What heatercore is it?
 

What year and model car is the standard heatercore from? Is it a chevette? Just want a quick answer so I can go to autozone tomorrow.

86' Chevette, i believe.

Yep, the chevette is the "standard" square (single 120mm fan with shroud) heatercore a lot of people use.

my heatercores from a vauxhall nova i think, as it has nova written in red on the side..
the bottom has what looks like "86 F HIARRISON" stamped into it, any one know if this hc is good? as i might get another...

afaik, vauxhall/opel nova = chevrolet chevette......

so that would mean i really have a 86' Chevette? have you got any pics of one so i can check?

I allways though the vauxhall nova heatercores were the same as the vauxhall astra cores which i use.

Am i wrong?

lkbnl can you post some pics of yours? or mesurements

The astra cores (fin area) mesures 190mm x 180mm

Pic of the astra core - http://server5.uploadit.org/files/sl...traWFan600.jpg

Ive also heard of something called an opal kadet (sp?) is that the same as an astra?

yeah I think the Kadet is the same as the astra.

I have a heater matrix from an escort. I know it is aluminium and yes I have a copper block I have some car antifreeze with distilled water in the circuit so far it seems ok. It'll be interesting to see if the anti freeze and distilled water prevents the corrosion.

The Nova/Astra one looks pretty good might have to take another trip down to the scrappy

Yeh ive got one like that aswell. Its from an mondeo tho and probably slightly smaller. I used to use it when i watercooled my 400 celeron!:)

The astras are relly good but are slightly too big to fit in most cases the traditional way. Never the less they are the best i have found in the uk (and have been looking for a year or more!).

Would be great to see what a nova one is like tho

Yes I think my nova one looks exactly the same. I have some pics but VERY poor quality...
Did you put the 45 degree pipe on yours or was it already there? I might do the same to mine with 90 degree, unfortunatly the pipe is 15.5mm on the h/c so the elbows I have wont fit :(
The visible fin area on mine is 185mm by 160mm. Ive been using 2x80mm + 2x92mm fans on one side. I found adding fans to the other side didnt help temps atall.
Whats yours made out of? I thought mine was compleatly copper, and very tarnished. Ive just pollished the top bit which seems to be brass/bronze (cant remember which looks this colour!). The fins still apear to be copper, but covered in solder?..

This cost me £10. It wasnt in great condition, but it doesnt leak :)

iirc opal are a german company vaxhaul took over. Ive nto heard of a "kadet" car but it might be therre name for astra or another vaxhual car..

I would be interested if your vaxhual astra h/c also has "86 F HIARRISON" on the bottom. On mine its quite hard to read, and I had it a while before i noticed it...

Ahh so they are slightly differant.

The astra has 88b Harrison on the bottom, it is quite a bit larger (190wx180t) as oppose to your 185x160 and yes they have the 45deg outletts as std.

Yes they are copper fins covered in solder but use brass tanks.

The novas look good aswell. Probably quite a bit easyer to fit in the case. Im having trouble trying to fit 2x astra cores in a cheiftech dragon midi:)

Yes, seems youve got a slightly newer/bigger one. Ive not tryed mine in my case yet, there isnt realy any air holes at the front, though there is 4x80mm fan mounts, a bit pointless...
Have you cleaned yours? in the pic it looks v tarnished. I spend 30 mins yesterday cleaning it and now it is v shiny! pic attached, quality is again v poor, looks a lot better than the pic shows.. Im going to try building a shroud for it later from 2 sheets of alu :)

Also mine appears to be made compleatly of brass that has tarnished so much it looks like copper. now its clean it has a much more yellow colour.

I had the opertunity to get a BIX raditator today for about 1/3rd of normal price + postage, still 2x more than this h/c cost me, so I didnt bother, going to try finding another nova or maybe an astra :)
Also ordered a ig 172mm fan for it, should fit well :)

SlaterSpeed, you wouldn't happen to know which (model, years) Astras has that core of yours? It looks really nice and would probably be alot cheaper than a Chevette core.

Opel Kadett was the predecessor to the Opel/Vauxhall Astra.

Mine came out of a mk2:) (early 1990s)

Its definatly got copper finns but they are totaly coverd with solder so you have to break one off to see that. Ive not cleaned it much yet (athough that pic was taken bout 30mins after i took it out the car)

If you interested in seeing what im using it for go here: http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=51404

Nice block! done a similar one for my gfx, but the top broke when i soldered it.
Also like the shroud, going to do similar to mine once i recive my 172mm fan. Ill have to wait for the fan to arrive though, its circular insead of straight sides, and i want to get the shroud exact size for it.
You said in the bit-tech thread you might make and sell some blocks, how much would it cost for you to make a top for my gpu block? its quite simple and small, just needs to 1/2" bspt threads and i dont have a drill press, 12mm drills, or taps :(
Also i saw you have a brass Y connector thingy, havent seen a brass oen before - do you know anywhere that seels brass 1/2" 90 degree barbs?
Do cheiftec cases have four 80mm fan mounts in the front? thinking about getting a case like that.
btw, dont paint the heatercore, pollish it, looks better imo :)

Thanks:)

The brass Y came from here: http://www.coolercases.co.uk/home.htm

It was dam expencive for a Y connector but thought i better get one wharlst i was ordering. Its differant from the nylon Ys as all the barbs are at the same angle like an equlatral triangle where as with the nylon ones 2 of them are at a tighter angle that the other so it makes it less flow restrictive but still if i end up using it it will do the job. not sure about the brass 90s, ive only seen nylon ones. I bet you could make some pretty easly tho;)

Cheiftec cases are great. they have 2/3 (if you use a floppy you can only use the 2) 80mm fan mounts at the front and 2 at the back.

Humm im not relly spose to be taking on any more work till i get what i have finished but as you say its simple if you could send me the meterials and decent working drawing im sure i could fit you in.

Just out of interest whered you get the 172mm fan?

The 172mm fan was second hand, and is like one of these, http://www.nidec.com/ta600dc55r/ta600dc55r.htm but i cant find any info on the model number im getting.
Another place you could get a large fan is from an old car, dunno how much they cost from a breakers. The large ones infront of the radiators should be perfect, dunno if heatercores usually have fans with them or if there passive? Car fans will be niosy at there rated voltage. You will want one thats 12vdc. Also ive heard they use a lot of current (some of these fans are REALLY big) so its best to run them at 5v so there quieter, and they will also use less current at 5v. Also i think RS components might sell them (www.rswww.com) or farnel might.

The reson i need 90degree barbs is becase its a gfx block and i dont want it sticking out loads. I originally wanted an all copper block so insteaad of barbs i could just solder 90 degree elbows on, but it didnt work when soldering, as the hole thing was top heavy and wouldnt sit how i wanted it.
With the tools i have, nothing is easy :) and im not going to attempt it using a dremmel. What i will try now is using a peice of polyethylene for the top, held on by two screws with some sealant between it and the metal. I might be able to have 1 in and two out, but i might just use one in one out going from end to end with a restriction to speed up water over the core. The base is 7 channels about 2 mm apart with 1.5mm walls. The problem is sealing the block, and the barbs to the top. If its plastic id need to find the right glue that works with both types of plastic.

If you could fit me in i would pay you. I dont have any materials (copper etc..) but ive found some places that sell copper so i could get some. Ill draw some detailed pics this week of how it will be.
With your cpu block you have a large inlet, which is reduced to a small slot, whats it for?

heres a link to my thread anyway if you want to see what ive done, http://forums.procooling.com/vbb/showthread.php?t=8942

Sounds like a good plan.

The inlet is reduced to speed up water velocity and to ensure that the block works well. Its called jet impingement and increse turbulance and makes it easyer for heat to transfur from the copper to the water.

Its like the differance between a 120mm fan flowing 80cfm and a 80mm fan flowing 80 cfm. If you put your hand in front of the 80 it will feel alot colder than if you put it on front of the 120mm.:)

"so its best to run them at 5v so there quieter, and they will also use less voltage at 5v."

I think you mean watts or amps, in either case, thats completly wrong. Amps actually increase as voltage lowers so that the watts will stay the same, and to account for less torque.

Yes i did mean current, it was a typo.
I cant say I know much about fans, Ive done 1/2 year of a 2 year course, on 3 phase motors and systems, thats about it. We were told that current increases with lower voltage. I never unsderstood this porpely.
The seller measured the current with the fan at 12v and 5v and 5v had the lower, can you explain?
His testing might have just been wrong so when the fan arrives tomorrow I will also measure it..

by all I know it should have increased the current draw...probabily a mismeasurement...

V=I*R

If there is a lower voltage and the resistance is constant then the current will increse :)

Ususally lower voltage would increase the resistance though, would this happen on fans?
Anyway the fan has arrived and ive got some numbers for you. I only have a multimeter, not a scope or anything, so the peak startup current wont be exact, as multimeters measure RMS values. Instead it will be RMS over the first second.

Startup 12v = 0.63A
running 12v = 0.17A

This looks about right, The fan is rated for 0.55A at 24v on the label, if thats start up or running current I dont know. I was expecting 1A running at 5A startup with what you said about it almost doubling the current draw!
Should definatly work on well on my pc's ATX psu without problems.
The fan doesnt start a 5v, which is what I expected. At 7v it wants to move, but cant. If i push the fan round and leave it spinning at 7v it will continue slowley for a while. I will try 9v later, either using a linear regulator if i can find it, or 12v-3v mod from the psu.

Whaaaat!!!! For constant resistance, V/I is a constant. If the voltage drops, the current will too.
Think of it as water (should come easily around here!). Voltage is the pressure pushing the water, resistance is obvious and current is flow rate. Higher voltages (pressures) give higher currents (flow rates). If you increase the resistance, you have to increase the voltage (pressure) or reduce the current (flow rate).

I just tested at 9v, well t was about 9v anyway - I didnt bother with capacitors when I made the circuit ages ago, which may have limted the available current for the fan.

Startup was measured at 0.42A, while runing was measured at 0.12A.
At this voltage it is inaudable and shifts a resonably large amount of air, less than at 12v though. I may try to get 10 or 11v later.

Any one here know what type of motors DC ones are? I assume the stator is a permanent magnet while the rotor is wound and has brushes?
How can I control the speed better? like running from 12v but with a resistance to give 10 or 11v which resistor would be best?