[radz28]

I need to review my logs, but I have some good rips in near 110* heat. I would tend to think a thinner, bigger-faced HE would be better at cooling than a thicker smaller-faced HE (assuming the same efficiency core), but I believe there are actual tests of this that are out there. I don't know what the truth is, but am interested in learning.

One of the Members of our Community did some data comparison and found there wasn't a huge advantage to an upgraded primary intercooler HE upgrade for the type of work he was doing around the track. Maybe because of the speeds, he was getting enough airflow through the HE that the size wasn't as big a deal, but maybe an OEM ZL1 HE might be sufficient.

Because of the way GM did it, I feel like it's as optimal as it can be, but they designed the system to reject 650-HP worth of BTUs, and probably tried to cover the face of the radiator as little as possible, so it could be as efficient as possible. I don't know if any of that is accurate though. Just trying to think it out.

I was just reading about some testing a site did on HEs, and they determined that cooler temperatures were achieved with cores thinner than a little more than 2.5", and that if you have a thinner/wider/taller core that has the same volume as a thicker/shorter/skinnier core, and they have the same volume/core-type, that the thinner/wider/taller one might have a slight advantage, as the thicker the core becomes, they less air flows through it.

I'm seeing, on a 108* ambient day, that I am commanding about 190* to the OEM thermostat, and getting back to about that temperature after about a minute of driving around 30-MPH (this is after sitting at a stop light for a minute heat soaking). I'm running an OEM radiator and OEM cooling assembly, minus the PLM HE.

So - it seems to me, the thickness of the extra-large PLM HE, in my case, isn't hurting coolant temperatures much with some vehicle speed. I don't have a baseline for OEM HE data, so I'm not suggesting an improvement over the OEM HE. I'm stating that it would seem like this thicker core (and it's about the same "facial" surface area) isn't affecting coolant temperatures so much that the OEM T-stat isn't in control for the most part. Sitting at the light for about 3-minutes saw in increase of about 6-7* in coolant temperatures, but still below 200* coolant.