I've talked to quite a few people about this and everyone seems to be in the same boat. The cars are "ok" going down the track, but definitely hotter than ideal and definitely get hot on the drive back to the pits after a pass.

So lets hear what you're seeing.

What is your cooling setup? Rad? Fan? any extras?
How hot do you start your run?
How hot is it after a pass?
How hot does it get by the time you drive back to the pits?

We all know we have little radiators relative to the kind of power these cars make and no room for anything bigger. Any suggestions for improved cooling?

All this is made even worse when you get called to the lanes 30 minutes after you make a pass.

Am I the only one that wants to make things better?

 

I know you are asking about turbo guys, but I am sure some guys would like to see all motor setups for refrence.

So here is mine

What is your cooling setup? Rad? Fan? any extras?
Dual core aluminum radiator with 12" fan on manual switch-stock K series water pump with heat core deleted. Run water with water wetter
How hot do you start your run?
Perfect world 150ish in burnout box turn on fan after burnout box and after run
How hot is it after a pass?
185ish
How hot does it get by the time you drive back to the pits?
190ish

But off course all this changes if they hot lap us and don't get an hour to cool down.

I know you turbo guys are in the 220 range which is just crazy to me and I would be freaking out every run.

Marc P

 

this was one of the issues i was argueing about is electric water pump and after nhra why do we make everyone drive these cars back to the pits? on really hot days ive allowed the cars to be towed at cmi's i would rather have people able to run rather then blowing head gaskets! yes they are street cars, lol but why run them any harder than needed, just my 2 cents.

 

i get this call at least every other day. got a call from canada today from a guy who was seeing 240 degree coolant temps!!

i'd have to look through some logs....but after a pass, i always pull over and shut the car off for a couple min. it seems to make a huge difference rather than just driving straight back to the pits.

heat wrapping my downpipe made a big difference. coolant additive like water wetter seemed to help slightly.

i try my hardest to keep the car cool before a pass and probably run the car a little cooler than i "should" but i can run a motor for 2 years, tear it apart and it still looks freshly machined so it does not appear to be hurting anything.

also.....from what i have noticed the guys running s300 or similar ecu's are going to have all kinds of issues with high coolant temps. seems the computer likes to over ride everything you tell it to do past a certain point.

and lastly..... i have seen a ton of guys put their fan's on a manual switch.....forget to turn it on, and roast the whole motor. let the ecu or factory fan switch control the fan!

 

My temp guage read to 230, and it would get to about 225 before letting off, then it dropped real fast which was nice.

That was a standard PWR radiator on the D-series, starting around 160 degrees so long as there wasn't a shut down or long wait on the line.

I'd love to see a bigger radiator made for the street cars, something that would stretch a bit more towards the manifold with all the front mount turbo'd cars these there should be some more room. But haven't really studied anything closer.

I towed the car around the track which made a big difference and made me feel much better. I'm with Chad, the electric water pump in those cars would make it a better deal if the rules were tweaked. So many other street class cars have them in other divisions why not us too?

 

i just ran a switch from the two wires off the stock fan switch and ground them out via the in-cabin switch. that way if the switch is off, it will work like a stock setup, and when i throw the switch it stays on. ty bone for the idea

my coolant temp is around 194 after a nice burn to warm the tires, and hits about 212 at the top of the track. i try to keep it around or below 175f and push my car to the staging lanes

"heavy duty" aftermarket replacement half rad with plastic ends, 1300cfm slim fan pushing.

too much down pipe and not enough engine bay... damn EDs!

 

Can you come up with a ice tank behind the passenger seat, then have an electric water pump to circulate the added volume of water.

Can you guy's in SFWD run without a OEM water pump?

Or could you run the ice tank as part of the normal cooling system, just T it into the hoses ?

I suppose the ice tank would need to hold pressure.

 

I thought about running the stock radiator + a small maybe side mount radiator.

I was getting pretty high temps also. 220ish after a run. Fans manually kicked in. Car in the pits with a fan on top the whole time cooling down.

Big intercooler blocking airflow to a radiator that is trying to hold a 800 hp engine cool just doesn't keep up.


I am thinking of doing a seperate small radiator and seeing how that works on the next setup.

 

RSX stock sized C&R Radiator w/ a 1" thick aluminum heat exchanger in front for intercooler
2 10" electric fans on manual swithc
Meizere Electric water pump on manual switch
Start the run at 165 water temps...end run at 190 (this past weekend)
Start the run at 200 water temp, end the run at 230

You guys running half sized radiators, perhaps running a wider core rather than a thicker core if you can fit it?

By the time I drive back to the pits, water temps are usually down to 185.

I reallly feel the electric water pump and no thermostat helps tremendously. Plus when the car is off, you can still cycle the pump.

Chris

 

What is your cooling setup? Rad? Fan? any extras?
CX racing radiator, with FAL fan/shroud for civic and ducting into rad(looks like a chimney, lol)

How hot do you start your run?
180-195

How hot is it after a pass?
210-220

How hot does it get by the time you drive back to the pits?
180?? flip on the fan, and watch the gauge drop

but i'm air to water, no IC in front of rad

 

That's where i'm going with this. An electric water pump is an easy improvement to a huge problem that almost everyone has, yet it's not allowed in our class, for the Outlaw races anyways. Haha, "Outlaw" doesn't allow electric water pumps yet most street classes do...

 

Yes it is crazy how electric water pumps are not allowed, when factory cars run them


Marc P

 

I run a PWR radiator, custom built fan shroud with a huge Spal fan, start the run around 185 F, car rarely sees 210 after a 30 psi pass, and back to 190-195 at the pits, and it's on Hondata S300(take that, hater Joe Simpson, haha)!

Honestly, I really think its all in the fan and the shroud, that Spal fan moves some serious air compared to these slim fan jalopies people are using..

As to the street class comment, I think the cars should be street class cars, no electric water pumps, no air to water interfoolers, no $20k motec setups. Run a Honda ecu, and watch Tony go back to 9.60's without his magic Motec arm that shifts the car for him.

 

this is actually a topic that i have been going back and forth all year about.

on my f2k setup i have been running an aluminum dual core with 12" slim fan. stock water pump with thermostat center taken out. i am using water with water wetter and q16 as fuel .

there have been times where i start the run at mid to high 190s.
during a pass i have seen it go anywhere from high 190s to high 220s. on the eturn road the logs sometime show 230-240.

i would love to get an electric water pump but i dont know any one making a block off plate for the f20.

Electric water pumps are allowed in Boti all motor class and before nopi collapsed we got them approved through nhra for the street all motor class as well. i dont see why they shouldnt be allowed.

 

hey i love s300. make a pull at 190 degrees and make a pull at 210 degrees and watch how much stuff changes!

 

definately agree on this this one. I have my car on a 13" spal fan, custom fan shroud, and wired in w a relay. My car rarely sees anything past 200. i can start a pass around 180ish and drive all the way back in TX weather and see 188- 190. I think what also helps is the fact that my turbo set up is all away from my radiator. I have Jrs hatch w a top mount and exhaust out the hood and we are starting to see high temps after the pass. but when we had the exhaust down and wrapped we never had issues

 

anyone ever tried waterless coolants ?

http://www.evanscooling.com/catalog/C_npg1.htm

 

^^^Too rich for my blood.

 

I am not making the power some of you guys are, but I am very interested in this topic.

What is your cooling setup? Rad? Fan? any extras?
Cheesy Ebay radiator, 12" fan, I have a Go-Autoworks Fan shroud no did not when I was at the track
How hot do you start your run?
195
How hot is it after a pass?
215 sometimes
How hot does it get by the time you drive back to the pits?
200, it kinda cools down.

Now I drove my car to the track that night and saw my temp gauge MAX out. Which is like 260.

I still need to wrap my downpipe and manifold.
Hopefully my shroud will also help with the problem.

 

Big external cooling fans are a must in the summer months of racing I think.

 

Joe, does Neptune RTP (Demon) do the same thing as you said S300 does?

I am not sure, yet, what my temps are. I have wandered about them some, but I have never had a cooling issue on my street car. I am a little more interested in the temps on the tune that I have currently. After I saw what Joe posted about the S300 it made me wander if Neptune does the same thing. Another thing that made me think about this is when I last dyno'd it was super hot in the shop and we let the car cool for maybe 10 mins with a fan blowing on the radiator and front of the engine and did another pull. With just that it made about 10 or more whp.

 

I think external water pumps should be allowed. They are cheap and have no non-streetable disadvantages. When we used to run water I would kick the water pump on without hitting the fan and temps would immediately drop 20 degrees, then drop more once the fan was on. Plus if you have to hot lap it you can kick it on in the staging lanes to get it cooled down fast.

Are you guys watching your oil temps as well?

What about running E85? I know E85 has been allowed and the guys that are running it in SFWD/Outlaw or whatever the F it is are not running pump E85, they are running VP or Rocket. What kind of temps do those guys see?

 

What sanctioning bodies are left that have "rules"? I mean most everyone looks forward to the outlaw races and a few small events here and there.

 

any car/computer is going to make more power when you let it cool off..... im not very familiar with neptune.... i think it has more to do with the factory ECU (the behind the scenes stuff) than it does with the actual tuning software.

saw a 16 horsepower difference on a 300 horsepower car this morning just with a 10 degree difference in coolant temp when starting the pull. it would repeat its self too. not really a huge deal, but kind of shows "stuff" is happening that you have no control over.

the problem is not with the s300, factory ecu, whatever.....what needs to happen is we need to get the coolant temp's down on these cars!


just because you bought a shiny aluminum radiator doesnt mean its any good either LOL

 

http://crracing.com/custom_built/drag_chiller.shtml