Keeping your Amphi-Ranger cool…
There have been plenty of off-roaders, 4×4’s and trucks designed with snorkels for driving through rivers and streams. However, in 1982, an oil pipeline company in Germany called Rheinhauer Maschinen und Armaturenbau (RMA) decided to go one step further, and the ‘Amphi-Ranger’ was born.
Amphi-Rangers are an extreme off-road amphibious vehicle, designed as a road car but used for exploration, with the aim of basically going places that at the time no other road vehicle could go, simply with the press of a button. As you can imagine, when they were first built they were prohibitively expensive and were bought by German authorities such as the coast guard and police, as well as companies in need of such a vehicle, or by a few private wealthy individuals. The Amphi-Ranger has a completely sealed body made of aluminium and is designed for use in the sea.
A returning customer, who actually owns an RMA Amphi-Ranger 2800SR recently approached Zircotec to support his project. As you can well imagine, the Amphi-Ranger is a very rare vehicle, with only 66 ever made. When new, his particular car was delivered to Australia but had been in storage and then a motor museum for most of its life. When he acquired it, the Amphi-Ranger was predominantly in original and complete condition but was in need of a full mechanical restoration. It has since been fully restored to its original condition with the addition of a few modern-day improvements.
Unlike a conventional vehicle, the Amphi-Ranger’s engine compartment is completely sealed, so no natural airflow can cool the engine. Instead, most of the cooling comes from a large mechanical fan drawing air from the outside via vents in the roof, as well as air from within the passenger compartment (B-pillars). This air is then drawn across the engine through a large main radiator and is then ducted to a large grill on the outside. This results in the engine compartment being pressurised, so any waves that might go over the bonnet or vehicle itself cannot been drawn into the engine bay. There is a secondary radiator which is behind a grill on the nose of the vehicle, but external to the engine compartment. This separate radiator benefits cooling when travelling at speed due to natural airflow and from waves touching the radiator when in the water.
Our customer felt like additional heart management was required, and therefore decided to opt for our Sterling Silver from Performance Colours™ Range applied onto the manifolds as temperatures under the bonnet cannot be conventionally cooled like other ‘normal’ cars. So, anything that can help lower engine bay temperatures is of great benefit, especially when the engine is working hard on a hot day. The RMA 2800SR model utilizes two stainless steel exhaust manifolds, one on each side of the Ford Cologne V6 engine which have a U-bend at the top and then go via a flexible coupling to seal the engine bay then out, underneath the vehicle.
Even though “the manifolds have heat shield’s part way round them, the manifolds themselves still gets extremely hot”, our customer highlighted. “I needed a much better solution than to just wrap the manifolds and Zircotec offered the best solution”, in aiding the reduction of heat given off by the manifolds, hence reducing temperatures under the bonnet. Being a returning customer and having benefited from our heat management solutions on several other vehicles, he decided to choose Zircotec ceramic coatings as we were proven to be very effective in his other vehicle builds.
It’s always a pleasure to support and form part of such unique builds/projects. Get in touch today if you would like to discuss our heat management options for your vehicle!