For a while up until about 8 months ago, I was having some heat issues in my car with my radiator and fan setup. (Griffin radiator and Spal 16") The car wouldn't run dangerously hot, but it would get hotter than similiar modded TII's here in town. After sorting out some wiring to my fan, one of the wires going into my fan relay wasn't making a good connection and the fan wasn't spinning at full rpm's, the car has been running very good. We also came to the conclusion that any variances in cooling to some other cars here were due to the fact that I have the older HKS FMIC which is a bit narrower and the end tanks are visible in the front opening of the nose which is cutting off about half of the airflow I believe. I was going to buy one of the new Greddy IC (no endtanks in the airflow path) but I figured out the wiring issue before I bought one.

Now this brings me to what I have found out. Monday night when I was driving around I noticed my car starting to get hotter (all temp readings are done with a Greedy Temp guage) So I stopped let the car cool off some and drove it home quickly. After doing some testing I discovered that the fan had given up and was not going to work anymore. I was in a bit of a dilema as I have to drive the car everyday right now and am not able to fix the fan issue till the weekend, when I can go to the junkyard and try and find a fiero fan and shroud. So I decided to take my front nose off so it would get more airflow to the radiator. I don't have that far to drive to work and most of it is interstate or fairly long stretches of city road with few stoplights. So I removed the front nose and took out the efan. After driving to and from work all while keeping a close eye on my temperatures I noticed that with no nose and no fan the car actually ran cooler than with the nose on and the fan running. This is of course baring any prolonged stops.

I did notice though when comparing the two running conditions that the car would run cooler but but get hotter under acceleration without the nose and fan. The temperature variance was greater. (under cruise the car would site right at 82C which is were my thermostat opens) However with the nose and fan on, the car wouldn't run quite as cool, but it also wouldn't get as hot under acceleration. More constant temp less variance. (under cruise the car would run about 88C) Though between the two I am talking about 6 or so degree celcius difference give or take some. Just kind of find that intersting. I am thinking of taking some cardboard and taping it to the bumper in various fashions covering up differing areas and seeing which ones affect overall airflow in my setup, and then may alter my bumper accordingly.

*just a note when I say no bumper I am just refering to the actual bumper skin, not the big crash support. that is still on the car.

 

A chin air splitter connected to the plastic bottom tray makes a big improvement in cooling air flow.

My favorite e-fan is from a Tarus. It's shroud fits almost perfect.
I hear the mid 90's Escort fan is even better.

 

I have the chin spoiler on the nose that came with all the S5 TII models, so I can rule that out. Thanks for the tip on another fan, although I am not sure if you are talking about it fitting a stock radiator or the griffin.

 

This is the demonspeed replica of the Mazdaspeed lip.
See what I mean?



I had a Tarus fan on the stock radiator in my 91NA - thermostat controlled - no worries.
I'm looking for an Escort fan for my 91 turbo at present.
I like the multi-speed feature.

 

Yeah, a friend here in town has that on his TII and we see almost identical water temps, granted he has a stock radiator and clutch fan, but he does have the larger greedy IC up front blocking everything. Like I said before, my temps are fine now since sorting out my wiring. I just think it is kind of interesting that because of the way the airflow is designed in the car with my FMIC I have to have a fan running for normal driving. I just think with a better designed front opening even with the FMIC you could pretty much negate having to run a fan except for when stopped.

 

You just removed your front bumper, and you find this interesting?
You're allowing more airflow to hit everything, as with the front bumper installed some of the air is deflected over/around/under the IC and radiator.  It's not surprising.

Why don't you try ducting the airflow through the heat exchanger cores first.  We found this to be very effective, even with FMIC's stuff in the nose.

I'm not an advocate of using (cheap) used stock OEM fans.



-Ted

 

do you have a plate to guide the ariflow from the nose to the radiator, When I had my custom FMIC (now greddy) I made a aluminium plate that kept the air after goign through the intercooler it guided it to the oil cooler, and radiator! I saw HUGE benefits from this

 

Here I drew up a pretty cruide pic;
the shaded red area represents the side plates for the front ducting,
the bottom has a plate represented by a red line... same for the top, the rest is represented by black lines, they are also labled.

 

I have a plate that I designed that covers the opening from the nose to the top of the radiator. Kind of like those expensive ones you can buy. When you put a sheet on the bottom was that in addition to the belly pan or did you not have a belly pan installed. I have wanted to for a long time completely box the radiator in with a clean path to the front nose, but the piping for my fmic makes that difficult as both pipes travel on one side of the car.

 

Maybe I just have a different angle of looking at it, and that is why I found it interesting.

 

so to do this did you just pull the bottom tray off the original holes and somehow attach it to the splitter? also...wouldnt that route air around the radiator?

 

Could I ask you a question about your Greddy temp gauge?

When I turn my car off, the gauge needle falls all the way to the right side, instead of falling to the left and 'hanging' down. Instead it goes the opposite direction, and pegs against the limiter on the hottest (150+c) temperature side.

This happens whenever I cut the ignition.

Also, whenever I turn the ignition on my car, the gauge does not respond. It takes about 3 minutes to warm up, and then the gauge suddenly 'springs' from being pegged on the far right side to whatever reading it is currently at (80* or so).

Is my gauge defective or wired wrong? I had a very reputible shop do my work, so I don't know what to do.

Thanks!

 

I made this in addition to the belley pan, however the belley pan doesn't really affect this all too much! I made a box with four sides! the top one like you said I have boxed my in but the intercooler piping isn't a proplem because the box starts behind the intercooler! I wish I had pictures!

 

it's relieving not to be the only one preaching proper ducting.

 

Sorry if this is a stupid question, but I am bit confused as to what you mean route it through the Heat Exchanger first. The only thing I have in my airflow path to the radiator is the FMIC and the oil cooler. I am guessing you are refering to the AC unit as the heat exchanger after doing some looking around. Airflow path goes FMIC -> Oil cooler -> Radiator. I took out the AC a loooong time ago. AC is for pu$$1e$, the only thing it is good for is defrosting your winshield. I don't want to hear it either.. Yes I do live in Florida so I know what hot is.

 

you live in the panhandle, you don't have any idea what hot is.

 

Here are the stats from Weather.com Suprising just how close the two temps are

Daytona
Month AvgHi AvgLo Mean
Jan 70°F 47°F 58°F
Feb 71°F 49°F 60°F
Mar 76°F 54°F 65°F
Apr 80°F 58°F 69°F
May 85°F 65°F 75°F
Jun 89°F 71°F 80°F
Jul 91°F 72°F 82°F
Aug 90°F 73°F 81°F
Sep 88°F 72°F 80°F
Oct 83°F 65°F 74°F
Nov 77°F 57°F 67°F
Dec 71°F 50°F 61°F

Pensacola
Month AvgHi AvgLo Mean
Jan 61°F 43°F 52°F
Feb 64°F 45°F 55°F
Mar 70°F 52°F 61°F
Apr 76°F 58°F 67°F
May 83°F 66°F 75°F
Jun 89°F 72°F 81°F
Jul 91°F 75°F 83°F
Aug 90°F 74°F 82°F
Sep 87°F 70°F 79°F
Oct 79°F 60°F 69°F
Nov 70°F 51°F 61°F
Dec 63°F 45°F 54°F

Daytona Pensacola
Record High Record High
Jan 87°F (1991) 81°F (1949)
Feb 89°F (1985) 82°F (1972)
Mar 92°F (1994) 86°F (1991)
Apr 96°F (1968) 96°F (1987)
May 100°F (1953) 102°F (1953)
Jun 101°F (1998) 101°F (1954)
Jul 102°F (1981) 106°F (1980)
Aug 100°F (1989) 104°F (1986)
Sep 96°F (1999) 98°F (1997)
Oct 95°F (1959) 95°F (1951)
Nov 89°F (1948) 87°F (1959)
Dec 88°F (1990) 81°F (1978)

Heres the links since the site can't format spaces correctly
Dayton
http://www.weather.com/weather/clima...06?from=search

Pensacola
http://www.weather.com/weather/clima...99?from=search

 

daytona's not that hot either. seach ft. lauderdale. dont' forget the heat index rating

 

Make sure all airflow goes through the core instead of around it.



-Ted