Front mount rad questions

[Islander]

I have a few questions about a front mounted rad set-up. *But first I will give you my reasons for wanting one in the first place. *Where I will be doing most of my riding will be at a fairly slow pace, (woods with next to no trails, pick a line and make one!!) *so I figured that I want the rad pretty far from the engine heat. *I would set up ducting behind it to keep the heat off the driver and vent out the sides. *In the winter, I could configure it to pump heat into the drivers compartment and seal it off some to keep temps up. *
My questions,
#1 will I have to get an auxillery pump to help move the coolant the extra distance?
#2 Will I be over-cooling the motor? *I figured that with the added capacity that I would get away with a slightly smaller rad.
#3 What would be a good system to run the coolant up to the rad and back. *Can I tap into the lower cage bar and run it through there or will that weaken the bar to much? *I would not use the main bars and put heat shields over places where they are close to the driver.

I was thinking of mounting it kind of like a Subaru inter cooler ala WRX only more upright with a scoop over it and a puller fan.
Mounting it up front and using it for heat in the winter would be a huge plus for me, as I live in an area where its cold out for a little over half the year. *(-10 to -30) *The heat would not be close to the same as a car, but enough to keep the frost off the lower extremities!
Is this way off base? *I wish I was computer savy enough to draw this out!!

[plkracer]

It can be done, but I wouldn't suggest it. Some motors may push the fluid around, some may not. I would stick the radiator in the back, and have a fan on it. If it is in the front, it can get punctured and spray hot fluid all over you while you are strapped in, or a hose can get a leak, etc. If you were to do it, I would run hard lines up to it. I saw a guy at sand lake that had a buggy with the coolant flowing through the frame, but if he were to crash, again, he would be covered in hot fluid.

[masterfabr]

Sorry plk but I disagree.For his purposes a front mount rad makes perfect sense to me. Just do not run coolant in the frame.High quality SS braided lines would be best. Mount the rad in it's own completely shrouded to the rear pod with ducts allowing the warmed air to flow through a plenum similar to a heater core box.No worry about coolant hitting you that way. Can't be any worse than some of the moronically mounted rad 6" from your head crap we see so often.

[masterfabr]

And yes you MIGHT need a booster pump.

[plkracer]

If you duct the back side, you won't have any problems with coolant hitting you. I wasn't thinking about that, sorry... Also, forgot to say that you should not have an overcooling problem since the thermostat takes care of that.

[masterfabr]

Yep.I agree.

[dunerocket]

To answer your second question, the added fluid volume does not increase cooling capacity. *It merely increases the length of time that it will take to heat that fluid up. *If the lines running to and from are not insulated then you would lose some heat through them, but not that much. *The surface area of all the fins in the radiator drawfs the surface area of the tubes. *I would fit the largest reasonably sized radiator and keep the thermostat. *Cover some of the radiator up in the winter if it is not getting warm enough.

[Islander]

So I'm not far off then. *Perfect. *I was a little nervous about the rear mount because a friend of mine had a branch go though his rear mount once and the pressure sprayed coolant down his back. *Not pretty. *He was rolling over at the time, though. *I know there are ways to protect you from that as well, but the front mount makes more sense to me for what I'm doing I think. *
What type of pump should I look for as a booster? *I would rather get one in the first place and be safe then find out later that I needed it.

[masterfabr]

I'd start out without a booster pump as it really won't likely be needed.It will just be an additional electrical load and something else to fail if it's not really needed which isn't likely..

[Islander]

would the stock rad from 4WD quad work (donor, possible 660 grizzly or the like), or should I just upgrade to a civic rad right away. *I'd like to keep the smallest rad possible while keeping good efficiency. *I can build the buggy a bit wider in the front if a civic rad is deemed best.