Putting my rad in the TJ09

madmat

madmat

Soup Nazi
I'd like to cover the proper way to put a rad in a TJ09. I say proper since the rad will be sealed all the way down the sides and the mounts will be tapped. there are no nuts to try to hold in place and no funky L brackets to fight with.

Rad1.jpg

Here's the bottom of the case roof.

Rad2.jpg

Here's the rad where it'll live.

Rad3.jpg

Wanna put a triple up there? just overhang the opening a bit

Rad4.jpg

The third fan shows how much the rad will overhang in the rear.

Rad5.jpg

I've outlined where the hole ends and how much it'll overhang to the front. To make up for the overhang simply mount the rad 1/4" lower and seal it to the roof with some 3/8" thick foam weatherstripping.
 
madmat

madmat

Soup Nazi
Ok, to continue...

Rad6.jpg

I'm using 3/4" aluminum angle to hold the rad.

Rad7.jpg

It'll run along the fan holder mounts in the roof.

Rad8.jpg

Cut it to 11-1/4" long and mount to the rad.

Rad9.jpg

Setting it along the roof shows how it'll fit.

Rad10.jpg

There's a bit of a gap, nothing terrible.
 
madmat

madmat

Soup Nazi
Again, to continue...

Rad11.jpg

I cut out the bar in the middle. This case will be my main rig and will live with me for a good time.

Rad12.jpg

Again, the mock up from another angle.

Rad13.jpg

I drilled and tapped four holes in the brackets, two per side on the ends.

Rad14.jpg

Mounted! The roof holes are tapped so the rad cant slide side to side.

Rad15.jpg

Longer screws on one side...

Rad16.jpg

Standard HDD screws on the other side.

Rad17.jpg

And done! I could paint the angle black but I won't.
 
NicePants42

NicePants42

Partition Master
It looks great, but I would make a couple suggestions.

madmat said:
Rad8.jpg

Cut it to 11-1/4" long and mount to the rad.
Click to expand...
Are you using anything other than the edges of those tightened screws to attach the aluminum to the rad? I would suggest screwing through the aluminum so that there is no chance for the rad and aluminum to separate. This will block some of the fins on the edges, but a dremel can fix that. You may want to use 1" angle instead of 3/4" to do this (more below). On the other hand, using washers would be good enough for me.

madmat said:
Rad10.jpg

There's a bit of a gap, nothing terrible.
Click to expand...
But that gap will want to close when you screw into those holes, possibly pulling the aluminum out from under the screws holding it to the rad. Also, unless the holes in the case are tapped, (can't quite tell) the whole radiator+aluminum assembly can shift side to side. Screwing directly through the aluminum (as described above) will completely prevent this, but it will also greatly increase the size of those gaps - but using 1" angle will give you enough to drill through on top and maintain a tight gap on the side.

madmat said:
Rad17.jpg

And done! I could paint the angle black but I won't.
Click to expand...
You might want to put some black weatherstrip between the aluminum and the top of the case to completely seal the sides and make everything uniformly black from this view.
 
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madmat

madmat

Soup Nazi
No, the screws won't pull the angle out from under the rad screws. The holes in the case roof are threaded so that when the screws are run to the mounts on the case roof they're tightened to the case roof. You'd have to strip the holes in the case roof mounts in order to get the screws any tighter.

And yes the rad's being held to the angle by the edge of the screws. That's four screws per side and each screw has locking notches carved into the underside of the flange. It's not going anywhere.

Also, unless you're looking at the case roof from nearly straight on you don't see the silver from up top. The flash makes it look brighter than it really is.

The rad is close enough to the case roof that there's no real need for weatherstripping. With a triple the rad would be below the solid case roof and a further 1/4" down, this would make weatherstripping necessary.
 
NicePants42

NicePants42

Partition Master
madmat said:
The holes in the case roof are threaded so that when the screws are run to the mounts on the case roof they're tightened to the case roof. You'd have to strip the holes in the case roof mounts in order to get the screws any tighter.
Click to expand...
That answers that, then.

madmat said:
And yes the rad's being held to the angle by the edge of the screws. That's four screws per side and each screw has locking notches carved into the underside of the flange. It's not going anywhere.
Click to expand...
Teeth on the flange is an important thing to mention. I suggest noting it above. I agree that the aluminum is secure, however, being fond of overkill, I'll point out that there are toothed washers available.

madmat said:
The rad is close enough to the case roof that there's no real need for weatherstripping. With a triple the rad would be below the solid case roof and a further 1/4" down, this would make weatherstripping necessary.
Click to expand...
Agreed. Fond of overkill.
 
madmat

madmat

Soup Nazi
Rad14.jpg

Mounted! The roof holes are tapped so the rad cant slide side to side.
Click to expand...

I made mention of the holes in the case roof being tapped right here but I guess you missed it... ;)

Yeah, I could use toothed washers but I don't have any to hand and I don't feel like fighting traffic to get to Home Depot (it's over by the mall...terrible place to try going on a Saturday) and since I've literally got 10 pounds of PC screws in a box under my bed I made do with what was handy. The toothed screws won't slip off unless the angle shifts to the side and I'd destroy the PC to make that happen.
 
Rob Williams

Rob Williams

Editor-in-Chief
Staff member
Moderator
madmat said:
mounts will be tapped. there are no nuts
Click to expand...

Funny, I usually find all three of these things go together great! :eek:

Great stuff man, I love it! Could you show us a picture of the finished product (side view of the completed case)?
 
madmat

madmat

Soup Nazi
I plan to log the whole build in here as it gets completed. I just did the rad today. Actually the mobo and tray are on a shelf and I've got the res mounted in a HDD bay and the pump is in front of the fan duct in the mid case area. I've gotta unmount the mobo, route wires under it (I got an Ultra X3 recently) from the PSU and start running plumbing.

I doubt it'll be done until May.
 
madmat

madmat

Soup Nazi
Ok, well here's the start:

TJ091.jpg

This is the air cooled version, I've already started tearing things down but you get the basic idea.

TJ092.jpg

The new home for the reservoir.

TJ093.jpg

The res will be held in place with the modder's friend: Velcro.

TJ094.jpg

Speaking of the res, here it is.

TJ095.jpg

And there's the pump.

It's also held in with Velcro. I've run some preliminary plumbing from the res to the pump but it's not pictured yet. I'm using a 90 coming from the res, going across under the lower edge of the drive bay cage and another 90 going back to the pump. The space under the front edge of the drive bay cage is big enough to allow two tubes to pass through.

More to come...
 
Rob Williams

Rob Williams

Editor-in-Chief
Staff member
Moderator
Velcro is great, I need to get some for whenever I take on a project like this. Great stuff so far man.
 
madmat

madmat

Soup Nazi
X2 3800+ at around 2.6Ghz, ASUS A8N32SLI Deluxe, 2 gigs Corsair PC4400 Pro, EVGA 7950GT KO SLI, Ultra X3 1KW, 500Gig Seagate 7200.9, WD WD1600JD 160Gig, Auzentech X-Meridian 7.1, Swiftech Apex Ultra w/ 2 MCW60's for the vid cards and 7900SLI ramblocks. Then there's the usual ODD's...
 
madmat

madmat

Soup Nazi
Well, it's sitting on the table doing the leak test as I type this.

I didn't take any pics in the interim simply since I was trying to hurry and get it finished but here's where it's at now.

TJ096.jpg

The loop is plumbed and I added a second auxiliary radiator at the rear of the case. This is to help with the added wattage from the second 7950GT being dumped into the loop. It's plumbed between the vid cards. The water flows from the res to the pump, from there it flows to the radiator in the roof and then to the CPU block. From there it flows into GPU 1 and exits that block and goes into the rear radiator and flows through it (Black Ice X-flow) and out into GPU 2. From there it flows into the res and it all begins again.

TJ099.jpg

Here's side on look into the loop.
 
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