Radiator pipes thermal coated

[mkoch1]

A while back there was a thread about wrapping the rad pipes with insulation vs. having them coated. I just got my pipes back from www.hpcoatings.com/ Though some of you would be interested in seeing them. The coating is an exhaust coating so it should handle the water temp with no problem. Cost to coat inside and out was 12 dollars per foot + shipping in both direction. Don’t worry the company assured me the coating would not be affected by water or anti freeze.

www.markkoch.net/images/canam/panels/radPipe.jpg

www.markkoch.net/images/canam/panels/radPipe1.jpg

[usagtrman]

Mark

Looks good to me! I'll pass the info on to my builder to see what he thinks. Thanks for the post.

Brad Z

[jschwartz]

Coating them inside and out will protect them from corrosion as well. I wish I would have done that.

[stig]

Jeff - the antifreeze (or water wetter) will protect them internally anyway.

[mkoch1]

I just wanted to post the concerns of the factory has to having the pipes coated.

______________________________________________
We have heard that you have thermocoated part of your cooling system.
The object of the cooling system is to get heat out of the engine and the cooling pipes are part of this system.
We are concerned that by reducing the heat dissipation properties of the cooling system that this will jeopardize the coolant temperature control which we have designed, tested and proved on the Ultima in all conditions.
_________________________________________________

Just wanted every one to be informed before they decided to go this route. Once I finish the car I will be more than happy to post the results.

mark

[k wright]

I understand the factory's condern and appreciate their input. the pipes will loose heat on the way to the front of the car, unfortunately much of it will end up in the passenger compartment. The best solution would seem to be insulating the passenger compartment panels and leaving the pipe alone.

ken

[ultimaandy]

I must say that I was concerned about the same thing as the factory, but I also wanted to keep the heat out of the cockpit.

My solution was to stick heat resistant matting (as used above the Exhaust) on all the panels and leave the pipes bare.

Having used my car on the road in the summer and winter I can confirm that this is almost 100% effective at keeping the heat out of the cockpit.

The trade off is about quarter of KG more weight due to the extra matting used (and about £50 extra cost).

[Stig]

Well, my GTR is better insulated than a thermo-nuclear power station so I'll let you know how I get on!!

[Steve_D]

Stig's beast will be putting more heat into the cooling system than any other 'normal' engine so should be a good indicator.
Steve