Nissan Patrol 4x4 (Africa)

I guess most attentive forumites know by now that keeping a powerful engine cool in a Y60 bodyshell is quite a challenge. This is particularly an issue with turbocharged TD42's, but actually it is often difficult to keep the petrol Y60's cool too. Mine has always been marginal.

I was walking around Michael's workshop today, where there happened to be a few radiators standing around, and I happened to have some measuring tools (not that Michael doesn't own a tape measure).

The Y60's radiator is 650mm wide and 430mm high.
The early Y61's radiators are the same height, but is 905mm wide. That is a 39% increase in area!

Also, on the Y60 the tanks are at the ends, whereas on the Y61's the tanks are top and bottom. I believe they did this because tanks top and bottom generates a more even temperature across the tubes.

Furthermore, the longitudinal distance from the front of the grill to the surface of the radiator is probably 3-4 times greater in the Y61 than in the Y60. This helps a lot when having to "stack" cooling devices.

The last of the Y61's (the 4.8's and the factory-turbo pickups, and I suspect also the CRD's, although there wasn't one present to look at) have a narrower but much taller radiator (565 wide x 630 high). That is a slightly smaller area than the earlier Y61's but still much larger than the Y60's. Again, the tanks are top and bottom. I believe this was done to increase the amount of time water spends in the radiator as compared to the earlier Y61 radiator.

I have always loved the Y60 for it's short nose, which helps a lot with approach angle, but there is a price to pay...

Just some interesting-to-me drivel.

makes a lot of sense Peter... well spotted mate

Interesting, at least it seems they are learning from their shortcomings. I will measure my crd radiator and post.

The 4.5 4.2 na 30l di all has the same size with different pipe options. On some of the diesels there is a remote pesssure bottle also . Later 30l from 2005 onwards and on narrow 4.2 td bakkies yes .

4.8 and 4.2 td has same size again tall narrow one

Interesting observations Peter. I never thought about the top & bottom tank vs. the side tanks!

I guess from your own experiments and experience,
from Michael's experiments and experience,
from my own experiments and experience (having learned the conclusions from from you and Michael)
as well as the interwebs on the google machine...

the consensus seems to be: for most effective cooling don't obscure airflow to the radiator

Heat rises. Side tanks on a radiator don't make sense to my old analogue brain.

Seeing your grill on Saturday reminded me that I said I would measure my radiator. Mine is a 2014 CRD and as far as I can access with a tape measure it looks to be 905mm wide and 450mm high. Tanks top and bottom.

Thanks Gareth.