How to keep my FD running cool on the track???
 

Just wanted to get some of your setups/tricks/advice on what your doing to keep the car from over heating during a couple laps on the track. i noticed on mine it starts to run pretty hot just after a couple miles of hard WOT driving. im forced to idle/drive slow till it gets below 93celcius on the PFC. plus my turbo exhaust housing is always glowing red after just couple hard pulls. heres my setup now.
greddy 2 row front mount
fluidyne radiator w/ twin fans(plenty of airflow)
T04Z single
amsoil 20-50 engine oil
stock single oil cooler
coolingmist cmgs stage 2 water only injection(10psi activated on)

i can get more info on my setup too. my cars tuned from brian at rotorsports racing in NC. its a pretty rock solid conservative tune. car made 405hp before he tuned it for the cmgs injection and it runs alot better now so im guessing im in the 425 hp range at 16psi. engine is freshly built n street ported by steve kan. i look forward to all your guys feedback and what setups your using on your fd!

got any sort of ducting other than the factory undertray? another oil cooler is a good idea, twin aftermarket would be ideal.

My track car has BNR Stage 3 turbos (15psi), stock mounted Mazdaspeed radiator (Ron Davis), and a Pettit Stage III intercooler. I run water with Redline water wetter in the radiator and I made an airbox that is completely sealed from the bumper to the radiator. I also installed the Mazdatrix dual Mocal oil cooler kit. With this setup I can run full boost lap after lap with the water temperature in the 200-210F range. However, if the ambient temperature is anywhere above 90F then I have to manage the throttle to maintain a "reasonable" water temperature. Reasonable can mean different things at different times.

Guy

no i dont even have the stock undertray installed, im looking at getting the 3 piece adjustable undertray from shineautoproject($150) i just bought another rx7 (93 CYM) that has stock dual oil coolers also. my plan is to make my 93 CYM a track setup car and my 95 MB a street driver. fingerlock, how much waterwetter do you run while running straight water through the system?

I run the stock twins in non-sequential at 13psi on the track. I've got the Mazmart RE-medy water pump, Koyo Nflow radiator, Pettit Coolcharge III SMIC, RunCool hood louvers, dual R1 oil coolers and completely sealed radiator ducting. I run a 90% water/10% coolant mix.

Never see track temps above 85C or 185F except in the summer where I may see in the low 190's.

I think you've pretty much answered your own question then. Get the undertray, if that doesn't get you where you need to be, think about some additional ducting. You'll see the biggest gains from the least amount of money spent in this case.

i really just want to get as much info on what you guys have done for track setups to keep temps under control. the things you have done that were a mistake or didnt need to be done and the things that you did that are a must do to the RX7.

I add one bottle of water wetter to the system. As mentioned above, you'll get the most bang for your buck with inexpensive fixes. I built an undertray similar to Damian's using cardboard and fiberglass. After that use lots of duct tape to seal all the holes. A vented hood helps as well. Beyound that you are looking at relocating and installing a much larger radiator.
Guy

Get rid of the front mount.

good info guys.. ya i really wish i would have done a Vmount setup instead of the front mount. i do have the seibon st vented hood. and im lookin right now at getting the feed style front bumper and canards and front undertray from shine auto, and install my dual oil coolers from my other RX7. than ill take the advice of making the ducts to help direct the airflow where it needs to go and run the water and redline water wetter. hopefully this helps keep temps down, this season i want to hit the tracks pretty hard! :)

you can get a custom radiator from Pettit. They're around $800. Tell them you want the 3 rotor radiator. the difference is that it flow from left to right instead of up to down. Major difference in temperature efficiency.

good input steve! you need to hit some tracks on the east coast, any of your events in 2011 coming out my way? ill meet up where ever.

ok here goes.

ducting is the most important ting. block all the air comming from the IC to rad so that it does not go past the radiator. All of it has to go trough the rad. So duct it up with alu sheets or something top, bottom and both sides.

Get a 2nd oil cooler, and duct both up. Change to Royal Purple oil, it lowerd my oil temps by 10 degrce celcius on the track.

Run a mazmart waterpump instead of the stock one, and get a pully kit for you alternator and waterpump.

Also have the fans on at once when u go out on the track. Also drill a couple of 5-6mm holes in the thermostat to allow for more water to pass trough.

Still got water problems after this, get a electric waterpump system and get a bigger radiator. I use the biggest one i could get of summitracing.com

With my 4 rotor i could not get past 96 degrece celcius water temps with a electric waterpump and that big ass radiator after 25 minutes of hard driving. And i had a oil temp of 91 degrece ;)

JT

wow, thats great! thanks for that advice. im deployed overseas right now but i have a huge list of parts to order and things to do to my new ride i just bought. i want to hit the tracks this 2011 season!

To echo others... ducting, ducting, ducting! Aside from the excellent recommendation jantore provided, I'll add that exit ducting/flow management can be almost as important and entrance sealing.

My example offers that even a front-mount with proper ducting will work well on a high output setup. Noting fancy, just some aluminum sheetmetal and some dedication. In case anyone was wondering, the opening on the upper left (of the upward looking picture) is the dedicated intake feed.

thats some nice ducting carlos!

VERY NICE! i have some sheets of aluminum around. ill have to give it a try and post some pics too

One more thing not mentioned is running the heater. My car has the heater still in place and I can lower the engine water temps by 2-3 degrees by cranking up the heat in the car. Not real comfy, but I'd rather sweat a little and keep my foot it:)
Guy

My vented hood makes a huge difference. It also helps the AIT sensor from getting heat soaked and pulling fuel (making the car run lean) when it thinks the air is hotter than it really is. With the fans on during a hot day, you can "see" the heat waves emanating from engine bay. Plus the front duct lets cooling air flow onto the UIM. You don't need to not have your front mount; there are tons of FDs - and dozens of other race cars for that matter - that use front mounts with no cooling issues.

Clicking my avatar will show a good pic of my hood.

do all of this, or just a v-mount. MY buddy that has been racing for longer then me when through this whole process on his FC. finally with with a V-mount and everything was rock solid.
so when i started racing, i went right to the v-mount, stock rad stock oil cooler, and had never had an issue with engine temp. the fallowing year i upgraded my rad just for overkill.
plus it just looks bad ass.
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._2520977_n.jpg
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._7998693_n.jpg

can't see any ducting there tho? id duct it up just to be sure.

JT

Ducting
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._1772473_n.jpg

damn there is nothing in that engine bay compared to my fd's, night and day.

to be a little preemptive, the next issue with the v mount setups is the heat soak from having the radiator below the intercooler. I haven't noticed this. My fan is thermo controlled by the ECU, but i also ha an over ride switch. when the fan is on it pulls air through the Rad and through the intercooler downward. cooling down i keep the fan on just to cool the intake temps as much as possible to lower EGT's.

im do like the v mount setup but i dont have it lol. i am just going to look into making some ducting when i get home from this deployment. i still have another month in the desert :( blah