Kitfox Belly Radiator?

[BryceKat 125]

Hey Guys,

What is the capacity of the cooling system with a belly mounted radiator? I have the original 2 cheek radiator system and it has a capacity of about 2 quarts or half a gallon. I'm wondering if the issue is a lack of capacity/overworked coolant. Bryce

[EDMO 1078]

Hey Guys,

What is the capacity of the cooling system with a belly mounted radiator? I have the original 2 cheek radiator system and it has a capacity of about 2 quarts or half a gallon. I'm wondering if the issue is a lack of capacity/overworked coolant. Bryce

You will probably get better answers - I dont think my belly rad for the 532 would hold that much - but havent measured - wonder what manuals say? Guessing that this rad is about 6 inches high by 24+? inches wide. My Soob rad (think it is a VW rabbit rad) is 2 times as high and little wider.

Are you South of Nashville? Where? I have a cousin at Lawrence County who was making a living as A&P and covering experimentals. Need to fly over there someday.

Ed in MO

Edited 10 Jan 2013 by Ed In Missouri

[1avidflyer 1983]

You will probably get better answers - I dont think my belly rad for the 532 would hold that much - but havent measured - wonder what manuals say? Guessing that this rad is about 6 inches high by 24+? inches wide. My Soob rad (think it is a VW rabbit rad) is 2 times as high and little wider.

Are you South of Nashville? Where? I have a cousin at Lawrence County who was making a living as A&P and covering experimentals. Need to fly over there someday.

Ed in MO

Just ran out to the garage and shot these pics of a radiator that came off of a Kitfox 3/ 582 project I once had. I'm sure it was supplied by Kitfox. My latest MK IV has foam around the standard Avid MK IV radiatiors that seals them to the cowl so as to force all the air though the radiators, and it seems to cool better than some other Avids I've seen. Take care, Jim Chuk

Edited 10 Jan 2013 by Jim Chuk

[Av8r_Sed 82]

Hi Bryce,

My Kitfox III, 582 has the original belly mount rad. System capacity is the same 2 qts you have. It cools well.

[akflyer 1427]

I have seen the MK IV radiators work very well, but I think the key is to use baffles in the cowl so all the air is forced to go through the radiators and not around them.

With that being said, if you buys in the hotter climates are having issues and need the belly radiator instead, I would trade a belly mount for the MK IV setup to ya in a heartbeat. I want to get rid of the belly mount so I can build a big cargo pod under the belly.

[BryceKat 125]

Hey Ed, I'm about 35 miles southwest of Nashville. What airport is your cousin?

I just baffled off the rest of the radiators last fall. However, as I was changing out the straight watertube anti-freeze and water mixture I realized there's not much coolant in the system. I was not able to try that last year in the hot weather though. I want to keep the cheek radiators, I don't like the idea of having the radiators hanging off the belly of the airplane. I had thought about adding coolant reservoir or some copper lines back behind the radiators to increase the Capacity, Ala moonshine style! Bryce

[EDMO 1078]

Hey Ed, I'm about 35 miles southwest of Nashville. What airport is your cousin?

I just baffled off the rest of the radiators last fall. However, as I was changing out the straight watertube anti-freeze and water mixture I realized there's not much coolant in the system. I was not able to try that last year in the hot weather though. I want to keep the cheek radiators, I don't like the idea of having the radiators hanging off the belly of the airplane. I had thought about adding coolant reservoir or some copper lines back behind the radiators to increase the Capacity, Ala moonshine style! Bryce

If your rads are long like some I saw on ebay recently, looks like a lot of the air has to turn downward to go thru the lower portion - would some aluminum fins \\\ in the nose openings help redirect the air to the lower portion, or maybe I dont have a clue on this if you have a different cowl than what I am thinking of - Avid didnt make any round cowls like early Kitfox, I dont think. How about some extra holes in the front of cowl?

How about the outbound air - does it have a good escape?

Moonshine worked for a lot of things - why not try it? I would go with aluminum tube - lighter and better.

Lawrenceberg, or Lawrence County, Airport? - Fleeman Aviation. Ancestors of my several different families came from there and Giles County to Missouri after Mr. Lincoln's Invasion of Privacy.

ED in MO

From what I have heard, the belly rads work when the cheek rads dont...My one belly rad was hung at 45 degrees inside the back of the cowl by an angle bracket coming off of the firewall, with baffles to keep the air from going around it......

ED in MO

Edited 11 Jan 2013 by Ed In Missouri

[BryceKat 125]

If your rads are long like some I saw on ebay recently, looks like a lot of the air has to turn downward to go thru the lower portion - would some aluminum fins \\\ in the nose openings help redirect the air to the lower portion, or maybe I dont have a clue on this if you have a different cowl than what I am thinking of - Avid didnt make any round cowls like early Kitfox, I dont think. How about some extra holes in the front of cowl?

How about the outbound air - does it have a good escape?

Moonshine worked for a lot of things - why not try it? I would go with aluminum tube - lighter and better.

Lawrenceberg, or Lawrence County, Airport? - Fleeman Aviation. Ancestors of my several different families came from there and Giles County to Missouri after Mr. Lincoln's Invasion of Privacy.

ED in MO

From what I have heard, the belly rads work when the cheek rads dont...My one belly rad was hung at 45 degrees inside the back of the cowl by an angle bracket coming off of the firewall, with baffles to keep the air from going around it......

ED in MO

Ed, yeh they are the tall radiators which don't fit worth a sh!t! I used aluminum and silicone to baffle them off. Lawenceberg is about another 35 miles southwest of me. Stop on by when your down this way! Bryce

[EDMO 1078]

Ed, yeh they are the tall radiators which don't fit worth a sh!t! I used aluminum and silicone to baffle them off. Lawenceberg is about another 35 miles southwest of me. Stop on by when your down this way! Bryce

Sorry, I left out Maury County, but havent been there in years.

ED