Hi Gary, copper is a better conductor than aluminium, but solder isn't,
and there is a lot of soldered surfaces in a copper / brass radiator. I
agree it's hard to compare an old radiator to a new one.
Regards
Larry Varley
On 15/07/2014 4:13 AM, editorgary@aol.com wrote:
> A number of years have passed since I swapped an aluminum radiator for the
> original black brass/copper radiator on my MGA race car, but I vaguely recall
> from the discussions at that time that aluminum actually is a worse metal for
> heat transfer than copper/brass. Can one of you metallurgists comment?
>
> My understanding at the time had nothing to do with inherent heat transfer,
> but rather that I needed a new radiator since mine was very clogged up, and to
> buy a replacement original, or recore my original was more expensive than the
> cool-looking aluminum replacement I could buy from the standard source in
> Phoenix. As an additioanal incentive, the aluminum radiator -- which was a
> bolt-in substitute -- was lighter than the copper/brass original. Of course it
> worked better, simply because it was brand new and totally uncorroded, in
> contrast to the 40 years of corrosion in my old radiator.
>
> Any other thoughts?
>
> Gary Anderson
> Editor at large, Austin-Healey Magazine.
>
>
>
> David Nock wrote:
> Cleaning the original style radiator I would not recommend. The original style
> is a very inefficient style of radiator core.The new style cores with the
> fins that go vertically between the tube are far more efficient at cooling.
> They can have more tubes and fins per inch.
> The next best is an aluminum radiator, they will transfer heat much better
> than a copper brass radiator and will recover much faster.I have recently
> installed an aluminum radiator in my BN4. This last weekend we had temps at
> 100 degrees. I was out all day. Engine temp stayed steady at 170 degrees at
> driving speedsSlowed thru town and thru the local shopping center the temp
> creped up to about 200 degrees then as soon as I picked a little speed the
> temp came right back down to 170 . Prior to the alloy radiatorI would run
> constantly down the freeway at 190 degrees and closer to 200 on a hot day,
> then in traffic it would quickly climb to 215 plus and was slow to recover.
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