Looking for some tips for cooling n Your guys race cars. Have a general idea just want to know your guys opinions and tricks.

Anything to help cool intake temps, coolant temps all of that good stuff.

Currently running a fluidyne radiator with fmic. See the dreaded coolant temp issues under long periods of boost and wot.

Notice any difference with air-water separator tanks?
Cheap vs. effective intercooler water spray and water meth injection kits?
Good coolant additives? Water wetter?
Ducting pictures?
The old clutch fan vs e-fan debate.
Just want to know what you racers use

Im into road race and drifting so kve made my fc into a multipurpose vehicle.

So just shoot up some pics or speak knowledge.

 

Run evans coolant instead of anything else + water. Evans does not boil.

 

My issue in previous years was oil temperatures. The water was fine until the car started to heat soak the oil. Then the car would loose power as the map richened up with the rising water temperature. The only solution last year was to drop the boost until the temps came down.

this year I rebuilt the front of the car with a V-mount style rad / intercooler setup, went to dual oil coolers off the the sides and ducted everything. I also added a water injection system to ensure the temps stayed down.

The car ran hard at 18 lbs of boost and pulled like a freight train without any temperature issues.
http://www.rxracing.com/
About halfway down you can see the Rad setup.

-Trent

 

TrentO: Very nice setup, I was thinking of doing something similar. How have the Air Intake Temperature changed (increased, lowered, same) compared you're previous setup (which was what?)?

Here is a little trick I did to my FD track car:


Ducting is definitely key to a successful cooling system.

I have added a bottom lip to bypass the FMIC, which gives some fresh air to the radiator. I also rigged a switch for my fans to activate 100% (closes AC relay, and Thermo switch Relay).

This seemed to have worked well in temperatures around 90°F @ 10 psi (90-95°C water temps) on my 60-1. However, my last track event I started getting water temperatures up to 115°C @ 13psi in ~100°F heat with ~30% coolant / 70% water mixture.

Next event I plan on running 95% water, 5% coolant + Water Wetter with an Electric Water Pump (55gpm).

 

Yeah ive been building and daily driving this car for two years on a college budget. I feel ive been using this fc as a learning platform and have dialed in the suspension so far.

Anybody have issues with dailying an electric water pump? Heard mixed reviews with some bad reviews with pumps failing and causing overheating.

Planning on building my next motor.. Bigger and better. Whered you guys get your oil cooler setups at? Currently running a stock fc cooler only because I got a bnib set of stainless an lines. Lookingfor a dual oil cooler setup. Recommendations on if a thermostatted unit is worth it?

 

If you drive it on the street at all i would just do a 2nd stock cooler piped in parallel, leaving the thermostats in place. Plenty of cooling for the track and will still allow the oil up to temp on the street.

 

My old setup was large radiator, but oil cooler and intercooler in front of the rad. I had a dedicated duct into the radiator, but I think the oil cooler was less effective as the exit air had to pass through the radiator as well. I think a stock oil cooler setup with the oil cooler routed for clean entering and exiting air would help greatly.

I run a mocal themostat and two of the larger mocal oil coolers. I probably used 15 feet of An-10 braided line to tie them all together. The piping goes from the engine to the thermostat and then T's to the two oil coolers and then T's back into the thermostat return and back to the engine.

-Trent

 

Is there is big difference in air intake temperatures between your FMIC and V-mount setup?

Thanks,
Alvaro

 

Street car, yes.

Race car, no.

Talk to the folks at MazMart, they will bend your ear for a few minutes about using water vs. Evans.

I spoke with them for awhile a few years ago regarding this topic. Can't recall too much of the conversation other than Evans simply does not cool well enough for a race motor.

That, and it is not allowed on many tracks.

I *really* would not want to drive through a puddle of Evans.

 

My IAT improved with the V-mount, but that could be because the V-mount is 12x3x28 and the old intercooler was 6x3.5x20. I believe the V-mount is a good way to solve the packaging issues from a large radiator and intercooler into the front of the car and only allow air to pass through once. I really don't see any other options that meet those requirements.
Anytime you are feeding air through one heat exchanger and then another, you loose efficiency. You also increase drag and further slow the airflow.

-Trent

 

Ducting, ducting, ducting. It's not much fun to do, but some relatively thin aluminum, a pair of tinsnips and a pop rivet gun works wonders. You want ducting between the bumper cover into the intercooler (assuming you have a fmic) and ducting between the intercooler and radiator. Air will always choose the easiest path, you have to channel it from the bumper all the way through the radiator. Try to get every last gap.

 

I had water temp issues even with big Rad/FMIC combo and dual oil coolers - ducting was an instant winner...

before ducting - water temp 95-100c after a 6 lap race (approx 10 mins)
after ducting - water temp 84c after 20 lap race

as idlingmike says - air will take the easiest route, treat it as devious and try to block it's path so it can ONLY go where you want it!