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Daytona Coupe, 289 and 427 Cobras
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Daytona Coupe Cobra -
Radiator & Cooling
In an earlier page there was a photo of the Harrison radiator that will be utilized for the car. One of the unusual features of the coupe is the method of ducting the cooling air through the radiator. To assist in lowering the nose profile, the top of the radiator leans forward at approximately 45 degrees. aluminum ducting from the air inlet at the nose of the car directs air through the radiator and out through a large opening in the top of the hood. The ducting for the the air discharge in the hood is shown in the following photo. Some minor fabrication still needs to be completed before the duct is finally installed.
The radiator also needed to be modified from the original Corvette layout. To allow it to have the raked position in the coupe, the upper water neck needed to be modified in it discharge angle. As with the roadsters, the coupe utilizes fabricated aluminum tubes as part of the connection between the radiator and the engine. Although the coupes origins are from the 289 roadsters and in many areas identical parts are utilized, the rake of the radiator dictates a slightly different tubing configuration.
Moving air through the radiator at racing speeds is obviously not a problem. Many of the recent photos taken show the coupes with electric cooling fans in a pusher location (e.g. located in front of the radiator.) I have not found definitive information regarding the use of electric fans on the cars as they were originally raced. Since my coupe will see routine duty on the street I will be utilizing an electric fan to provide airflow in the normal daily driving. The following photo shows the fan that will be used in a puller mode (behind the radiator) and the completed connection of the radiator hose and fittings.
The cobra roadsters had a radiator fill / expansion tank located on either the front spring perch or the front left head of the motor depending on whether the car was a competition or street model. The coupes could not utilize either location due to the elaborate radiator outlet air ducting. The tank for the coupes was located on the passenger side footbox. The coupes also used a slightly different tank than the Harrison piece that was used on many of the competition roadsters. Although the tanks were mounted on the footbox, each of the original coupes had a slight variation in the exact mounting location of the tank. The following photo shows the tank mounting that I will use.
