Clio 182 direnza Radiator

[incy-spider]

Hi guys, has anyone used one of these alloy radiators and has any proof or know they are an upgrade for better cooling?

Looking into buying one but don’t like wasting money just because it’s supposed to do the job rather than knowing...

Cheers


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[M.C..]

I have one fitted have not noticed any difference but it looks nice

 

[dave120]

I have fitted one today. Seems good quality but the top rad supports don’t fit the new rad as the new rad is a bit thicker, pretty dissatisfied as it states that it is a direct replacement.

 

[incy-spider]

I have fitted one today. Seems good quality but the top rad supports don’t fit the new rad as the new rad is a bit thicker, pretty dissatisfied as it states that it is a direct replacement.

Little things like that’s annoy the hell out of me!! Do or will you have any direct comparison water temp differences to see how it performs?

Most annoying thing about up rated parts is when it’s (up rated) because it’s alloy or thicker etc but zero proof from the developer, you just have to trust it’s better because it has race or performance written on it! Could make zero difference who knows!? [emoji23]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Martin.]

Graham and I both have them on our turbo cars. Haven't got any comparisons though I'm afraid.

One thing I did notice on both of ours and others, is that the fan shrouding sits too far away from the back of the rad, and not flush like I would have thought. That possibly allows the fan to pull air down from the gap rather than through the rad.. thus not being as efficient as it possibly could.

 

[incy-spider]

Another negative! [emoji20]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Iain C]

I have one on my 172 cup. Cant say ive noticed any difference. Easy to fit and looks good.
Been on the car about 6 years now

 

[R29TJR]

I have one on my 182 Cup.

Pro - It looks great!

Con - I had the same issue as @dave120 although it was easy to resolve.

I can't actually remember the price difference between an OEM item and this but I do love the look of an alloy rad!

 

[Radugns]

Hi,
I am also thinking of getting one for my turbo Clio. But for current one is a brand new and if is not a must I will keep it like this. Would be interesting if someone have a temp comparison between a stock one.

Cheers

 

[incy-spider]

Hi,
I am also thinking of getting one for my turbo Clio. But for current one is a brand new and if is not a must I will keep it like this. Would be interesting if someone have a temp comparison between a stock one.

Cheers

Yes would be good.. something the actual manufacturer should have completed.

I’m seeing more and more stuff sold online without a smidgen of proof any of it works. A bit like rear strut braces for Clio 182’s and Megane.. utter shite!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Radugns]

Yes would be good.. something the actual manufacturer should have completed.

I’m seeing more and more stuff sold online without a smidgen of proof any of it works. A bit like rear strut braces for Clio 182’s and Megane.. utter shite!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That is right. I think a low temp thermostat will be great also. But because I spend a lot of money into parts, if this radiator will be a lot better than stock one I will get it. Otherwise I will keep the stock one.

 

[NorthloopCup]

You need a custom fabricated rad with a PROPER core. I had a golf direnza rad in my cup and whilst it kept on top of the cooling, when it was having its arse kicked at the Nurburgring, temps were marginally high. I even boxed it in to gain maximum efficiency, so I suspect without that it wouldn’t have coped for the 13 miles.

The core is where the real cost are. Same goes for any heat exchanger.

Had I kept the cup, it would’ve been put on a fabricated rad with proper core.

 

[incy-spider]

You need a custom fabricated rad with a PROPER core. I had a golf direnza rad in my cup and whilst it kept on top of the cooling, when it was having its arse kicked at the Nurburgring, temps were marginally high. I even boxed it in to gain maximum efficiency, so I suspect without that it wouldn’t have coped for the 13 miles.

The core is where the real cost are. Same goes for any heat exchanger.

Had I kept the cup, it would’ve been put on a fabricated rad with proper core.

A friend of mine got a direnza rad for me to fit when building his Mk2 golf 20vt and it will not stay cool. We’ll be going down the custom route for that one too.

Any recommendations on good cores mate?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[NorthloopCup]

A friend of mine got a direnza rad for me to fit when building his Mk2 golf 20vt and it will not stay cool. We’ll be going down the custom route for that one too.

Any recommendations on good cores mate?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Any of the proper fabrication companies will stock the best cores mate. WRC spec cores are the usual ones, but they’re over £300/400 just for the core.

 

[Radugns]

So I will try first the oem one and not buying anything else.
Thanks!

 

[botfch]

Guy on YT channel trackit is running one I think.

 

[Martin.]

Graham and I both have them on our turbo cars. Haven't got any comparisons though I'm afraid.

One thing I did notice on both of ours and others, is that the fan shrouding sits too far away from the back of the rad, and not flush like I would have thought. That possibly allows the fan to pull air down from the gap rather than through the rad.. thus not being as efficient as it possibly could.

Guy on YT channel trackit is running one I think.

That is Graham

 

[incy-spider]

I’ve messaged pro alloy to see if they can help... if they can maybe a few of us can get together and purchase!?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[botfch]

That is Graham

Ah I don't know why but I always pictured him as a middle aged man... 😂
should've put two and two together.

 

[Martin.]

Ah I don't know why but I always pictured him as a middle aged man... 😂
should've put two and two together.

He basically is.

 

[incy-spider]

Hey guys, after a little chat with with Wayne at BMR (www.motorsportradiators.co.uk) he can fabricate a radiator with a world leading core he can do a price for £575 ex vat which would be a full alloy construction..

I’d need 3 people to get it for that price and he would need a donor radiator to copy. Aircon model


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[dave120]

Little things like that’s annoy the hell out of me!! Do or will you have any direct comparison water temp differences to see how it performs?

Most annoying thing about up rated parts is when it’s (up rated) because it’s alloy or thicker etc but zero proof from the developer, you just have to trust it’s better because it has race or performance written on it! Could make zero difference who knows!? [emoji23]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

the car is a track/race car so not driven it since fitting the rad due to the lockdown etc.

 

[frayz]

Never bought into the who alloy rad thing unless its got a proper high performance core. WRC/F1 type from the likes of Marston.
I had a Marston WRC cored intercooler for the Impreza and it was different gear compared to everything else id seen on a road car before.

A new OEM one will be more than up to the job i imagine with fresh coolant, pump and stat.
I always ran a Genuine Calsonic rad in the Impreza as did the RCM gobstopper 1 which was running north of 700bhp when it was first conceived, never had any heat issues at all even with a big water cooled GT3582R strapped to it.

You could always investigate having a proper high quality rad made with a larger core or look into having a turbo cooler placed inline on the return from the turbo core.

 

[incy-spider]

I thought about the turbo cooler rad, but can never find anything and then get fed up with looking.. know any good ones?? @frayz


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[frayz]

I thought about the turbo cooler rad, but can never find anything and then get fed up with looking.. know any good ones?? @frayz


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You don't really see many folk doing it that way these days. I know back in the Cossie days (showing my age here) we used to run them. The likes of Pro Alloy, Pace, AH fabrications, etc all make them, not sure if Airtec do?
Then it becomes a bit a pain packaging it. I've seen some lovely setups with Rad packs with integrated oil coolers on the side, so you could do something similar. But i suspect having that space for the whole cooling area would be better used it if just coolant you're cooling.

Have you got and data logging of your existing temps or are you just trying to belt/braces an idea as you assume it may become an issue with the new blower?

 

[incy-spider]

Yeah, I’ve also heard of the cossie stuff! A friend of mine mentioned that before.

It is more belts and braces to be honest, I’ve never had a chance to record it in track conditions. It’s survived Spa at 40 degrees and the ring.. had a ridiculously hot year there once.

Just like the idea of giving it some extra cooling, like you say with the new bigger blower which will be pushing a bit more power..

But that being said the new turbo should be far more efficient too.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[frayz]

Yeah i imagine you're running a bit less boost and slightly lower turbine speeds. Out of interest, have you measured your ACTs yet?
If not, you can do this quite simply with a k type thermocouple under the hose and plugged into a suitable multimeter. This you can do pre & post intercooler and see how well its performing. All of these areas will not only improve performance but make your engine that much safer when on track. Hence i mentioned previously about the methanol and flex fuel sensor.

K-types are cheap, easy to use and mostly very accurate. So nothing to stop you putting them under the hoses of the rad too with a dab of silicone or RTV. This will allow you to see exactly what your currenty rad setup is doing now. As @NorthloopCup said previouusly, boxing it is probably one of the best things you can do. Do you have an oil cooler too as that will also help take the load off the cooling system.

 

[incy-spider]

Yeah i imagine you're running a bit less boost and slightly lower turbine speeds. Out of interest, have you measured your ACTs yet?
If not, you can do this quite simply with a k type thermocouple under the hose and plugged into a suitable multimeter. This you can do pre & post intercooler and see how well its performing. All of these areas will not only improve performance but make your engine that much safer when on track. Hence i mentioned previously about the methanol and flex fuel sensor.

K-types are cheap, easy to use and mostly very accurate. So nothing to stop you putting them under the hoses of the rad too with a dab of silicone or RTV. This will allow you to see exactly what your currenty rad setup is doing now. As @NorthloopCup said previouusly, boxing it is probably one of the best things you can do. Do you have an oil cooler too as that will also help take the load off the cooling system.

As with the belts and braces approach I have a very large intercooler (in comparison) to the ED intercooler which is a high end mishimoto race intercooler, so without a doubt it’s doing a much better job, but I was actually going to get this monitored when I go and get the new turbo and injectors dialled in..

And obviously meth.

I have always ran a mocal oil cooler so I’ve covered that too. Annoyingly I have a plx devices multi gauge which can be used to daisy chain other modules to for IAT, coolant etc etc. But they aren’t available for my existing modules anymore (AFR/boost)

Maybe next time I do a trackday I should setup internal data logging on my ECU.. but as said I’ll be monitoring this when next on the dyno although not true track conditions by far!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[frayz]

As with the belts and braces approach I have a very large intercooler (in comparison) to the ED intercooler which is a high end mishimoto race intercooler, so without a doubt it’s doing a much better job, but I was actually going to get this monitored when I go and get the new turbo and injectors dialled in..

And obviously meth.

I have always ran a mocal oil cooler so I’ve covered that too. Annoyingly I have a plx devices multi gauge which can be used to daisy chain other modules to for IAT, coolant etc etc. But they aren’t available for my existing modules anymore (AFR/boost)

Maybe next time I do a trackday I should setup internal data logging on my ECU.. but as said I’ll be monitoring this when next on the dyno although not true track conditions by far!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Arguably it will be under more load and with poorly airflow on the dyno than is seen on the road anyway. So will give you a good indication as to charge temps anyway. The only thing you won’t easily do on a normal dyno run is the sustained load as experienced on say a 20 min track session.
As you’re clearly aware, heat management is everything, especially in a turbocharged application so these are all great steps to good reliability. Also highly reccomend ducting the oil cooler in a sealed housing. This we found to have amazing results on the Imprezas we did for use at the Ring. You may even be able to remote mount it freeing up clearer space for your rad pack.

 

[GrahamS]

Ah I don't know why but I always pictured him as a middle aged man... 😂
should've put two and two together.

Lol just seen this. At the ripe age of 28 I have aged at least 20 years in the last 12 months and was a mental age of about 40 before that 😂 @Martin. will confirm.

The rad is pretty but I think that's probably about it. The core doesn't look overly efficient when you compare it to highly efficient OEM designs and the build quality is poor. I remember Alex had one on his turbo cup and the bottom outlet was so badly put together a good portion of it was blocked with metal where the hole and the pipe didn't align. If cost were no object I'd be on the phone to pro-alloy.

 

[incy-spider]

Arguably it will be under more load and with poorly airflow on the dyno than is seen on the road anyway. So will give you a good indication as to charge temps anyway. The only thing you won’t easily do on a normal dyno run is the sustained load as experienced on say a 20 min track session.
As you’re clearly aware, heat management is everything, especially in a turbocharged application so these are all great steps to good reliability. Also highly reccomend ducting the oil cooler in a sealed housing. This we found to have amazing results on the Imprezas we did for use at the Ring. You may even be able to remote mount it freeing up clearer space for your rad pack.

That is a great idea Ref the oil cooler ducting, it’s actually in a clear space away from the radiator so I could box that to the grill for better performance!

I like overkill, over engineering. I actually get the piss taken out of me for it but the mighty Clio keeps going!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[GrahamS]

@frayz I didn't read all the posts before putting mine but you are spot on. Particularly with oil and intercooler the airflow getting to certain parts of the rad has significantly reduced velocity. That was, apart from packaging benefits, the main reason we mounted our oil coolers so close to the rad to keep the air moving relatively uninhibited. The intercooler is a little more difficult because of where the IC pipes and bottom rad mounts but there is certainly an improvement to be had with the right bracket.

 

[frayz]

I like overkill, over engineering. I actually get the piss taken out of me for it but the mighty Clio keeps going!!

This is why yours runs successfully when others don't.

Every car, not just the performance car is designed to cope to run in parameters far in excess of their usage criteria.
People want to do things on a shoe string for pennies that's just lashed together and then moan when it breaks.

This is how I housed my Setrab 19 row cooler fed from a foglight to a sealed box and exited below the wheel well.

This car was running upwards of 1.9bar from a GT35R and it was used aggressively. Never once did I have any issues with oil temps. I also made one for a friends car with the same setup. That used to exclusively live at the Ring.

 

[incy-spider]

This is why yours runs successfully when others don't.

Every car, not just the performance car is designed to cope to run in parameters far in excess of their usage criteria.
People want to do things on a shoe string for pennies that's just lashed together and then moan when it breaks.

This is how I housed my Setrab 19 row cooler fed from a foglight to a sealed box and exited below the wheel well.

This car was running upwards of 1.9bar from a GT35R and it was used aggressively. Never once did I have any issues with oil temps. I also made one for a friends car with the same setup. That used to exclusively live at the Ring.

View attachment 1473427

Wow lovely stuff! That looks great, definitely something I’ll be looking into! I actually have some nice 3D printed fog light scoops originally for brake ducting but ended up never plumbing up so could use them if I can’t do an effective boxing/scoop job from the grill.

Do you do that kind of fabrication as a job?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[frayz]

I'm an automotive development engineer and had a mate make it for me in another area of the building. Im not on the tools anymore so don't get to play with cars that much these days. He took my cooler and vacuum formed a duct to the design i wanted.

Boxed like that, the air simply has nowhere else to go but through the core, its mega efficient.
You want to have it exiting under the car as opposed to the wheel well as the wheel well is an area of high pressure, under the car is a low pressure zone so helps the air to be drawn through.

Here's the other car we fitted one to, fed from the NS fog duct.

 

[incy-spider]

Awesome job!! Thanks for the info mate, I’ll bear this in mind..

In fact, quick question.. if I were to use a duct to run into the engine bay to help keep under bonnet temps down would that compromise the effectiveness of the air passing through the radiator? Causing some kind of pressure pressure difference?

It was basically aimed straight under the air filter like a cold a feed which is compartmented from the engine bay but air can escape into the bay


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[frayz]

Not at all as its no different to how it is now. The front of the car is a massively high pressure area. Imagine that air pressure at speed and its why you see bonnets blow off and straight up when their latches fail. The underside of the car is a low pressure zone and air will be going into the bay and down exiting out of the bottom.
If you do change the setup you have now, see if you can log the temps in its current config first.