Custom Radiator Setup
 

I have been thinking Alot lately about what kind of upgrade path I want to take with my FD. Anyways I have been reading a lot on the whole SMIC vs FMIC vs V-Mount, and the whole cooling issue behind it.
I then started to think about how other cars deal with this kind of packaging nightmare.
Now on to my Idea,
How about running Dual Radiators one in each oil-cooler duct
Running a Front mount
And a FC oil cooler.
This way you have everything up front, and in direct cooling air path.
Now before you jump all over me, wait for it. I realize that the 93-95 oil cooler ducts are entirely way too Small, However I feel with a '99 Spec frontend, or GTC there would be plenty of room.
Now I am not forgetting how complicated the plumbing may be, but it is do-able.
Anyways I am just throwing the Idea out there for all you guys. Any feed back would be great, and who know I may sit down and start to design something like this.

Marc :cool:

cooling system idea
 

Well it would be nice if there were enough room but I would place the cooling of the engine first, then the oil cooler and then the intercooler. I know its a drag but we must keep the engine together. I also have been looking at this and feel the FD could use cooling fans to do most all we need. I have looked into installing a 250 amp alternator to run the fans at 100%. The stock would not do the job at all. I have a 93 and have installed a cooling fan on my stock oil cooler and it's like a wind tunnel when it comes on. I will try to install a pic.

I thought about doing the same thing when I put my FMIC in. I looked into what's available and couldn't come up with a pair of cores that exceed the volume of the stock radiator. However, the airflow would definately be better so maybe that would offset the reduced volume. My next thought was to add a radiator to the second duct in addition to the main core. However, after talking to a bunch of track guys I was convinced that an extra oil cooler rather than a radiator would provide a bigger temp reduction.

In any event I think it's a project worth pursuing. If it would provide sufficient cooling capacity, even though it doesn't have the same volume, it might be a good way to reduce water weight. On the other hand the weight is positioned further forward than with the stock setup.

i added a second oil cooler and my temps were 10F lower...

Your water, oil, air, or was that 10f a combination of all of them? :p:

o666,

I've thought of the same thing myself actually but I sacked it because oil cooling on a rotary should be pretty high priority.

It's a good idea though, I like to see and hear this kind of outside the box resourceful-ness.


P.S. JSJ, I notice your learning the ropes on the FD-series quite fast. Good to hear :).

Also, something to remember is that as one medium approaches the temperature of another medium used for heat-transfer it becomes exponentially harder to transfer energy between the two mediums. A brick-wall sized IC will not necessarily be better than a smaller one - especially if it results in a larger pressure drop - requiring the compressors to work harder for the same exit pressure - which jacks the heat up again.

http://www.gnttype.org/techarea/turbo/intercooler.html

It will work only if you can find two small radiators that will atleast match the capacity of the old stock unit(and thats still too small).

good concept though. Maybe you'll think of a better simliar alternative to tell us all! ;)

Why go through all the trouble when you can get a custom made radiator for under $400? The most popular ones are 3" thick. If you get a custom made one like the one my brother and I have which is like 26x14x3 you will not overheat unless you're just totally hotrodding the thing

just put airsheilds around yoru radiator and you should be fine

BTW: i highly doubt you can put radiator in those positions.

It's been done :) My intake temps run 7-8C above ambient, coolant temps normally 81C, except when the car is stationary- then, the fans come on at 87C, and take it back down to 85C. Never seen more than 87C, ever. Heat soak when parked is minimal, and 4 miles after starting the car up and moving, my intake temps are back to 10C above ambient. My IC is a "standard mount" with VERY short pipes.

how about some pics

Yeah, pics would be nice!

rallimike!!!!!!!!! you're the genius KD was talking about! i thought you would be selling kits by now. I asked them to get me your email or something but it never happened. if you're who i was thinking of i thought your biggest problem was the dual rads (griffin?) cooled TOO much. the first smaller one pretty much did the job and the second did more than enough, plus the plumbing in between the two helped cool things too.

the only thing i couldn't picture about your setup is how you mounted the oilcoolers in the center above the IC. this setup has taken wayyyyy too long to come to light.

Genius? You have mistaken me for someone else ;)
They cool great, and I've not gotten around to sealing them off like I want. I'm not crazy about the oilcoolers mounted in the nose, although the temps are lower than the water temps, so they are working. I'm going up to see Dave next week; last I talked to him, he didn't think the rads would fit in the stock front end (I have the CWest, which was part of the plan). I have some thoughts on how to make it work in the stock situation. If I'm right, KDR should have a kit for a group buy by early summer.

thats good news, i'll have to bug him about that every time i talk to him. this should be a <$1k mod right? the idea was the hard part, the plumbing and mounting isn't anything too nuts it seems.

it was funny, dave was saying how great the car was to work on because there was like no heat under the hood. :cool:

if you need a donor car to try this setup on a stock front end i'd be happy to pony up the $ to give it a go ;)

Re: cooling system idea
 

Sorry, don't mean to veer off-topic too much, but I would like to see a pic of your oil cooler fan setup. This is something I was thinking about fabricating, using a cooling fan from a motorcycle radiator setup. Are you able to measure oil temps?

I'm interested in your thoughts on making the setup work with a stock front end, as I'm not a fan of the CWest front end. Any pics yet? Radiator specs? I understand if you don't want to divulge too much info, however; I'm just curious.

Just got back from a 30 mile round trip, with a 10 minute stop in the middle. At the stop, water temp was 81, air temp was 0, outside temp -5. At startup to come home, water temp was 81, air temp 21. After 4 highway miles, air temp was 0. Measured the oil temp out of the cooler at 60.
No pics yet. I have some, but they're old and too large.
One reason the 2 radiators are so effective despite their size is you have a "2 pass" setup. Oh, and my intake temps are helped by the ceramic coating on the turbo, DP, UIM,and LIM

what parts of the turbo do you have ceramic coated? i really think all that contributes a ton to the lower intake temps. its hard enough to cool the air but when you have to bring all the parts the air travels through too it takes forever to get that intake temp down.

what kind of honing did you do to the manifolds?

your intake temps are only 5 deg above the outside temp with a SMIC :eek: . Is that soley due to the cermaic coating you have on the DP, LIM, UIM, and the turbo? Do you have any pics of your SMIC "with VERY short pipes" ?

wait for rallimike's answer but i don't think that can be solely due to the coating. by moving the rad you are essentially making the IC a front mount, there's nothing in front of it. the rad fans don't blow right at it anymore and the underhood temps are drastically lower. plus i'd love to see whats done with the intake since there are a ton of options with that rad setup.

true, but it still seams pretty damn impressive :) .

rallimike, I would also like to know if your AIT is in the stock location on the UIM...

this should be a <$1k mod right?
easily
what kind of honing did you do to the manifolds?
extrude hone. not sure at this point it was worth the $

Do you have any pics of your SMIC "with VERY short pipes" ?
No pics yet. Total length of both pipes, measured from the turbo to the IC, and from the IC to the GReddy elbow, is 25"(including the curves). I'm not finished positioning the IC, and have 6" that can be cut from that. At least as important, the pipes are 90 degrees out of turbo, and 110 degrees out of IC, with large radii