either has a bleed fitting at top of radiator that can be used at initial fill to ensure no air locks or a small line that runs from radiator to header tank that operates as a permanent air bleed, size/dia is small to only bleed any air in system, not large amounts of coolant. The line setup is the better option.
 

Kevin Box

Supporter
There's a few on ebay

Don't know if they are any good ????:shy:

Cheers KevinB
 

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I've looked at these radiators also. There is also another one marketed that it can be welded and is supplied with the outlet/inlet not fitted at all. They look as though they all come from the same Chinese supplier. Would be interested to hear aslo if anyone has experience with these.
 
I had a special rad made up of my own design for the 5000 by Winner racing in China, and there service is great, easy to deal with, and the product is as good as any others I've seen, very happy
cheers John
 

Malcolm

Supporter
GTD radiators were made with both fittings at the bottom with an air bleed each side at the top. Remember the fins and tubes on these rads run horizontally not vertically as on most cars so in reality they could be described as a normal radiator turned 90 degrees.

I did run a modified radiator with the output at the top so water got pumped from one side to the other diagonally. Didn't work any better than the GTD standard. I think the important thing is bleeding out the air. Whether an inlet or outlet is high or low then becomes irrelevant on the basis that your water pump can move that weight of water.
 
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