Cooling high power motors

[eVox]

What sort of radiator/cooling setups are you high power guys running?

 

I'm at 200hp on a turbo 4 and my temperature creeps a bit with a civic radiator and spal fan when I push it for extended time. Im running about 30% antifreeze and a bottle of water wetter.

[scannon]

I recently ponied up for a Radtec radiator from England. I had the Caterham race radiator but it was leaky and wasn't up to the job of cooling 300 hp, particularly with half of the core covered with an intercooler.

 

The Radtec has lived up to the hype, cooling the engine on the track on hot days. The hottest I've seen so far is 105C where the Caterham radiator would get past 120C on the gauge. It is an expensive piece at about $850 by the time shipping and duty were included but it doesn't leak and keeps the engine cool.

[MHKflyer52]

Hi Andrew,

 

Here is a link to the radiator that I have in my car now. Larger than the stock Civic radiator plus it came with the fan unit.

The stock Civic radiator would also let the temp creap up when auto-xing or if the outside temp was above 90deg's. This radiator has a thicker core and has solved the creaping temp problem that I had had in the past. Hope this helps.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/CXRacing-Radiator-CIVIC-DEL-SOL-B18-3-Row-Shroud-Fan-/190425521936?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item2c563edf10

[TheDingo8MyBaby]

Griffin makes very nice radiators that have worked very well on my cars.

Edited August 30, 2010 by TheDingo8MyBaby

[turboeric]

Don't know what your setup looks like, but ducting is incredibly important for cooling. Air is lazy and will spill around your radiator, rather than going through it, if given a chance. From years of playing with my turbo Miata, I've found that well sealed ducting makes a bigger difference than anything else.

[slngsht]

I have an aluminum (Griffin I think) 3 core radiator that's been on the car since the 70s. It was cleaned a couple of years ago when it developed a leak. Still doing alright. I can sit in summer traffic for extended periods of time (40+ minutes, moving 5 mph), and temps will eventually creep up to 205 from the norm of 190. In factory applications, fans don't even come on for these engines until 220 for low speed and 236 for high speed.

[WestTexasS2K]

Make sure that the air is forced thru the radiator all gaps around it should be closed off in some way. Once the air goes thru the radiator it needs some way to get out of the engine bay. Louvered hood or side vents help alot. A shroud for the fan so that the air can be pulled thru the whole core.

[7evin]

We run an AFCO Scirocco/Pro stock style radiator. I think the JEGS part # is 51960.

around $250.

[shiva]

The SR20DET runs slightly hot in my seven. Last winter I decided to attack the problem. It helped a lot, but still could be better. Ducting will probably be my next step. Here is what was done:

 

- Installed a Koyo Civic radiator (model R1952 53mm)

- Switched the fluid to Evans NPG+

- Removed the whole water pump assembly and installed a block plate with Temp sensor

- Installed an electric water pump with PWM controller.

 

I might have to change my fan to a good SPAL too. But otherwise on the track I run 90% without the fan. I just turn it on during the cooldown lap. The temp can rise up to 110-115c during hot day and hard driving. If I lift a little and drive 9/10 or 8/10 temp will go down to 105-110 quickly.

 

Keep in mind that the SR20 runs good up to 120c so it's not as bad as some other engine that need to run cooler.

[bsimon]

- Installed an electric water pump with PWM controller.

 

Who's pump? Stewart EMP or Davies Craig?

Any failures or "gotchas" yet?

Are you running w/o a thermostat?

[shiva]

Who's pump? Stewart EMP or Davies Craig?

Any failures or "gotchas" yet?

Are you running w/o a thermostat?

 

I'm using the Davis Craig EWP115 with controller. The thermostat was completely remove as the instruction suggested. While warming up the pump will run 10 sec then off for 30 sec until it reach a certain temperature. Then it will modulate (PWM) the pump to try and keep the temp at the defined setting on the controller.

 

It works very nice so far. Only trouble I had with it is that my alternator isn't able to feed enough power when the fan and pump are running. The voltage dips below 11v so the water pump controller fall in warning mode and lights the RED led I installed in the dash.

 

It's not really plug and play, but once installed works very nice. Cold temperature can be troublesome since even when pulsing (10s on, 30s off) it cools too much and the engine never really reach operating temp. I need to tape off my nose code air entry a little in cold weather.

 

But since my car is 90% track... not too big a problem for me. I wouldn't run that setup on a daily driver. (no thermostat)

[BrunnyS1]

I have had a lot of luck simply by adding the coolant temp lowering additives like "Water Weter " and the like, they really do work.