Anyone Know Radiators?

HotLines said

Upgrading to an Aluminum radiator isn't really an upgrade if you can have your 3 core brass radiator rebuilt. Fact is Brass runs cooler than aluminum although aluminum is lighter than brass..

On another note, upgrading to an aluminum cross flow radiator seems to be the hot ticket..

Click to expand...

Brass gets pimpsmacked by Aluminum every time, every alloy.

Heat transfer coefficient Brass?
137 Watts/Meter K
Aluminum?
174 Watts/Meter K (worst case, many alloys are much better)

Higher W/M K is better heat transfer, so aluminum is better/lighter/etc. Think: Brass is largely copper (70%) which is much more effective at heat transfer, but pure copper it isn't.

Brass was initially chosen due to the high cost of aluminum. Aluminum is now the king of the heap, just be sure to maintain your coolant to prevent electrolysis, and don't look back!