With the Summer months and Heat in full effect, How hot is too hot?

[94tbird]

Yeah i dremeled out the back of the honey comb, the fog light openings and pony out on the old grill I made to let more air in.

still got my fogs. love them. will not get rid of them

Forcing the air through the radiator and not letting it spill off the sides, top and bottom.

now thats what im talking about. Thats what i want to do!

 

[white05gt]

That is a pretty trick setup, I bet it would make a huge difference on a road track.

 

[CPRsm]

Forcing the air through the radiator and not letting it spill off the sides, top and bottom.

Works great for intercoolers as well. Nice job.

 

[908ssp]

Yes that's why I did it. The intercooler on the bottom and the oil cooler in the middle on top. Together they just match the height of the radiator and air conditioning heat exchanger. I moved the power steering cooler between the air conditioning heat exchanger and the radiator. Which made it easier to work all the aluminum to flat surfaces. It doesn't seal 100% but it is far better than it was stock. Not something everyone needs to do but was a interesting project. So far the car never gets over 195 degrees which is what the thermostat is. I believe running at a constant 195 is the safest and allows the best performance. Engines like constant temperatures not fluctuations. The IAT gets to 150 degrees after a hard pull but drops to 125 within a minute. And typical street driving the IATs hardly goes over 125/130. I don't have a oil temperature gauge but I do have a oil thermostat in the system the one from Canton it opens at 215 degrees.

 

[Department Of Boost]

The IAT gets to 150 degrees after a hard pull but drops to 125 within a minute. And typical street driving the IATs hardly goes over 125/130.

And those temps are when ambient is in the 90-100deg range with the car COMPLETELY heat soaked in traffic.

On a 98deg day I had the car at a steady 80mph on the freeway and the IAT's were in the 115-118deg range.

And like 908 said, as soon as you get out of the gas after a run the IAT's drop like a stone (as long as your moving). They go down just about as fast as they go up.

Plus when you "box" everything in the car is a lot more aerodynamic.

 

[JeremyH]

Being a little more aerodynamic is a stretch tunneling/forcing the air slows it down a little which in turn would create a little more drag. Regardless its nothing you would notice or could measure I bet.

 

[94tbird]

I think im just going to get some sheets of 1/16 or 1/8 ABS plastic so I can channel air from the grill directly to the radiator

 

[Department Of Boost]

Being a little more aerodynamic is a stretch tunneling/forcing the air slows it down a little which in turn would create a little more drag. Regardless its nothing you would notice or could measure I bet.

Actually the boxed setup allows a lot less air through the grill(s) and therefore the engine compartment. Boxing things in eliminates the considerable spillage around the coolers. And because the resistance of the coolers is high (relative to spillage) a high pressure zone (a bubble if you will) is created in front of the grill(s) which directs oncoming air around the car instead of letting it go through it. The air going through the car is horribly aerodynamic and creates all sorts of drag.
When Ford re-designed the front end for 2010 they added a lot of “boxing” in addition to a belly pan from the bumper cover to the radiator support and if I remember correctly reduced drag by somewhere around 30%. And that was just a “half assed” OEM solution.

Take a look at NASCAR’s, they literally “tune” the aerodynamics by taping the grill off as much as they can without causing overheating problems. If taping the grill down didn’t improve aero why would they tape them off so small that they are right on the edge of over heating? If it had no advantage they would run the grills wide open and never have to worry about cooling issues (a Snickers wrapper on the grill will cause over heating).

Of course I have no way of proving this. My opinion is only based on experience running high speeds, looking at a LOT of race cars and how they are set up and reading a couple of books on aerodynamics.

One thing I can say for certain though is boxing things in will not hurt cooling or aero one bit.

 

[SilentScope]

you want aerodynamics.. look at an F1 car.

Channeling air is bittersweet unless you can study the dynamics to ensure its all positive channeling

 

[JeremyH]

Yes blocking the air decreases drag, they do tune that in nascar, they only allow just enough air in to keep it cool (you dont need alot when your running at 200mph) and everything else is kept out and forced to go around the car. This does decrease drag. By this logic the less air you let in the better the aero, the less drag. However letting alot of air in and cathcing it/tunneling it to the engien bay cant be helping aero. They seem to be opposites and would have opposite effects. But yes at car speeds its gonna help cooling and no its not really going to hurt aero but I disagree with the statement that this tunneling effect helps it.

 

[HOLYWD]

111 here yesterday.

 

[908ssp]

Yes blocking the air decreases drag, they do tune that in nascar, they only allow just enough air in to keep it cool (you dont need alot when your running at 200mph) and everything else is kept out and forced to go around the car. This does decrease drag. By this logic the less air you let in the better the aero, the less drag. However letting alot of air in and cathcing it/tunneling it to the engien bay cant be helping aero. They seem to be opposites and would have opposite effects. But yes at car speeds its gonna help cooling and no its not really going to hurt aero but I disagree with the statement that this tunneling effect helps it.

You're right in what you're say but you forget the air going in the grill is no more than stock on my car. The air going through radiators is more. On the normal stock car the air goes in the front and then spills off the bottom or out the latch hole or through head light holes into the engine compartment but doesn't go through the radiator. That air causes additional drag with no cooling benefits. So the ideal is to have all of the air entering the front to go through the radiators. I was checking out a friends Aston Martin a few weeks ago with the hood up there is a box just like a NASCAR going from the grill to the radiator completely sealed no spillage.

I didn't mention it before but it does make a difference my hood is vented too. Right where the low pressure zone is on the top center of the hood. this makes it easier for the air to get out and reduces the amount of air exiting at the high pressure zone under the front of the car again reducing drag.

I know this is not something many people would do but if you're serious about reducing and controlling the temperature of your car you might do some of it. For instance if you're already running hood pins than you don't need to leave the big hole for the stock latch. That alone might not make a difference but is a step in the right direction.

 

[JeremyH]

You're right in what you're say but you forget the air going in the grill is no more than stock on my car. The air going through radiators is more. On the normal stock car the air goes in the front and then spills off the bottom or out the latch hole or through head light holes into the engine compartment but doesn't go through the radiator. That air causes additional drag with no cooling benefits. So the ideal is to have all of the air entering the front to go through the radiators. I was checking out a friends Aston Martin a few weeks ago with the hood up there is a box just like a NASCAR going from the grill to the radiator completely sealed no spillage.

I didn't mention it before but it does make a difference my hood is vented too. Right where the low pressure zone is on the top center of the hood. this makes it easier for the air to get out and reduces the amount of air exiting at the high pressure zone under the front of the car again reducing drag.

I know this is not something many people would do but if you're serious about reducing and controlling the temperature of your car you might do some of it. For instance if you're already running hood pins than you don't need to leave the big hole for the stock latch. That alone might not make a difference but is a step in the right direction.

On the same page. The entering air is not wasted and forced to go through the core, makes sense.

 

[SilentScope]

you just end up with a high pressure bubble in front of the car, because the core/fmic cant flow ALL that air without offering resistance. not the worst thing that could happen. Not on our cars at least...

 

[Deez-67]

here is a shot from in the shade on my back porch yesterday (almost 120) we have been over 100 for about 40 days here in OKC. My car is a full bolt-on car it has over 100k on it and I drive the piss out of her everyday. Never had any problems with heat. (knock on wood) I do pop my hood everyday when I get home and let a fan blow on the motor in the garage tho.

We have broke A LOT of records so far this summer and it looks as if we are going to break a few more this week. Wish us luck!

 

[94tbird]

well I don't think my resistor was fried, but i replaced it anyway. I need to verify if the low speed fan works or not now.

 

[Department Of Boost]

well I don't think my resistor was fried, but i replaced it anyway. I need to verify if the low speed fan works or not now.

So that's what's in there.

 

[94tbird]

well yesterday, it was 80 degrees outside, and sitting in traffic for over 15 minutes, temps never got above 184. I still want to test this on a 90+ day to make sure changing the resistor and editing the fan temps has solved the issue.

 

[blown88coupe]

I know this is a older thread but thought someone might be able to help.

05 with 07+ coolant setup. Running a 180 t-stat. and a 3600 cfm fan on a aluminum shroud. My temps on the freeway are 206-210 with ac off, and 210+ with ac on. When i exit the free way and stop at a light my temp drops for 200 with ac off and stay hot with AC on. I will replace the t-stat tomorrow but looking for other ideas while i am working on it. Last timeI checked low and high are working but will recheck tomorrow.

 

[one eyed willy]

What temps do you have the fans coming on at?