My car (10thAE) seems to want to overheat easily and im not sure why. Doing a slight grade hill climb (no a.c. or engine accesories, just alt. belt) on a hot day my car will blast up to the "H" on my temp gauge steadily with no sign of stopping! I have a new OE brass radiator, 2 E-fans (heh, didnt know i had one on the backside of the a.c condensor)

Why is it overheating so easy?

 

How long ago was the raditor installed. You probably have trapped air in the system.

 

it was installed when i got the car running last may

 

make sure that the e-fans are shouded. It or they will need to be huge and move a TON of air. Also, put the belly pan back on if you have it off and try running a lower percentage of antifreeze. I am asumming your thermostat is good and that you don't have other probs like bad ignition components or clogged air filter/exhaust. redline water wetter can lower temps some, you can get it at advance autoparts or on line.

 

I dont have e-fan shrouds. The stock e-fan (on the car) had no shroud, and i put on a 16" e-fan (barely fits the radiator ) but it is not shrouded. I have water wetter in the radiator, no antifreeze (never cold enough). Intake, exhaust, and thermostat are in clean and working order.

 

How would the belly pan (im guessing thats the fiber material peice bolted under the engine compartment) help with cooling? BTW i dont have it, previous owner set it ablaze for some reason

 

Antifreeze is also boilover protection

With no AF, h20 boils at 212 deg F
With AF, the mixture boils anywhere from 212-275 depending on the mixture you use...

Its better to keep your rotary from turning into a steam engine... really

 

Pushes air into the radiator as opposed to shoving it up under the front shroud and into the engine bay

mspaint rules:

 

http://www.aaroncake.net/rx-7/cooling.htm

 

LoL... Good stuff.

What brand of E-Fan?
What type if Thermostat?

 

The thermostat was replaced a year ago with the stock 195 degree one.

I just got a 16" e-fan from carquest. Its wired to a relay so whenever the car is on, the fan is on. Also have the stock efan pushing air through. (could the carquest fan be the reason for my cooling probs? During stop+go driving, the needle at most goes to the 1/2 temp mark, but its hill climbing that makes it shoot up, sometimes to the "H") Then again the e-fan is not shrouded, and its not a super quality fan, so im putting my money on the shroud.

Where can i get a shroud to fit a 16" e-fan? Or how can i go about making one.

Also, is it going to hurt anything taking the temperature to almost the "H"?

 

get the original fan shroud, cut it back some, fiberglass it to fit the e-fan, and there you go.

 

i dont have the fan shroud, it was thrown away by the previous owner (the same one that used the belly pan as fire wood )

If it comes to me making one i'd rather not use the original shroud and cut it up. What should i make it out of/ how should i go about it? any write ups?

 

 

Tell me about it. Im one for keeping EVERY part i remove, i've had many incidents where i needed removed parts

 

Any write ups on making a custom fan shroud?

 

/me gathers a bunch of cardboard boxes and duct tape,
ready to go!

 

Do you have a Bra on the car? I used to have one on and it allways ran hot..about the halfway point and alittle above somtimes. I took the BRA off and ran WAY cooler my stock temp gauge meter hardly makes it 1/4 of the way up now.damn bra had a screen that slowed air flow

 

You're probably better off just getting an undertray and shroud from a junkyard, it will fit correctly and probably even cost less than materials for a custom setup.

If you are bent on making one, I would use some thin aluminum sheet metal, get some of the soft stuff so it's easier to bend. Making a mockup out of cardboard is not a bad idea at all.


-s-

 

I would install a factory mechanical fan on the water pump, mine works great. the undertray prevents cool air in front of the car from going down under the car after it goes into the front air dam. It forces it into the radiator. Mine made a big difference when my car was running hot. I switched to a 180 degree thermostat and was pleased as well. I would suspect you have some underlying problem such as a large deposit in the radiator that impeeds flow. Perhaps your water pump is cavitating at very low speeds (if that sounds stupid, I have no idea what causes cavitization, I just know its bad). It might have a blockage causing poor flow. The H on the guage is probably WAY too hot. my guage is at most 1/4 of the way up. That is with NO belly pan, climbing a hill in 5th gear at 80+MPH in the 90 degree heat with 5th and 6th port sleaves removed.

 

Very good information Mr. Cake. And yes I too love the Jackaroo Chops at Outback.... and I can make the sauce. don...don...dunnnnnnn!!!

 

If you just have the alternator, that's only one belt driving the water pump. I believe the stock setup has two belts driving it. Could the belt be slipping under load?

-=Russ=-