My itr cooling system is pretty much stock right now.

With the addition of a turbo last year, I was thinking maybe I should upgrade the cooling system.

I haven't experienced any overheating issues, but I want the motor to run it's best, and in the proper operating temperature range - even a little cool when I'm running it hard is ok for me.

Now I purchased a mugen radiator cap a while back from jetydosa and installed it. Nice underhood bling there...
Next I bought a mugen thermostat and mugen thermoswitch from Willard.
I haven't installed those yet though...

And a buddy of mine recently offered to sell me his fluidyne dc2 oversize radiator for an excellent price. Should I buy this? And should I just install this without putting in the mugen thermostat and thermoswitch?

Keep in mind that this is my daily driver currently (year round), and street car. It will see the occasional autox, but no road course usage (as my hatch has been relegated as track car).

My biggest concern is running the car *too* cool, and affecting the motor negatively in this aspect.

Thoughts?

 

when i was running my spoon t-stat and thermoswitch my car was running too cool.
the fan would kick in 1/4 and my gauges and it would never get into closed loop even after rippin it on the highway.

i would see what your water temps are first then re-evaluate the situation

 

That would be a great track setup.

 

I'd leave it and monitor the water temps and see what happens. I'm all stock with the exception of a Spoon rad cap and I sit in between 1/4 and 1/2 consistantly. I've also seen plenty of boosted R's using the stock rad.

 

On turbo charged cars...if your coolant tempurature is too cool and not up to operating tempuratures, you can actually harm the engine.

When my car was turbo charged I experimented with combining:
1) Stock radiator
2) Fluidyne radiator
3) Stock rad cap
4) SPOON rad cap
5) Stock thermostat
6) SPOON thermostat
7) No thermostat
8)Stock fan switch
9) SPOON fan switch
10) Stock fan
11) Maridyne fan

Out of all the possible combinations I could thing of, I found that:
1) For my application the stock radiator, stock radiator fan, stock radiator cap were not sufficient enough.
2) Running the car without a thermostat gave me the least fluctuating results.
3) Running the car with all the aftermarket parts made the car run too cool.
4) I settled on the Fluidyne radiator, Maridyne fan, Spoon radiator cap and the stock fan switch and thermostat.

If I were you, I'd ditch the fan swtich and the thermostat for stock units. Get the aftermarket radiator (more fluid capacity) keep the aftermarket rad cap and get an aftermarket fan that will pull more air across the radiator fins. I would also install the factory spalsh shield (if not there) and make sure there are no gaps around the radiator support and the radiator to maximise airflow through the fins.

 

With just a Fluidyne (full-sized radiator), stock thermostat, fan, and fan switch, I'm in the 180 to 185 degree Fahrenheit range. That's non-turbo. With an intercooler, the temps will be slightly higher and climb faster to a higher threshold.

I suggest using the lower-temp fan thermoswitch first if the temps get into the 190's.

Edit: Forgot that I don't have the AC system either. No AC condensor in front of the radiator.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Haleiwa-Brando &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
4) I settled on the Fluidyne radiator, Maridyne fan, Spoon radiator cap and the stock fan switch and thermostat.

If I were you, I'd ditch the fan swtich and the thermostat for stock units. Get the aftermarket radiator (more fluid capacity) keep the aftermarket rad cap and get an aftermarket fan that will pull more air across the radiator fins. I would also install the factory spalsh shield (if not there) and make sure there are no gaps around the radiator support and the radiator to maximise airflow through the fins.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Couldn't have said it any better myself.....

In uh....about 5months when I see my car again...I'm pulling the farkin Mugen T-stat....I believe it's responsible in some part for my added gas consumption since the car probably never fully warms up.

On my friend's Civic with an R swap, he had a Koyo and the Spoon t-stat, fan switch, rad cap, slimline fan and on the highway the temp would drop to "C"....if he downshifted and went WOT....nice backfire it was that rich....

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by RagingAngel &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Couldn't have said it any better myself..... </TD></TR></TABLE>

Agreed too.

Use an OEM thermostat.

Definitely don't run NO thermostat. The system needs the backpressure to keep the surface of the cylinder walls from boiling (pressure raises boiling point).

 

I run the fluidyne with stock everything.....including coolant and it works and looks great.

 

so basically , only use the mugen thermostat in full race cars?

 

FYI... The Mugen radiator cap will NOT FIT with most aftermarket radiators.

If you are running an aftermarket engine management system that does not allow you to alter the water temp fuel correction curve, then do not run a Mugen thermostat.

 

I have uberdata/ crome/ hondata s200b currently, so no worries there.

I should've mentioned that the fluidyne comes with its own 1.3bar radiator cap.

I was thinking about it, and the mugen thermostat and thermoswitch are probably for cars which cannot change the oem radiator for the series they run in. I'm not under such constraints, so my choice is clear.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Black R &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I was thinking about it, and the mugen thermostat and thermoswitch are probably for cars which cannot change the oem radiator for the series they run in. I'm not under such constraints, so my choice is clear. </TD></TR></TABLE>

It pretty much comes down to fluid capacity and raising the boiling point of the cooling system by means of pressure. That is the only purpose of that radiator cap. The engine will sustain it's self under harsher conditions before it over heats. I took my system one step further and replaced all the factory hose clamps with T clamps to make sure that the hoses didn't blow off. I'm sure it isn't a significant change, but the piece of mind is better IMO.