Understanding how cooling systems function can be a tedious task; from the cooling fan, fan shroud, radiator, thermostat and even down to what sort of coolant to use can oftentimes leave even a veteran car builder confused. With so many different options on the market today simply had more confusion to the mix.
We have been working with our friends at Flex-a-lite for almost the entire time we’ve been around! Their products, expertise and technological insight on high-performance, high-quality, American-made cooling systems are among the best in the industry! We’ve touched on their product line before and provided some insight for our readers on how to select the right cooling system for their project car, on Flex-a-lite’s behalf.
Flex-a-lite has recently released a video highlighting some of the technology found in their products that third-generation company owner and CEO, Lisa Chissus, points out and provides additional insight for that many of us didn’t know! We focused on the key highlights and showcased them for you below:
Lisa Chisuss herself, a third-generation company owner, introduces herself as well as her beginnings in the company as a small child.
Lisa shows us a closeup of the original flexible fan blade that was developed by her grandfather back in 1962. She tells us that her first gig with the company included weighing the blades in the family garage – to make sure they were up to spec. She would get a whopping $2 for each basket that she filled – making sure the customer’s fans were balanced. Humble beginnings, indeed.
As she points out, Flex-a-lite makes several variations of cooling fans, but none of them rely on a simple plastic construction. In reality, they’re fiberglass reinforced nylon. The shrouds can bend and flex, so they won’t shatter or break under stress. As a bonus, they can withstand up to 600-degree temperatures for you serious racers running boosted engine applications in your vehicles.
Additional features include supporting posts and include a bulb seal with their shrouds, as they make sure that all of the airflow is pulling through the radiator and not the engine compartment.
All Flex-a-lite radiators have their patented system that includes fins on the inside and the outside of the side tanks, so that it can expands the amount of surface area that’s touching the coolant – which in turn, allows better heat dissipation. It also provides a channel that can be used to mount the radiator, electric fan(s), transmission and engine oil coolers – without having to go through the core.
All of FAL’s radiators are made of aluminum and hand-welded and don’t use epoxy anywhere in their construction.
Showing us more manufacturing footage, she also tells us that they can produce custom-made radiators for those who need it.
Using a belt-driven fan as an example, she points out the stiffener blade design that allows the blade to flatten out during high engine RPMs, but not too much to where it won’t flex back into its original shape. This is important for your engine, because as Lisa tells us, you’re going to need that projected width while your engine is at idle. She also touches on the fan spacer, which allows you to pinpoint exactly where you want to mount your fan for efficient and maximum cooling.
Flex-a-lite’s engine and transmission oil coolers are made in-house as well and one of the things that they have in their tubes is a turbulator; that spins the oil so that the fluid is touching the copper tubes as much as possible – rather than having to coagulate on the outside and having it shoot hot oil on the inside.
FAL’s transmission and oil coolers also offer increased protection and potential improved styling traits for your engine bay.
Rick Seitz is the owner and founder of GMEFI Magazine, and has a true love and passion for all vehicles. When he isn’t tuning, testing, or competing with the brand’s current crop of project vehicles, he’s busy tinkering and planning the next modifications for his own cars.
