apneablue

Ok, This is in the FMIC Overheating thread but I thought I would bring it to the public

I haven't done this but am thinking about replacing the plastic undertray with an aluminum one that has a scoup which directs airflow between the AC condenser and the Radiator.

Give me your ideas on this so I don't go waste my money building something that wont work.

vosko

iTrader: (4)

the problem i see is. going over any speed bumps, steep driveways. my car already scrapes.......

apneablue

True, but the scoup doesn't have to be deep...Probably .25" to .50" lower thand the actual undertray. somewhere in there...And I belive the scoup would be closer to the wheel...I scrape sometimes but it's usually my R2 lip when I am in some sort of a dip...But the real question is, do you think this will work?

vosko

iTrader: (4)

it will work but i think the difference will be negligible unless the scoop is wide. the other problem is its not easy to put the scoop there and all the ducting. well to not ghetto rig it i mean

apneablue

Vosco, definately wouldn't be a ghetto mod, I would work with a welder and I was thinking to make the scoup as wide as the RAD....It's been a couple of monts since I have taken off my undertray but I am sure there's a clear shot to put a sheet of aluminum the width of the rad (or slightly smaller) straight up till it rests at the bottom of the Rad.

Mikey

i liked what somebody on this forum did a long time ago...i can't find the thread or picture (i have it some place) but he just molded a scoop in fiberglass on the stock underbody. it looked great! i'll find the picture someplace...i think it is on my other computer that is used for parts now :-/

here is what scott did...his doesn't scoop, but you get the general idea. i don't think it does anything that you can brag about...but it may give you some ideas. i still like the plastic scoop idea...i need to find it!!!

93BlackFD

why not just get some of those radiator fan bolts, and get a piece of alumnium and make a dam that prevents air from escaping after passing through the IC

it would just look like this: [

turned sideways and bolt onto the intercooler/radiator, then air would only escape on the sides, but you can get around that as well

apneablue

Wow, impressive!

dgeesaman

iTrader: (7)

Computer Aided Design has advanced yet another level

Dave

Kento

The main problem I see with this mod is that you would need to make sure that the scoop's leading edge extends below the front air dam/lip enough to get sufficient direct airflow. Otherwise, you will be trying to scoop in turbulent air, as the airflow directly behind the lip will be. It will reduce the scoop's ability to direct air into the radiator area drastically. Also, you would obviously need to ensure that the radiator's surroundings are sealed off as completely as possible.

Whenever you're not getting direct airflow (and actually, even if you are getting it), you need to make the air "want" to flow through the radiator core as much as possible. In other words, you need to create a low pressure zone behind the radiator so that it-- in very simplistic terms-- "sucks" the airflow in. I think this mod also might have an adverse effect on the belly pan's ability to manage engine bay airflow. That's why the belly pan actually extends below the air dam/lip height as it reaches the front sway bar; it speeds up the airflow over it, so that a low pressure zone (albeit not a highly efficient one) is created in the area just behind it, thereby helping pull the airflow out of the engine bay from the radiator. Creating a scoop that "hijacks" that airflow may reduce the low pressure effect of the trailing edge of the belly pan. Pure conjecture on my part at this point, however.

CCarlisi

<------Notice anything in the picture to the left????? I've had this on my car for almost a year. I told everybody about my project several times but it hasn't clicked. It dropped my temps over 5 degree C on the highway at WOT and more importantly I don't get temp creep when I'm on it for awhile.

apneablue

CC, what am I looking at...I got my car a year ago so I wasn't that concerned with temps at the time. Care to rekindle the flame?

Thanks

CCarlisi

This is a PM I sent to someone about it a couple months ago:

"Sure. I put up a couple posts on this subject awhile back but I can't seem to find them now. The FMIC sits higher than the radiator. So much so that when the r1 front lip is off you can see the bottom of the radiator core. I fabricated a duct that allows air to flow UNDER (rather than through) the IC core and hit the radiator directly.

Here is a picture of it on my car, notice the clear turn signal as well:



It was relatively easy to construct. I cut the center section out of a stock touring lip, and installed it in between the bumper and the R1 lip(see attached picture). I used small pieces of aluminum pipe to provide a solid mount between the R1 lip and the bumper skin. You can see two of them in the center of the duct opening. I replaced the stock bolts with bolts that are more than twice as long. I also removed the inner portion of the stock underbelly pan and sealed off the gap between the radiator and the belly pan with foam and duct tape.

Prior to installing it I was having the same temp problems that everybody else was/is. I had a pwr rad, 100% water, and the fans set to come on at 88c. It was fine around town but on the highway my temps would still climb into the upper 90s and beyond when I stayed on the boost. With the duct in place I have yet to see a temp over 98c and most of the time they're below 95.

When I fist put it on I took the car to Giant stadium when it was closed for a holiday. My friend(gotham racing employee Ihor) and I lapped the access road around the stadium twice then pulled into the main parking lot and did 8 quarter mile runs back and forth.

First we ran the course with the duct sealed off.
The temps got up to 99 before we even finished the second lap. By the third quarter mile run they were over 102 and climbing.

We repeated the same process with the duct unsealed.
Up until the 6th 1/4 run the temps were below 95. On the 7th run they got up to 98 but stopped climbing and dropped back to 97. For the majority of our test the temps with the duct were more than 5 degrees C cooler.

This summer I'm planning on getting some road course time in. When it happens I will do similar back to back testing.

Downsides:
-less ground clearance, but it hasn't been a problem even with eibach pro-kit springs.
-because it is blowing air in BEHIND the FMIC it theoretically should reduce the efficency of the FMIC. I can't say I've noticed any difference.
-some people think it's ugly....I can live with that

I'm talking to a few people about fabricating the whole thing out of carbon fiber and offering it as a kit (with a larger lip as well). Hopefully that will materialize this summer. At the very least I will post a detailed writeup on project as is.

I think I've probably told you 2x more than you wanted to know. At least I did include a picture as you requested

Best,

-Chris C"

SPOautos

Why not try to kick the bottom of the radiator in toward the crossmember instead of straight up then you have some room for a decent size air duct. I'd imagine all it would take is some brakets off the crossmember. I dont have a FMIC so I'm just speculating but its something you might look at.

STEPHEN

apneablue

Dude, thanks for sharing!! This actually seems like a more cost feasible way of dropping temps for FMIC people.

CCarlisi

No problem, hope it helps.

I thought about that. The duct is pretty small relative to the size of the stock mount radiator duct, which is basically equal to the bumper opening minus the IC duct. Therefore I'm not sure if the direct feed duct alone would provide sufficient airflow to the radiator.

The other alternative is to seal in the IC with the radiator so the air that enters the IC AND the lower duct is forced to go through the rad. There are two ways of doing this.
1. have the direct feed duct stop at the end of the IC core (how it currently is on my car) so that air entering the direct feed duct joins the air coming out of the IC and hits the rad.
2. Duct the lower part of the radiator to the direct feed duct and duct the upper part of the rad to the IC exit. I'm going to play around with both possibilities in the near future.

SPOautos

What about setting the radiator at a angle like mentioned then create a duct under the car to pull air similar to what apneablue wants to do but leave the duct open so that is doesnt accually block off the radiator like a IC duct does to a IC but rather it just goes points the air in the direction of the radiator but maybe has sides to the air has to go thru the radiator.

Then also use your idea from the front.

This way you have ducting from the front and bottom both shooting air toward at the radiator with sides or wings on the edges of the radiator so that is has to go thru the core.

Does that make sense? Its hard to explain what I'm picturing.

Also, as long as all the ducting inlets are 30% the size of the radiator core it should provide pleanty of air flow. The FMIC is about 75% metal, there for since it blocks the entire opening of the nose the only airflow your a/c cond and radiator are getting is about 25% the size of your IC core. This is why they have over heating probs

Stephen