Keeping Your Cool

Cooling components have always been popular aftermarket accessories. Take the flex fan as an example. Like many hot rodders, the author used one of those state-of-the-art fiberglass Flex-a-lite fans when it was first introduced in the '60s to keep a hopped-up 283 Chevy cool. Trick stuff, that.

Back then those green-and-white fans with the unique blades were products of the fertile mind of Eddy Davis. An Army Air Corps pilot in England during WWII, Eddy had a certain familiarity with propellers, particularly those with adjustable pitch. He developed a curved fan-blade that was steeply pitched at low engine speed to move lots of air and would flatten out to reduce drag when the engine sped up and the ram effect pushed air through the radiator.

At war's end, Eddy made a few flex fans for some racers in England with promising results. After returning to the States, Eddy began testing some manufacturing techniques, albeit on somewhat of a grassroots level. For example, the ability of the fan blades to withstand heat was evaluated by sticking them in the kitchen oven. Soon, with the help of his brother, Jim, fans were in production, with the assembly line in the garage. A true family affair, everyone got into the act of building fans. Even granddaughter Lisa joined the crew in '78. Then 8 years old, she was earning spending money by riveting on blades. From those somewhat humble beginnings, Flex-a-lite Consolidated has grown to be one of the leading suppliers of electric- and engine-driven fans, engine and transmissions coolers, heaters and a host of other products. One thing hasn't changed: the granddaughter is still there, although her name and title is now Lisa Chissus, vice president and general manager.

Flex-a-lite has grown for a variety of reasons. One is that they have very astutely evaluated the needs of the aftermarket. At this year's SEMA convention we found a perfect example of that process. Part of the Flex-a-lite display was a new aluminum radiator. That alone isn't revolutionary; there are quite a few aluminum radiators on the market. What makes this product unique is the thought that went into mounting the variety of additional items that have become commonplace, such as electric fans, air conditioning condensers, trans and engine coolers, and so on.

Although there are claims of every sort when it comes to radiator construction, if the radiator is adequate for the application, there will be little effective difference between aluminum and copper/brass coolers. Aluminum radiators react (heat up and cool down) a little faster, and of course, they are lighter and look good. But one of the reasons Flex-a-lite opted for alloy for radiator construction was that it allowed the use of unique aluminum extrusions for the upper and lower tanks (as well as side straps in some applications).

Extruding uses dies to shape material--in this case, aluminum--and the results are fins on the inside of the tanks and T-shaped grooves on the outside. The reasons for this design are two-fold. First, cooling effectiveness is increased as the internal fins provide more surface area to transfer heat from the coolant to the radiator and, ultimately, the air. Testing has shown these fins drop temperatures 1.7 degrees per minute quicker than conventionally designed tanks. The second part of the extrusions, the T-grooves on the outside, simplifies mounting of all the components that are commonly hung on radiators. Ironically, this system is so clean that many of those looking at these radiators for the first time don't notice it.

Along with the unique design of the tanks, the engineers at Flex-a-lite took a long look at the compatibility between radiator cores and fans and were able to optimize their combination. As a result, rodders now have the opportunity to buy matched, coordinated components from one source. An aluminum radiator, fan, shroud, and transmission cooler are all in one package, all designed to fit together and perform perfectly. What a great way to keep your cool.