Help, overheating at the track.

[Cams]

hi, writing this from cell. =)

Currently at the track doing some circuit racing, and the car drives beautifully but im overheating after 5 minutes. FAL fans are always on, yet water gets over 3/4 of the std gauge and oil temp gets to 100 C. Running water w/water wetter. Would coolant help? I'll be removing the termostat tomorrow before the actual race.

I'm not loosing water nor oil. Any idea is welcome.

[boost_boy]

First of all, what type of radiator are you using? Running the car in that type of event will need all the cooling you can muster up. Coolant is a must...Period. H2o+o2+fe= a nasty mess.

[Cams]

thx for posting, will add coolant after removing tstat.

Rad is custom made all cooper. Better than stock, but not koyo/mishimoto grade.

[Buddyworm]

Drifters love the Clutch fan + shroud. When you're sideways you don't get direct airflow hitting the rad so you need to rely on the fan to do all the work. No overheating in clutch fanned cars.

Do eet.

[CakeEater]

Ducting, ducting, ducting....

Make sure you have a shroud on the fan to the rad so that ALL the air must come through the rad/fan.

Removing your thermostat will actually makes it run hotter. I have tested this and has been proven to not help.

Proper ducting/fan shroud will help dramatically if not cure it. If not then get a thicker rad and do the ducting/shroud.

[mbmbmb23]

+1 for clutch fan and shroud

[Nyborg Garage]

Removing the thermostat will make it worse. You might not notice any difference on the gauge, but one of the functions of the thermostat is to help the waterpump build up a little pressure in the engine block. If you remove the thermostat the pressure will go away, then you will get small hot spots inn side the engine that will boil the coolant in these small spots, and worst case scenario is a cracked block.

The point of water wetter (red line) is that it cools the engine better than regular coolant, it also have additives that should hinder rust and such, so I would not change unless someone else have a good reason for it.

As CakeEater said, ducting, ducting, ducting You need to get lots of air to the radiator, and you also need to get the hot air out of the engine bay, so a good vented hood is also important.

[float_6969]

Removing the thermostat will make it worse. You might not notice any difference on the gauge, but one of the functions of the thermostat is to help the waterpump build up a little pressure in the engine block. If you remove the thermostat the pressure will go away, then you will get small hot spots inn side the engine that will boil the coolant in these small spots, and worst case scenario is a cracked block.

The point of water wetter (red line) is that it cools the engine better than regular coolant, it also have additives that should hinder rust and such, so I would not change unless someone else have a good reason for it.

As CakeEater said, ducting, ducting, ducting You need to get lots of air to the radiator, and you also need to get the hot air out of the engine bay, so a good vented hood is also important.

He nailed it. Leave the water + wetter alone. Leave the thermostat alone. Ducting is key.

I had a small mid-mount intercooler on my S13. When I originally installed it I had no ducting. When I sped up on an on-ramp to get on the highway I was knocking my the top of the on-ramp and my intake temps were in the upper 100's. I added a VERY simple piece of galvanized sheet metal so that all of the air from the bumper inlets (I had a silvia conversion) and between the headlights HAD to go through the intercooler. This COMPLETELY resolved my intercooling problems and also had an interesting effect of increasing the cooling ability of my radiator.