well basicaly i was out last night boosting a lil bit. actually raced a 1 bar sohc turbo civic and a type s rx8!

any way during normal driving the gearbox really starts to heat up....and after som hard driving i can barely touch the shift ****.

when i park the car it starts to heat up and when i open the radiator cap the waters out in a few seconds.

i fill her up again and its fine.

so whats the deal here....my radiator and intercooler are stock and its hot here ...about 35 C +.

 

The stock Rad is ****, get a koyo asap esp where you live man.

 

The manual FD does not have a transmission cooler. Therefore, your transmission will run hot when pushing the car. However, you can help things out by using a good synthetic fluid like Royal Purple, Neo, etc..

As far as your cooling system, it's all about getting air through to cool the coolant. In stock form, there are gaps on the sides of the radiator. To maximize cooling, you should plug these gaps to force all the air through the radiator. Air will take the path of least resistance (for the most part) so don't allow it around, under or over your radiator.

An aftermarket radiator (I would recommend as PWR or Fluidyne) can aid in cooling, but once again, it's only going to be as effect as your airflow.

 

You sound surprised, these cars run hot. Do a search, there is heaps of threads on this.

Do you have a aftermarket temperature gauge? If not get one!

You should never open the radiator cap after driving, doesnt it say that on the cap?

 

yea i knew the FD has cooling issuses...but i just didnt think it would be this bad.
any way i was thinking of a front mount intercooler and one of those straight radiators. Aftermarket ones are kinda out of the question for me right now...so are there any alternatives...like using some other cars radiator? or maybe getting one made?

 

I was thinking about this yesterday as I was messing around with the IC shroud. There is about an inch gap on the sides of the radiator. There is nothing but some porous foam that is falling apart filling that gap. What have folks used to fill that so the air hitting the front of the radiator goes through it, rather than around it?

I don't really want to add another roll of duct tape to my car.

 

https://www.rx7club.com/showpost.php...0&postcount=10

 

You can use some scrap sheet metal. I know a few metal shops in my area which sell scraps for $2-5. You might check around to see whats in your area.

 

Good suggestion. I was also considering trying to do something with FRP. It has been a lot of years since I have worked with fiberglass much, but I know some folks who might be able to point me in the right direction.

 

Here is an example of some ducting here:
http://reganrotaryracing.tripod.com/radiate.htm

 

an after market hood with some vents will help get some of that heat out also

 

That looks good. Wish there were more pictures of it. I was thinking about using the existing holes to attach ducting much as the writer did. I'm just not sure yet how I'd attach the ducting to the radiator itself.

 

Usually, you don't want to "attach" anything to a radiator. Any attachment point can become a potential failure location. It's much better to attach ducting to other structures, and then close any gaps to the radiator with urethane foam, allowing relative movement between the rad and the ducting, while still forcing the air flow to go where it is needed.

Dave

 

get a radiator! and put in an aluminum AST while youre at it

 

dammit!.......so no front mounts either, as mahjik points out!

 

If your concern is about the car running cool, then no.

 

OH.. good point. I was looking last night and noticed a couple of things. The first is that with the stock setup, there are lots of routes that air can take besides through the radiator. The second thing I noticed is that creating better ducting is going to be hard than it seemed.