When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
My car currently makes 320 whp with my GT2871 and e85. I did an HPDE a few weeks back with temps at 95 degrees ambient and struggled the entire day with overheating. I would come off the pace when coolant temps got to about 220. That was frustrating so I reached out to the guys at 949 who pointed me to the cooling thread. The cooling mods I had on the car were as follows:
Supermiata Crossflow
Qmax reroute
Marginal ducting at best (still had undertray at least)
50/50 antifreeze (that was dumb on my part)
It became apparent I would need hood vents and far better ducting. I struggled for a while figuring out a clean way to do ducting on car that still had the front bumper support (wasnt ready to cut it off yet). I messed with aluminum, coroplast and then I got an idea from PatsMX5 over on m.net. He mentioned a cement mixing tub from Lowes. Picked one up for $13 and I am very happy with how it turned out. If you cut it right it already has contours to direct the air into the radiator. I struggled to find a lot of pictures of peoples ducting work up close so here are a few for reference. I tried to seal any reamaing gaps with weather seal strips and Gorilla tape. I have an HPDE this week so we will see how it works out. Things I changed in this process
Singular Hood Vents
Ducting work
Distilled water with Amsoil water wetter equivalent (or better supposedly)
180 t-stat
removed one of the OEM rad fans.
In regard to the rad fan, I have not had any issues with the car staying cool street driving in stop and go and 90 degree ambient temps so far and the lack of the second fan should help airflow at track speeds. Pictures below:
This would work well to bypass some air beneath a FMIC also. Quite nice.
This reminded me that I need to dilute my coolant (still 50/50) before my track day. I may not need the cooling capacity, but why not? We never see below 0*F here.
DNM
The Lowes here in SF doesn't stock that. But it is the worst run retail store in the Western Hemisphere. Other Lowes are fine, not that one. However, my closest Home Depot stocks a tub exactly like that one with another brand name. Apparently not a lot of innovation in the world of cement/drywall mud mixing tubs.
Good job, these things have tons of uses. XL sand box for my elderly kitty. He has a heart condition and takes 4 pills a day which affect his bowels, he was missing sometimes but this solved it.
Great idea using that! I'll have to give it a shot!
OP, did you run cooler after the ducting? Large changes?
Originally Posted by sonofthehill
Well, he passed not too long ago, so he's running pretty cold these days. Ended his missed targets tho.
Man I was very confused for a second, my condolences.
My car ran MUCH cooler with all those changes. I imagine the hood vents likely had the biggest impact, but the changes together eliminated my overheating issues. I was running the car at full tilt (~18psi on e85) for 25 minute sessions with ambient temps anywhere from 60-80 (different events) and my car never went above 220 degrees. The majority of the time i would glance at my gauge it was at 205-210. Certainly makes tracking the car more enjoyable when you can stay in it an entre session.