12a Rotary in my Sterling

[leo75]

Hello all,

I am working on putting a rotary in my Sterling
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Any ideas on how to do the radiators? I am wanting to put two in the engine bay. Has anyone here in the US done that?

Any suggestions or things to look out for?

Thanks for you help,
Donnie

 

[Nic]

Hi Donnie,

Have you considered putting them in the front of the rear wheel wells? Use the vents that are there and make them larger. You can probably get away with using 2 small motor cycle radiators on either side. As long as your fans blow/pull enough air through them.

Nic.

 

[letterman7]

Personally I haven't heard of anyone successfully putting two rads in the engine compartment, Donnie. There simply isn't enough airflow, and rotaries run hot, so you'll need all the flow you can get. I suppose in theory you could wedge them in front of the lower air scoops, and duct the upper scoops downwards, but you'll need to make sure that the entire area around the rads are closed off and clean with the bodywork so that all the air goes through the rads rather than over. I'm thinking a couple of rads from a larger watercooled motorcycle might work - the 1800 Yamaha's and Honda Goldwings might provide enough cooling, and they come with draw-through fans already. It'll be trial and error for sure.

HA! Nic beat me to it!

 

[leo75]

No matter what I am planing on refibreglassing the top and bottom scoops and duct them straight to the rads. Good idea with the motorcycle rads. And its all going to be trial and error. I am guessing more on the error side. I think if i position them just right, i might be able to get some air from the wheel wells. And I am going to work something up for a free flowing exit as well.

thanks guys. Thats some good info.
Donnie

 

[letterman7]

I wouldn't rely on the wheel wells to provide any cooling air, but simply for the extraction of the hot. Generally they are a low pressure zone anyway from the spinning of the wheels; if the rads are wedged on front of the wheels in back of the lower scoops and sealed well, I see no reason why they wouldn't "blow-through" quite well. Judging by the number of bugs I picked up in those lower scoop screens I had in the summer time, there is quite a lot of air that gets pushed through those holes. The challenge is going to be fitting a rectangular radiator into a weirdly shaped space.

 

[Brastic]

I am working on dual radiators like you have stated. Please note that the Subaru engine does not need that much cooling and I will also have a water sprayer as a back up. I have test fitted both the VW Jetta and Honda Del Sol tall/narrow radiators and they will fit. They will need to be sealed around the edges and have big fans on them. As for the 12A, this will not work. Have you seen a stock radiator in a RX-7? They are huge. Bigger than most V8s. The Wankels run very hot. Please think about running the radiator up front where you have real air flow.

 

[thestevie]

you can get a custom made radiator from griffin.
you design it they make it. http://griffinrad.com

i was thinking of doing this and putting two upfront right before the front wheels

 

[Unofun]

I woud suggest you give the guys that are building the new myers manxs a call , when I talked to them at them at Knotts berry farm kit car show a year ago they were having problems with the lower side scoops (very, very simular to the sterlings) causing a dead air pocket at speed with the radiators behind the scoops and were having all kinds of overheating problems doing exactly what you are trying to do. I know they eventually had to open up the scoops aleast a foot more all the way around, And that was for a subie conversion! Your rotary conversion will put out twice that much heat .. and as expensive as rotary is to rebuild you don't want to take a chance .... Besides youll need that scoop air to cool the exhaust and motor.

My advise is to open up the mouth and put one large radiator in the nose, Its simpler, cleaner, ditributes the weight back up front where it needs to be, which makes the car handle a whole lot better, and above all costs a whole lot less to do! worked great for my v-6 buick, although it still puts out less heat than your rotory will. You need the same cooling area as a small block v-8 for that puppy! Give Kennedy engineering a call, they have been doing this for the sterlings since they were first made and can give you all kinds of good advice, and info.

If you need pics of mine, let me know.

Greg Hampton 209-402-9748 Ca.