RX7s in the heat
 

how do RX-7s handle in the heat of summer 90F+ do they overheat alot and im guessing that small stock intercooler dosn't help much in the summer.

If you are worried about it upgrade your coolant system. I live in Houston and mine runs fine. I have a Koyo, CWR oilcoolers, and a Miata thermoswitch.

Make sure your fans are working well, in that they both come on. I had one go bad on me, and despite an upgraded radiator and lower temp thermostat, the car would overheat very easily in 100f SoCal summers. Also, change the coolant and run more water then you would during winter, (I'm not sure what ratio is best), also, running the a/c turns the fans on (or helps to motivate them, I don't recall exactly). You can search cooling system stuff, as there are threads out there that go into greater detail of this subject. The intercooler doesn't matter so much in that you will be more concerned with the coolant temperature (and thus the motor) more so then the intake temps. Good luck, I'm personally going to be running a vented hood this summer to help with cooling.

Oh yeah, an aftermarket coolant temp gauge is a must, the factory one is not linear in its readings.

bigger radiator aluminium, replace the pre-cat with a decent downpipe, fan mod or if you put a PFC with a datalogit you can set the fans to start earlier, miata's thermoswitch, put a second oil cooler if you have only one, check your coolant hoses for possible leaks, linerise your stock temp gauge or buy an aftermarket one, a vented hood would help, and if i forget something make a search for reliability mods.

If you do all of the above you'll be fine;)

if you dont want to spend the money for a vented hood or dont like them, remove the seal from the top of the firewall where the hood meets it. it helps draw some of the hot air out...dont have any readings for comparison, but it helps out a bit.

What would be the point of having the PowerFC/Datalogit and Miata Thermoswitch at the same time? The former negates the latter. Also, there would be no need for the fan mod.

I think he was just pointing out different things you can do, leaving it up to whomever to make their own decision...

Don't think so, but anyway... :)

Heat sure does suck! I'm planning to do a nice Koyo radiator, polished aluminum AST, and a nice vented CF Nightsports hood to take care of my cooling problems.

100% WRONG.

Thanks for sharing - more bullshit - from the newbs.

And exactly where did you get this brilliant and scientifically valid information?

Draws hot air out.....:rolleyes:

Sorry guys mistyped the above. These are some mods ppl do and you can chose what to do, either way they help from overheating. I mentioned PFC OR fan mod, that includes the thermoswitch as well.

RonK,

Would you happen to have a link to the disprove threads for that, BTW?

Damn!! I tought the thread read RX-7's in HEAT!!! Sorry minds in the gutter :p:

I remember seeing the thread that Ron is talking about. Ron is correct ...... as much as I hate to admit it :) Just kidding Ron.

at the end of the hood is a high pressure zone. drive with your hatch open 1 inch for like 2 minutes and you will kill youself from carbon monoxide! it flows in. the air at the base of the windshield is high pressure and will prob flow under the hood some but where it goes after that and how that effects air flow throught the radiator and out of the engine bay i have no idea.

water wetter helps. have never tried royal purples stuff

It's starting to get hot here in florida and this will be my first summer with my FD. I am taking precautions though, I have a fluidyne sitting on my floor, and a Defi Temp gauge in the mail. All I need is some new radiator hoses and I will be set.

Is there anything else that can help keep temps down? (besides fan mod, I drive with my running lights on so fans kick on early)

Mitch

Can't....find....the.... thread.......

Must...get...more....power Scotty!

;)

Well after remember the high pressure zone at the base of windshield concept and it's links to why manuf's typically place their climate vents there, it makes sense.

Im in the stock Radatior, never overheated.....and i live down in austin, texas...

I believe this is what you can do if you want to shield yourself from extreme heat (basically summarising most of the above)

- Check thourougly all hoses
- More 100% distiled watter, less paraflu 80 - 20% ratio
- Watter Wetter (caution debate on this)
- Fans switch mod
- Lower temp thermostat
- Downpipe
- Aluminium Air Separation tank
- Aluminium Radiator
- Temp gauge
- Upgraded IC & CAI
- Vented hood

I hope I haven't forgotten anyting

just drive in the winter :D

How would you set your PFC to turn on the fans earlier?
<---N00b

As far as removing the seal at the rear of the hood, that is a MOSTLY high pressure area. However, the foot or so at each end is a low pressure area, since the air escapes around the sides of the car. The seal can be removed from the RH side (~8-10 inches or so) to provide a small amount of under-hood ventilation both moving, and while stopped. This also avoids getting hot air into the passenger-compartment intakes.

Some of those crazy japanese drifters put washers on thier hood bolts in addition to removing the weatherproof liner, they seem to think that this will allow more air to flow out. I don't have any data as to whether it works or not, but my guess would be 'maybe' depending on whether the pressure from the air being forced into the front air dam is sufficient to counteract the natural low-pressure zone created by the angle at which the hood and windshield meet.