I'm having a little trouble understanding the way radiators are rated, is a 4 core better than a 2 core or the other way around?

I assume a 4 core would be more efficient seeing as it has 4 cores.

It is abit confusing, i understand it as: The more cores there are the more outside surface area there is and more fins for cooling. But the downside is that it carries less fluid than a radiator with fewer cores.

That said I believe that 2 cores are better than 4 cores judging by the fact that racing ones and many modern ones are 1 core. Does someone want to elaborate?

_________________
Lillee - 1969 Morris Mini K

Generally speaking , the more fins per inch a radiator has , the greater the cooling capacity . Modern cars often use only one row of tubes , but they have a very high fins per inch ratio and also have much better air flow capacity due to improved fans . Most modern cars also have aluminium radiators which are far better heat dispensers than the old copper or brass ones . The actual fan is really only used for when the motor is at idle or low speed , to get the airflow through the radiator . Once the car is in motion , over about 20mph , the airflow from it moving is far greater than a fan can force through , which is why most modern cars have electric fans with a temperature switch to turn the fan off when the the temperature gets to a preset level ....cheers

_________________
1965 Morris 850
1966 Morris Mini Minor
1967 Morris Cooper 'S'
1977 Leyland LS

AJ,
I must take issue with this heat dispersal (ie thermal conductivity) thing- aluminium has inferior thermal conduction to copper, although it IS better than brass.
Modern cars use alloy because it's cheaper (for them) to make it. But they don't sell em cheap to us, when the plastic tanks crack, do they.....

Note all radiators in Oz Minis from Mini Deluxe/Cooper S on, had 16 gills (fins) /inch- the 850 before that was basically UK design and only had 12 gills/inch.

The 3 core UK made? radiator I purchased recently only has 12/inch. So next time, I'll recore an Oz one instead of buying imports.

_________________
DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

Yes thats true , aluminium is inferior to copper , but better than brass . Copper is as you say much more expensive . Brass is what most older car radiator tubes are made of , with the fins being copper for the superior heat dissipation . The more expensive mining equipment radiators are copper . Thats true also that aluminium radiators are cheaper to manufacture , but more expensive when they sell them to us ....cheers

_________________
1965 Morris 850
1966 Morris Mini Minor
1967 Morris Cooper 'S'
1977 Leyland LS

the main problem with 4 core radiators is that the air that is pushed through warms up and is actually warming up the last core, putting back some heat
thats why a 2 core cools better than a 4 core, at least our findings over here