Rotors R Cool

It's the beginning of summer here in Texas and my car is running a little hotter day by day. I recently discovered the trick where you pull the A/C Relay and run the A/C to run the fans but that will eventually leave me without cooling myself.

Now, when I look into the front bumper of the car I see that both sides of the radiator opening are somewhat blocked by some plastic things making the opening smaller.

Question is, would removing these things help the amount of air flow or hurt it?

If it will help then how do I remove them? I've already tried taking the bumper off but I fail at life so I couldn't find all the screws...

BTW I have a FMIC and a Fluidyne Rad with the A/C condenser in between so I would imagine that air flow is the problem.

Rotors R Cool

Anybody out there? Hello?

Prophet7000

FMIC then A/C condensor then rad in TX heat? How is the ducting for this trio? Are there places for air to just sneak around without going through? Fixing any ducting issues will at least make your current setup as efficient as possible. Barring changing to a SMIC or V-mount, you could always change to the FC thermoswitch which brings the fans on at a lower temp than the FD one (or if you have a PFC just change the fans settings). That way the fans can help out more without leaving you sans A/C.

Rotors R Cool

I have a PFC but how do I change the fan settings? Can I do it through the PFC Commander?

I've looked inside of the thing and I'm not sure there really is any good ducting throughout the entire thing (Previous owner wanted the A/C to work really really well so he had the thing put between the FMIC and rad). Kinda pissing me off.

I go on the gas WOT through 2nd, 3rd, and 2 seconds into 4th and the water temps climbed up from 95C to 102C. Wasn't even sustained use like I would see at the track in the future which scares me. I did the A/C Relay trick and it ran nice and cool at around 87-90C during the same amount of WOT.

Prophet7000

I believe you need the datalogit to change the fans settings on the PFC. If there's no ducting what so ever, that would explain some of your problem. The air's just going around the triple sandwich. Making your own isn't that hard, just set up some templates with cardboard, break out your tin snips and riveter, and go to town. The climbing temps without the A/C replay pulled isn't surprising since the fans don't come on to 105 IIRC (that's why the FC thermoswitch is helpful). Tracking the car with a FMIC is a whole other story. While it can and has been done, you're going to spend a lot of time optimizing that setup to overcome the fact that your primary form of engine cooling is essentially blocked.

nocomply24

if you have a pfc, just turn your lights on 1 click. That should make your fans turn on at 94 Degrees C. which should only let your car rise a bit. I live in socal and to be honest i dont take the FD out till night time in the summer...cause its just way to ******* hot no matter what you got.

Rotors R Cool

The fans already come on at 94C but apparently they don't come on high until I pull the A/C Relay or until the car gets to the "oops, bye bye motor temp"

Rotors R Cool

Another thing. Anyone know where all the screws are located to remove the front bumper. I don't have a service manual and the copies of the manual in the archive don't cover it.

Mahjik

iTrader: (1)

You might check this post for some info on ducting which can help:

https://www.rx7club.com/showpost.php...20&postcount=9

There are also aftermarket front bumpers like FEED which have an opening which can be above the FMIC to direct air directly into the radiator behind it.

Speed of light

iTrader: (8)

You are correct in your analysis that there is not enough airflow. Despite constant denials of the proponents and the efforts of many to romanticize the FMIC, the reality is that you cannot flow enough air through them (fully ducted) to achieve the heat rejection required to cool the engine; let alone operate the AC. This is a simple law of physics and can easily be demonstrated.

FMIC's are not well suited for cars that receive regular use (daily drivers), especially in warmer or hot climates or anything other than show cars and drag cars (unless, perhaps, you are in a cooler climate). Some relief can be found by bypassing air around the FMIC to supply additional air to the radiator. This, of course, will improve the engine cooling situation but will also reduce the pressure differential around the FMIC, reducing its efficiency, and essentially defeating its purpose.

Rotors R Cool

I do not have the money for a complete redo of my lay out. I might just rip out the condenser for the time being. Does a V-mount out perform a FMIC in cooling the intake temp. I would have imagined that with it being exposed to the under hood air that it would get hotter.

This is the car we are talking about: I'm trying to get a Scoot hood for cooling ability as well as setting up for future work.

The FMIC btw is not too big. It's not like the ones that completely cover the front air damn.

Speed of light

iTrader: (8)

I don't think that removing the condensor buys you anything because it really isn't much of a restriction. Think of it this way: The restriction from the FMIC >> condensor and/or radiator. That being the case, changing anything other than the FMIC is not going to make much, if any difference. NOW If you can get some air around the FMIC and to the radiator directly (there are various ways to do this) it will help quite a bit and *might* make cooling manageable.

In any event, the v mount is the best of all worlds; it will perform as well, if not better than a FMIC regarding IAT's. You might want to check for threads by gracer7-rx7 as he converted from a problematic FMIC to a v mount and carefully recorded his observations and impressions.

Hope this helps.

Rotors R Cool

Thanks a lot for everyones help.