Temperature and RPM Q's
 

So my newly bought FD has all the nice gauges that tell me what's going on...
i drive it shifting around 3-4k normally.
I wanted to ask you guys what the regular operating temperature of an FD is... or what is GOOD for it to be at. my car if i'm driving normally runs at about 140ish... but when i stay still for a while or letting turbo cool off after driving it goes up to about 220. is that normal temp? i wanna make sure my new baby stays cool while i'm driving... so i've had my eye on it a lot.. i think its an R1 so the 2 oil coolers in the front are always nice to have.


the next question is RPM related... the car just seems to run better if i stay around 2.5k rpm in gear as opposed to doing like 40 in 5th where its like at 1.5-2k rpm.
It seems like the car is happier at 2.5k so is it gonna destroy my gas mileage driving between 2.5-3k or am i just imagining things?

220F is pretty high for just sitting at idle. What kind of ambient temperature is there when this happens? Ideally, the engine should stay right around thermostat temperature, which should be about 180F (at least it is on an FC). It should only be higher than this if it's very hot outside, you just got done flogging the car, or your cooling system is not working to the full extent.

Second, 1.5k-2k is not an ideal rpm range for a rotary. Take a look at the dyno sections and you'll see there's not much torque available under say 3k rpm. A 13b-rew w/ stock twin turbos will have more available than most due to the small turbos, but don't expect the engine to have a lot of very low rpm torque like a V6 or V8.

Everything will destroy gas mileage. For driveability, over 2k seems to be better than below and the turbo response is probably the reason.

220F is the normal temp for a stock thermoswitch before it turns on fans and pushes the temps down. I recommend installing a 2nd gen or Miata thermoswitch which does that at 210F. Some folks with a big radiator and good ducting have water temps that stay put at 180F, although I don't think that needs to be the goal.

Do you have all of the undertray and ducting in place that feeds air to the radiator?

no clue on the undertray and ducting...

i know my fans are rigged to always be on as long as theres power to them (aka everytime the car is on or acc2 on the key) and the car idles at around 220 if i sit at a light but as i go it gets to around 180 and sits about there...i guess thats the oil coolers at work :) yay r1!!

it spikes about 240 once in a while after a good run and then sitting at a light or something..

another thing... do you guys get a lot of cabin heat? i can cook a fuckin turkey by my legs sometimes lol but when i pop the hood the engine is actually really cool. i remember my prelude used to send heat waves that i dont even know how they didnt melt the paint on the underside of the hood...

Probably heat off of your exhaust. Stock exhausts are nicely heat shielded. You can coat or wrap your exhaust if they are aftermarket. Have a look for exhaust leaks too.