^ did u notice any difference before/after the t-state mod?

 

It was not a mod I did before and after comparisons since no two track day conditions are the same. So sorry I can't provide direct evidence as to it's effectiveness. Nonetheless I've never had cooling issues and I've run at VIR in 100degF ambient temps and did not have any cooling issues.

But put it this way drving in the winter, if I leave the drilled t-stat in the car, my car will NEVER get up to operating temp.

Crispy

 

Wow. I will prolly go ahead and drill my t-stat too. I have nothing to lose. Plus California weather isnt quite as cold as Maryland, and I know how cold Md is since I moved from Gaithersburg Maryland to Cali only 3 years ago.

 

I have a fluidyne rad (normal mount) + an M2 Medium IC + single turbo.

I originally had the passenger side of the radiator (between the frame and the radiator side) open with an M2 Performance-style "box" for my intake. The theory was that nice cold air for the intake is good.

Believe it or not after logging temps via the PFC, I found that re-sealing that gap between the frame and the radiator actually dropped my water temps slightly and really didn't make any difference that I could notice on my intake temps. Intake temps vary a lot, so it's hard to say.

Crispy and others have the right advice. You want 100% of the air either hitting an oil cooler or the radiator. After the radiator, the IC. If you want to go the extra mile, things like vented hoods can help as can a nose with larger openings.

My car at 10 PSI on the wastegate spring was running 100 C on a 95F track day and was OK. I have stock nose, stock oil coolers.

P.S. The window air conditioner sealing foam they sell at home depot is durable and you can cut it with a razor blade or scissors to fit... .then get a can of 3M spray-on adhesive and it will stick to your parts. (clean them first). Yes, it looks somewhat ghetto, but it's cheap as dirt and it works if you dont' have something fancier. I tried doing the sheet metal ducting, but honestly I just ended up with sliced up fingers and wasting a lot of metal when I cut it wrong

 

Ducting is a obviously the biggest advice I see from this thread, which makes sense. Crispy had a pretty extensive post with lots of good ideas along with others. At the moment I have ZERO ducting on my 7 and I am running an FMIC with Koyo Rad in stock position. I think I am a little fuzzy on what you guys consider to be ducting work and how to fab it up. Is the ducting plastic, sheet metal etc? For those of you who have duct work done to your car, I think it would be beneficial to those of us who might have trouble visualizing what you're describing. If you posted some pics of your setup I know that would help me out in the right direction to do the same. Picture is worth a 1,000 words.

 

Proper ducting... There are still some spots that need to be sealed up but this setup currently works well at the track. Water temps stay stay under 99C and intake stay under 36C running hard on the track for 30 minutes @ 16.5 PSi











thewird

 

^^^^^^^^^^^

Now that looks great...nicely done!.

Tim

 

I still think the water pump is slipping...

 

Yea I think so too. Im going to order the pineapple idler within a few days. Im still working on the ducting too.

Thewird your v-mount setup looks great

 

Also. I still have my A/C on my car with a brand new condensor. You guys think the condesor is also affecting my temps? I dont want to lose my A/C but if its causing my car to run significantly hotter then Ill rip it out.

 

Without a doubt it is. I removed my a/c many years ago along with my p/s and have had zero cooling problems at all....I noticed my temps on the road course dropped dramatically w/out the condensor. At the time I was running a fluidyne rad and M2 large SMIC.

 

To clarify, Ac will not significantly affect your temps when it is OFF. When it is on the condenser does get warm and that warm air is dumped in front of the radiator. No reason to pull it in a street car.

 

Thewird...nice setup you have there!

I like how you even tucked the intake filter in the ducting too. That looks like it took some time to do. Definitely gives me some ideas.

 

we're not supose to use water wetter. it slowly eats coolant seals

 

Has that ever been proven? I've heard it before, but have never seen evidence (although I've never personally used it).

 

Eats the seals????? IMO, that's unlikely. I have seen corrosion problems (could allow corrosion of the seal grooves and cause problems) with water wetter, though, on my race cars, and am reluctant to use it because of that.

Dave

 

I have a bottle of watter wetter I've been meaning to buy OEM seals and put it in the bottle and test the theory. And report back when I have results. I'll make sure to ask my mechanic today since I'm going there.

Supposedly the bigger issue is corrosion between the seal and the housing. This is just hearsay and not from experience.

thewird

 

18 psi

230F oil - non ducted

195F water - ducted with Mazmart water pump

28-32C Air temps - ducted and vented

 

HOLY oil coolers, now THAT is what im talking about



thewird

 

LOL, yep should be interesting to see what the temps will be with the GTC bumper I will be putting on and some ducting.

 

I figured Memphisraines would have posted in this thread by now? Oh well, I spoke with him the other day and is running a t-78, stock dual oil coolers, pettit coolcharge III, koyo radiator, stock undertray and stock ducting on the oil coolers and I know his coolant temps stay under 90C on near 100F track days and his oil temps were around 220 or so.

 

wow thats imporessive. Many people have told me that there oil temps are usually fine with the stock r1 oil coolers as long as there ducted.

Im going to be at streets of willow again in July and I will post the difference I have in water temps after I finish the ducting and idler pulley.

 

afgmoto1978 built my vmount setup, and is similar to what is on his car, with similar temps.

I have a smaller IC, and 19 row ducted oil coolers.

While I am happy with my 350RWHP, Adam seems to think he needs 500+ for some reason, hence the larger IC and oil coolers.

 

Unproven heresay. Too many other factors to point to in cars exhibiting corrosion that used water wetter to simply say it was the wetter that did it.

THE number 1 reason for corrosion in a coolant system is air entrained in the system, ie. you have a small leak somewhere. The added oxygen from the air will interact with the iron and result in corrosion. Coolant by design has anti-corrosive elements/chemical additives in it but once they are consumed over time by the excess oxygen corrosion will commence. Hence why periodic changing of your coolant is necessary. Ever open up a poorly maintained coolant system to seen coolant with a brownish tint? That would be an air leak somewhere and rust of the internal iron parts. Bad juju!

I recently opened up my original 45k mile motor (due to chipped apex seal) that contained water wetter since day one and there was absolutely NO evidence of corrosion ANYWHERE and all the seals were pristine. If water wetter was such a problem, evidence of corrosion would have been everywhere. It was not.

What I can add is that the ORANGE long life coolant should under no circumstances be used as it is not friendly to the AL housings in our engines. I opened up an engine that had the orange coolant and it came out like lumpy jello in the coolant passages where the coolant was slower moving. Yuck!

Anyone care to add to this feel free.

Regards,
Crispy

 

2 things to add

1.
Anyone dealing with cooling issues or looking to learn more about the system really should read the "Big Fat FD3S cooling Thread" in the FAQ: https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generation-specific-1993-2002-16/big-fat-fd3s-cooling-thread-571088/

2.
I've noticed a drop in efficiency of my coolant in just 1.5 years. That was with running a 70% water and 30% green coolant (Pennzoil?). I'll be changing my coolant every year going forward.