RB cooling options

[droptopsf98]

I'm currently weighing between the RB20, and RB25, depending upon the deal I can get on either setup. The car's purpose is road racing, so it will never ever just sit in traffic. I see every FAQ say that it requires electric fans. I'm told by my racer friends that I don't need fans on a track car, and that it reduces air flow at speeds. Are they crazy? I have a Koyo Aluminum radiator for a KA that I may try and use. if I have to sell it for another thats fine. I'm just curious, is one of these larger radiators sufficient for track use?

[EVILS14]

I'm not the most qualified person on the forum to answer this question as far as running with no fans, I personally wouldn't recomend it but as for the radiator the ka radiator will work for the rb

[Joe]

uh they are f***ing crazy

you NEED COOLING FANS.

they dont work at speed but ESPECIALLY with track driving what is gonna cool you down when you are off track in the pits. no disrespect but your friends are kinda f***ing retarded

id find new friends.

[lexrob]

Personally ive let mine idle for a good 20min with water wetter in the heat of summer. Im running a koyo plastic end tank s14 rad. I really dont even need my fans only if its like stop and go traffic for a while. Of course its kind of dumb i would at least have one with a toggle override to be safe. Ive heard and read all the stuff about rb's overheating ,but i've never had a problem she's at like 160-170 cruisin. If im in stop and go for a good 30 min then it might get up to 190 and thats what my fans are set at. Good luck!

194 is optimum operating temp so technically my rad. is too efficient. At least for fuel economy and to an extent power.On that subject the colder the coolant and the closer the oil is to 194+/- a few the better.Water wetter is the stuff by the way ive done tons of research on it and even from experience lowers temp by 5deg. at least lastly hood pro is good for 10.

[Coolwhip]

find a way to fit the factory clutch fan, shroud it, and since you don't have a condensor due to the likeliness of not having A/C on a track-purpose car... having a pusher electric fan on the front wouldn't hurt either.

But running without fans isn't correct.

[krayton]

*cough*bulls****cough*

[Darius]

Personally ive let mine idle for a good 20min with water wetter in the heat of summer. Im running a koyo plastic end tank s14 rad. I really dont even need my fans only if its like stop and go traffic for a while. Of course its kind of dumb i would at least have one with a toggle override to be safe. Ive heard and read all the stuff about rb's overheating ,but i've never had a problem she's at like 160-170 cruisin. If im in stop and go for a good 30 min then it might get up to 190 and thats what my fans are set at. Good luck!

194 is optimum operating temp so technically my rad. is too efficient. At least for fuel economy and to an extent power.On that subject the colder the coolant and the closer the oil is to 194+/- a few the better.Water wetter is the stuff by the way ive done tons of research on it and even from experience lowers temp by 5deg. at least lastly hood pro is good for 10.

You are able to run the stock S14 radiator in the "heat of summer" without any fans? I'm going to have to agree with krayton. I ran the S14 Auto radiator for a few months even with crappy fans and it got up over 85C if the temp outside was >80F. I wouldn't exactly call that the heat of summer. If you have some very good fans and ducting on the S14 radiator, then they might be sufficient.

And are you saying the oil or coolant temp is optimal at 194F??

[droptopsf98]

Well, for my KA, it took FOREVER for it to get up to temperature. Like...minimum 15-20 minutes before i'd get any heat in the engine lol. So I'm just trying to compare heat differences between the RB and KA.

Valid point brought up about the fans in the pit. I will be looking into that. I didn't realize the RB fans were clutch drive, so that makes sense to get electric fans. Thanks for the help guys, I'll post up a build thread once I get a little further along

[krayton]

what gauge and where is your placement of the sensor?

and u better not say the stock gauge

[droptopsf98]

haha...stock gauge, am I wrong?

[l0nestar]

I'm currently weighing between the RB20, and RB25, depending upon the deal I can get on either setup. The car's purpose is road racing, so it will never ever just sit in traffic. I see every FAQ say that it requires electric fans. I'm told by my racer friends that I don't need fans on a track car, and that it reduces air flow at speeds. Are they crazy? I have a Koyo Aluminum radiator for a KA that I may try and use. if I have to sell it for another thats fine. I'm just curious, is one of these larger radiators sufficient for track use?

Whoop Whoop Whoop!

Find new 'friends'. Coolwhip brought up good points. Experience says ... less than 2 laps before you blow the head.

haha...stock gauge, am I wrong?

Go outside, grab a 32oz dead-blow hammer, and hit yourself in the testicles with it as hard as you can. repeatedly.

[droptopsf98]

hahaha, I know what you mean. This is why I get multiple opinions before betting my motor on said advice doesn't make me a total retard does it?

[l0nestar]

You have much to learn, young Padawan.

[droptopsf98]

haha I'll be the first to tell you that. I've only got 1 track day under my belt. This is my first car I've regularly competed in that is RWD. It's my first car I've built from the ground up that isn't all OEM parts. I'm capable of anything though with the right guidance.

[Fibre guy]

Very simple answer.You WILL heat up with an RB.The KA's clutch fan pulls alot of air on start up this is the only reason you don't heat up too quickly.I went through clutch and slim fans setups and I still overheated.But my best setup is the one I have now: zerothread?id=453880

[amakadius]

use the koyo it works

[Coolwhip]

haha...stock gauge, am I wrong?

The factory gauge as 3 needle readings...

OFF, ON, and "Oh crap I'm overheating past H 15mins after my head gasket blew, thanks Nissan and their accurate temp gauges"

There is no in-between readings unfortunately.

[droptopsf98]

haha, noted, I'll add a temperature gauge to the list. You guys usually connect them in the cylinder head? (seems most logical to me)

[Darius]

I see most located in the upper radiator hose in a barbed hose splice with a port for a temp sending unit. Actually, now that you mention it. I have one in my garage that I was going to use and decided not to. I'll sell it to you if you are interested. e-mail me for details.

[droptopsf98]

you have an email sir.

[amakadius]

use the koyo it works

[Darius]

In my opinion any upgrade in radiator can't hurt and you might even be able to get the stock S14 radiator to work, but the MAIN factor to keeping the RBs cool are the fans. You NEED good fans, end of story. Ducting helps, but if you can mount a couple of SPAL or TFAL fans on the radiator, that will make the most significant difference in cooling.

[droptopsf98]

Call me stupid, but why is everyone so high on S14 radiators, when I have an S13 Koyo thats like 3" thick lol. Shouldn't I be covered for radiators?

[Fibre guy]

My mishimoto is 3" thick and I had heating problems. Fresh block cleaning and rebuild.Darius is right, it's all about how your fans flow. If you expect air to magically flow into a 3x12 square (with silvia, even smaller with pig nose) and cool a 24x16x3 radiator your wrong... Way wrong.

[DrifterProdigy85]

I like running the RB Clutch Fan. Has kept my car so much cooler than when i had dual 12" e-fans.

[lexrob]

Ok i got a little carried away 194 F oil is about opt. -basicly the closer to that your oil is and the colder your coolant the better you are. Thats what i took from it anyways.

I guess it was the end of summer TN weather so like 90-80's. I just read all the RB's run HOT!! stuff and i dont get it mine has been all good. Maybe even to cold +- 5deg.170 always huh. Factory reads middle.

300zx thermoNO DUCTING at all!!! not even bottom under side panel"koyo rad" maybe its just oem manufacture??:this was in summer with water wetter-now winter canged to reg. =same

Just my two cents maybe im dumb and am overheating all the time and have yet to buy a temp gun to more accurate #'s. lol surface temp tho))

[DrifterProdigy85]

I dont know about all running hot. With a Nismo Thermostat and the Clutch Fan mine is reading right at the top of the C. Nevers goes higher than that. When i had the clutch fans i would see the temp gauge hang in the middle of the gauge and you could really feel the hot air blowing through the rad making the inside of the car hot. So far my issue was with the e-fans just not cooling enough.

[BMAR240SX]

Well I have seen multiple people struggle with his being that there is not much room in the engine bay, One setup i saw was a koyo with flex a lite fans and that failed on the highway, then i saw another Koyo with the flex a lite fans in the front of the rad which also failed. The Best set I have seen was either stock rad with altima fans and a Koyo with SPAL fans. The SPAL fans are no joke at all they s*** on every fan literally. If your at the light you can hear them turn on it is really significant sound. I went to Slidewayz and they had a test of Mishimoto FAL and SPAL fans and boy is there a big difference. I recommend the SPAL fans I have em now and picked them up at Slidewayz Motorsportz in NJ. I plan to use em next season when i get on the track even though i don't have a RB with a thermostat and these fans i should not have a single problem ever!!

[s14_sport]

I don't care what e-fans you use...nothing will keep the RB as cool as the plain ol' stock clutch fan. I had 2 no-name 10" pullers and they did squat! Then bought the 220 FAL pullers and they did better....but was still too hot. Got the Stock clutch fan to fit....bingo! Kissed my cooling problems goodbye. Since then I've helped 3 RB25 friends with their cooling problems and they have all switched from the e-fans back to stock clutch fan and ALL have had almost the exact same results as me. One friend boosts his big a** T4 Garrett turbo hard and his coolant temp has never gone one notch over 179* F .Ugly...yes, but it works. Throw a shroud on there and you're done.


Modified by s14_sport at 12:57 PM 11/5/2009

[droptopsf98]

What did you do to get the fans to fit? I'm only running an RB20, so is my engine any smaller in dimensions? Are you putting the radiator further forward, or in front of the radiator support to allow for room? Moving engine further back? What are you doing to get it to fit