Heat exchanger modification?

[smokescreens]

Is it a bad idea to modify a heat exchanger? I have the oversized whipple heat exchanger and i think the water line hookup points are really not in the best spot. The one im concerned about is on the passenger side. It shoots straight right out the side and whipple gives you a flimsy 180 degree bent rubber hose. Its trying to kink itself closed. I ordered some an 180 degree fittings to replace the rubber section but what if i just cut off the hose barb and added a bung? I could up it to fit 1inch line at the same time to help with flow.

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[RoadCone]

When I redid my HE and EMP pump to -16, I cut off the bungs and welded -16 fittings in the same spot. Also route your lines in a better way for flow. All of mine come in from the passenger side.

 

[Angrey]

It's hard to know what type of testing/engineering went into the heat exchanger in combination with the pump and flow rates.

There's an optimal point of fluid flow through an exchanger to maximize thermal transfer. It's also dynamic (meaning it's not the same at every temperature).

My first thought is, what is the diameter of the exchanger channels? Not sure if increasing the feed and return lines is going to have an appreciable change in flow if the system is already constrained by the interior channels.

Second, depending on which side of optimal the factory combination is, increasing flow across the exchanger may in fact reduce thermal transfer.

The flow is a function of cross sectional area and velocity. If you increase the cross sectional area and the flow remains constant, you decrease the velocity. (imagine a ginormous 10" pipe moving very slowly vs a water hose spraying furiously, both moving 10 gpm).

The flow has to be fast enough to be turbulent (sometimes called plug flow) so that the entire flow of water mixes and interacts with the sides for better direct thermal transfer. However, the flow also has to have enough dwell time to properly exchange (if you run through an air conditioned house at full sprint, you're going to cool off less than if you crawled through the house)

So as you could imagine it's a pretty complex set of parameters. I'm just not sure which side of optimal the factory setup is (and remember, optimal changes based on temperature delta, so it could move the max efficiency point up or down the temp scale).

Given that the interior channels are fixed/constant, you wouldn't be adjusting much upsizing (or downsizing) inlets and outlets, but depending on which side of optimal the exchanger is, you could be hurting or helping (or moving the max efficiency point up or down the temperature point).

 

[Flyhalf]

Can that be adapted to AN FITTING? If yes they do a 180 metal adapter..

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