pedro kim

maxcooper

Can you be more specific on rotor housing cooling grooves?
like the idea.

The koyo radiator I now that is about 2 inches thick, why don't you try if it will fit a 2 1/2 inches or a 3" thickness, griffing will give you a cuote if you send them a drawing of exacly how you wanted it, probably you can get a better deal with youre investment .

their e mail is GriffingRad@aol.com

Pedro

maxpesce

10% wil hardly give any FREEZE protection and is not really enough to give any CORROSION protection or water pump LUBRICATION. you need at LEAST 20% for lubrication and 30-40% for good freeze & corrosion protection. Cooling System Corrosion may be the second biggest enemy of the rotary after Detonation, My coolant seals blew because of corrosion - Not Detonation or Overheating!

oops I see now the EXCEPT IN WINTER so ignore the FREEZE PROTECTION parts of this post.

pedro kim

In my around 3 years racing experience with a second gen. I used to go around 8,000rpm on inside stock motor and in ambient temp about 100f the water temp it will go to the red zone, so to finish the race I went to around 7,000 rpm in 10 min later the gauge will go close to 3/4.

So I went conservative around 7,000 on all the other races

Even at those lower rpm I was able to shift easly, on higher my transmission start to grind.

I also have about 4 times overheating with no motor problems, the car is now 105,000 miles.

Is very good to change to a new high quality radiator cap, I had a lot of problems with a it seems a good cap, also if you have a scrach on the base of contact on radiator cap, you will be slowly loosing water with even not nowing till the next day of the race.

artowar2

Regarding oil getting into the intake tract, yes it can and does get through via the PCV valve, so bad turbo seals are not the only possible culprit.

What happens is that on relatively high-G right hand turns, the oil "sloshes" up the filler pipe until it can enter the hose coming off the filler pipe neck. Generally, people try one of three fixes:

1. running less oil (as Manny suggests)
2. the catch can fix (as you suggested), or
3. modifying the connection that comes off the filler pipe neck so that it extends into the center of the filler pipe.

Number 3 provides some protection against the slosh effect, and may be enough to stop the problem without having to use less oil or plumb and maintain a catch can.

Trev used to perform this mod for people for a small fee, and I understood that it actually worked pretty well. Just a few bucks for some brass plumbing parts from Home Depot, some clamps, hose, and sealant, and you're there. I'm planning to at lease try it on my car, but like a lot of things, just have not gotten around to it yet...

SleepR1

Could you elaborate on modification No. 3 please?

I've tried 1 quart low, and I still get blow-by after a few hard laps. I don't want to maintain an oil catch can.

It's interesting you mention right-hand turns. Putnam Park has 8 right-hand, and 2 left-hand turns. The right handers are high-G turns, especially 7, 9-10. At other tracks with less g-loading through the right-handers the blow by isn't as bad!

Detailed description would be a big help!

Thanks in advance!

artowar2

Give me a day or two to poke around on my disk at home. I think that Trev sent me some pix, but I can't really remember. As I recall, however, it was the kind of thing that looks easy to do. When you get a chance, pop your hood, take off the oil filler cap, and note where the PCV valve line comes into the filler tube. Then imagine that the hole in the side of the filler tube actually sticks into the tube a bit, and you have the basic idea. In practice, oil should slosh up the side of the filler tube, but not really fill the middle of the filler tube. In theory if you filled the filler tube with oil on some monster right hand turn, this mod would not work, but Trev was pretty happy with it.

In my mind the worst part about the oil blowby isn't the mess in the turbos or the extra oil going to those apex seals-- it's the oil that gets stuck in your intercooler and the pipes attached to it. I can believe that it *helps* the efficiency to have that crap in there...

SleepR1

you're extending the PCV valve line further into the filler neck tube. Theoretically the oil runs up the sides of the filler neck during high G right handers, and gets sucked into the PCV line. But if the PCV line protrudes into the "middle" of the filler neck then the filler neck would have to completely be filled with oil for the oil to be sucked into the PCV line...sounds kind of fishy to me...I'd have to try this and see.

On second thought...I think I'll rig up an oil catch can. If Trev's mod worked so well for track racers, all the FD racers I see at the BMW CCA and PCA schools would have Trev's mod in place. In fact they all have oil catch cans I'm pulling over 1 G of side load most of the laps at Putnam Park (with Hoosiers R3S03s), and I don't want to clean up any more oil mess.

The funny thing about blow by is I get NONE during street driving, because I don't put the FD through hi G loads in public!

Thanks for the explanation!

artowar2

Okay, I searched my disk and can't find anything from Trev about this. Must have deleted or imagined it.

I'm going to give it a shot at some point. But it may be a while until I get around to it. If it works, I'll let you know. If not, I'll deny ever bringing up the subject

Questions: how are these guys plumbing in the catch can? Is it set up to automatically drain back into the block or oil pan? How big of a can, and where do they mount it?

Hey, I'm always running 1G on the street. Oh wait, you mean in turns... heh, heh

SleepR1

will perform the oil catch can modification. They prepare Rx7s for road and track, and have a specific procedure for plumbing the oil catch can. R1s and R2s are specially will suited to this as the plumbing is run where the cruise control plumbing would go....or something like that.

artowar2

Hmmm, well when you find out what they do for the installation and how it works, please post a description. I took a look at their website, but didn't see anything about it. How much does it cost?

maxcooper

With the engine apart, you cut little grooves into the cooling passages in the rotor housings near the spark plugs to increase the surface area. I think this is an old rotary trick. I can't find a picture right now, but I know that I have seen one somewhere -- perhaps the Racing Beat catalog?

I'm gonna have trouble fitting the 2" radiator! Plus I expect that it should be enough. I am very close to my cooling system goals if it takes 105F heat, two drivers, and high altitude to overheat the car. Just looking for those last little touches at this point.

Perhaps if I have trouble running a FMIC I will do a custom radiator, or just switch back to a SMIC. I am still not sure if I will try a FMIC or not. Thanks for the email address.

-Max

maxcooper

Yes, my understanding is that the hash range on the dipstick is 1.8 qts. So halfway is about a quart low.

I have an SPA digital gauge with the sensor installed in the stock sensor's location by the oil pressure sender, which should be close to the hottest place to read the temps. I reset the peak before each session and check what the peak was after the session.

It was a very hot day. Glad I had the EZ-Up! There is a picture of me in the pits from that day in the background of a picture of an orange WRX (on the track) in SCC or Super Street.

I have heard the cavitation deal, too. I believe it, I guess, but I am switching to NPG+ coolant which requires good flow to work well, so I am switching back to the stock pulley. I also hope to increase the belt contact to prevent slipping on the water pump, which is a major problem on cars without an air pump.

It is a really cool track -- it feels like an honor to drive there! Turn 1 is fast and sometimes scary, as it is at the top of the hill on the straight-away. Turn 2 is at the end of the straight. Single apex it, starting way to the right and bring it in to the curb near the end of the turn. I spun there on a warm-up lap once.

That sounds like a great opportunity with TAO! I don't when I'll be back (damn noise limits!) but it would be great to see you there. Do you remember when we met at MADS/Summit Point in April '99?

I'll get my car sorted out just the way I want it eventually (yeah, right). There is always something to do, but my list of things to do is getting quite obscure at this point. The problem is that I like to work on it as much as drive it, so I'll probably never be done.

-Max

SleepR1

Gosh, Max, I don't remember...remind me...did we run in the same group?

I do plan to be at MADS VIR this year, if my motor doesn't pop FIRST! I guess that would be a bit of a drive for you!

Maybe I'll sign up for a BMW CCA drivers school at Laguna. I could fly out there, and rent a BMW from a local high-end rental car place...could finally do the Cork Screw, then (woo hoo)

As crazy as this sounds, I was very close to doing this very thing, except at the Nurburgring, North Loop. The BMW CCA does this trip once a year. I think total cost was $2500 to $3000 fore everything. You spend 6 days learning the North Loop...~13 miles, 173 or so turns in ONE LAP...WOW! Anyhow, I couldn't get my wife to go with me.

I think the current record lap at the "Nordscliffe" (sp?) is under 8 minutes or something. Some hotshoe German ace with a 600-hp Porsche 996 Carrera super turbo...

SleepR1

Those of you who run track days...what type of intercooler system do you have?

If you were doing the IC again, what would you do differently?