BATMAN

yea i just recently got me a FD3s, now some of the problems i've been having is it gets hotter than a ****.

so.. im gonna start upgrading the cooling system. ( i.e radiator ( and fans ), intercooler, and oil coolers... anything else i am missing? )

well as for a intercooler, i am kinda in the dark about wich one to get.. i mean .. **** their all expensive.. so.. get one thats worth it... any gripes about any of them?
or any pro's about any of them.. gimme some feed back. thanks.

LAracer

Is the stock temp gauge telling you it is hot, or is it an aftermarket gauge? If the stock gauge is reading hot then you really do have problems.

Don't forget the about downpipe. The stock pre-cat is known to hold the heat.

Can't really help with the intercooler question since I only have experience with the PFS (no problems yet). The M2 seems to be popular.

matty

this question has been asked a thousand times...do a search..you will get many good threads.
anyways....m2 medium or large...only!

BATMAN

well its not relly the temp guage. but when i open the hood.. its like woah... mad hot.. so i wanna see if i can lower the heat under the hood anyway i can

BATMAN

hmm... m2 med or large... ? why not a front mount?... i dont like a intercooler that sits in the engine bay.. sorta defeats the purpose of cold air hitting it.. :o thats my option anyway..

Jim Calandrella

I'm interested in front mount as well, but I hear two things consistently. One of the things is increased turbo lag, and the other thing is that it supposedly blocks air to the radiator.

BATMAN

increased turbo lag how?

half past twelve

Air has to travel farther to go all the way down to the front mount....i.e. more lag

Chronos

NiM0r, if you're afraid of heat problems, a fmic is exactly what you don't need...

Keep in mind that rotaries run hot for one thing, so it'll be hot under that hood whatever you do. The name "Intercooler" might fool you into thinking it cools down the engine, but it doesn't. That's what the radiator does, and having a huge fmic is going to dump huge loads of hot air right into your radiator and engine bay. All the IC does it try and bring the compressed air (air heats when it's compressed by the turbos) back to it's original temperature.

If you really want to reduce temperatures and improve reliability I suggest an upgraded radiator.

OR......if you're really serious about performance and reliability you can get Rotaryextreme's new V-mount IC/Radiator combo. His Intercooler flows better than all of the stock mount upgrades but instead of sitting in the stock location it's positioned up and down to flow all that hot air out of a vented hood...The radiator is extrememly efficiant as well and is flipped around so that the heated air that passes through it is channeled down to the street staying out of the engine bay. Basically both the radiator and IC are the top of the line units and they both get cold air from the nose and both channel the hot air out of the engine bay. I can't immagine a "cooler" system

PM rotaryextreme for info, he'll prbly give you a deal on one of his vented hoods with it.

It looks something like this:

GoodfellaFD3S

iTrader: (213)

Well said, Chronos. I was about to type in something similar, but you beat me to it

Captain Nimo: I have a fluidyne rad and M2 large stock mount intercooler and am *very* happy with them. Cool motor temps (80-90) and much better intake temps (20 winter up to 45 in the TX summer).

Rich

DELTA_Rotary

If you still want a FMIC. Look for a Turbo Street Fighter FMIC. I dunno they may be hard to find since he was supposed to stop making them a few months ago.

http://www.turbostreetfighter.com/html/cooler.htm

ArchangelX

That radiator/IC combo looks pretty nice. Very nice in fact...

GoRacer

iTrader: (2)

You can still buy the TurboStreetFighter but he does not supply the tubing.

btw: That pic is of Knightsports V-Mount kit.

Batmobile

Well this is my exprience Nimor,

I purchased the Blitz FMIC because it is a very complete kit which you can install yourself. I've heard of many fd owners getting overheating problems with an FMIC but I haven't recieved problems. I live in Los Angeles and gets hot as hell down here. Just pull out the AC fuse and turn on the fan manually every now and then and you'll be alright. I've never had to do this but I do it for performance. I believe that an upgraded radiator will definetly decreased the engine's temperature.

fluxen

Goodfella: when you post those temps, is 45 the highest you ever see, or is that cruising on the fwy? I mean in traffic, you see higher, right? Also wondering, do you ever track your car? Just interested in the temps of the med compared to my smic.

tk5dan

His sig sorta tells u that he goes to the track

BATMAN

ok see now you all got me confused. a FMIC.. sits in front of the car.. where cold air from outside can hit it.. and decrease the temp of the air inside. no?

so why would a m2 intercooler ( for example ) be better than a FMIC. ? wouldnt the temp of the air inside the FMIC be cooler than the m2 intercooler wich sits in the engine bay.. :o

yea i also under stand the concept on the intercooler.
buts its like.. common sence < racing sence. :o

tk5dan

Yes in theory it would seem that a front mount intercooler would be cooler since the outside air is directly hitting it. But under conditions where your in trafic on a warm day. Your temps will rise alot. Also it is blocking off practicaly all air to your engine bay and radiator. With a SMIC intercooler, their is a duct that willl bring air from outside in and also you will most likely have a fan on it (fan mod) to help cool it.

BATMAN

so ok.. m2 has two kinds.. the large and the med one..
why two diff sizes. ? wich of the two is better. :o .. ( odd same price. )

GoRacer

iTrader: (2)

They both have +'s & -'s. You will have to decide.

The stock mount can heat soak when idling (waiting)for the next drag race but when moving it does not block cold air from the radiator nor require relocating the radiator.

The front mount can be alot bigger and cool the turbos air better, will not heat soak when idling but it blocks cold air from the radiator and the RX7fashion opens up the engine bay. It looks bad *** but it's subjected to debris.

GoRacer

iTrader: (2)

Whoops ->

Chronos

the rotaryextreme intercooler flows about 4/3 better than even the M2 large IC and doesn't block airflow to the radiator...atleast compare them before you make a decission:
http://www.rotaryextreme.com

btw, I don't think the stock mount is any better than a fmic at idle is it? not that it matters, heh

tk5dan

The rotaryextreme intercooler is just like SR Motorsports horizontally mounted intercooler. I feel that unless u have a vented hood, this intercooler isn't as good as the SMIC or FMIC. Unless is there another way for it to get air besides the hood?

Chronos

it doesn't GET air from the hood, it vents the hot air out of the hood. It gets the air from the nose, and it still works well w/o a vented hood because the core flows an incredible amount of air through it.

Johnsrx7

From what you said about its hot when you pop the hood.

Get a downpipe and that will take away about 50% of the heat in the engine bay.

If you are trying not to over heat your car don't block the radiator.

Just ask all the track guys about FMICs on the track and they will all tell you that the car will over heat very quickly with one.

Get an M2 medium IC works great.

As for all the arguements about the IC sitting in a hot engine bay, is 100% bull poop.

When the car is moving air is flowing into the engine bay and through the IC cooling the intake charge.

They only time heat effects an IC is when the car is stopped and it doesn't matter which IC you have, they all heat soak.

It doesn't take long for them to cool down.

Also ICs do not cool the engine, they cool the intake air going into the engine creating more horsepower.


Also, if you are looking to cool the engine, look into getting the upgraded dual oil coolers, but you can cool the engine too much. There is a design optimal range tempertures for running the engine.