... As you can see from the pictures of Buddy's system and the system that Sum built for Hooley's Studi they are not small. When Hooley was running a supercharged small block Chevy they ran a pressurized closed system using a 15 or 20 gallon air bottle that carried the cooling water and that was on an engine that made at least 800-900 horse power. ...
Realizing that some people base their builds on what others have done (we have) I just wanted to clarify Rex's comments above. We did run the first year or two with a smaller tank that I think was about 16-18 gallons but then with the blown motor we ended up with the 30 gallon tank that we still use in the car. We also ran a 2-3 lb. radiator cap and circulated the water through the engine from the tank with a Meziere pump that I believe is about 25 gallons per minute and not their largest pump. The engine never had a heating problem except when we forgot to turn the pump on
. I'd still like to put a second "on" switch on the the shift linkage just in case the driver forgot to turn the pumps on. Now we have to remember to turn the water pump and the intercooler pump on. Ran out of time to do this but might have time before World Finals.
We didn't like even the low pressure in the tank with the 2-3 lb. cap as the tank is in there with the driver. I feel much safer now that there is no pressure in that tank. Also cooling should be better with less chance of steam pockets in the motor with the 18 lb. cap we can now run with the rad-in-a-box.
Also like Rex said I'm sure we probably could run with a smaller radiator than what we have now, but if we get this motor up in the 1400-1600 HP range I'll feel better having it but also as he mentioned these radiators were designed in the first place as air to water coolers so more efficient water/water ones are probably out there. If money matters you can get a double pass like we are using for under $200 though.
I'm double passing the cooling water through the double pass radiator. If you just have the radiator in a box and aren't running water through it from another tank then I'm not sure you gain much with using a double pass radiator. Rex maybe you could comment on that.
For most of us that can't do all of the calculations and there are a lot of variables to consider maybe going oversize from the beginning if you have room is safer. That way you also have the potential to cover your butt if you do engine or power-added changes down the road,
Sum