patsmx5

iTrader: (16)

Awesome glad it helped some! Still not ideal temps with a/c on but any improvement is good.

Gibbs

I'm currently running no front bumper, no ducting, and no undertray, so hopefully when I address those three it will sort it out. What's weird is that I can park my car in a parking lot and let it idle "all day" with the ac on without overheating. It only overheats when I get in stop and go traffic.

Braineack

iTrader: (62)

rofl. go **** yourself.

18psi

iTrader: (76)

I removed the engine and car stopped overheating.

concealer404

iTrader: (3)

When i don't drive my car, it doesn't overheat.

slammed200

iTrader: (8)

Patrick it sounded like you are measuring the airflow coming out of the fan? Would it be more useful to know the airflow going into (and as such through) the front of the radiator? Spacing the fans out from the rear face of the radiator may not be a direct representation of the airflow pulling heat from the coolant but a bypass. We get this in industry sometimes, and even have a recirculation effect when customers don't seal off a radiator shroud properly

It would be great if you could retest this!

Gibbs

Well, considering I just got my turbo installed and am working on trimming everything up to fit around it, I think that is acceptable.

stratosteve

iTrader: (1)

Thanks to this thread, i removed my fake Spal fans and re installed the OEM fans. Now they cycle off instead of staying on trying to just maintain current temp. I even tested and eventually used the a/c last night. Win!

Braineack

iTrader: (62)

yup.

OGRacing

iTrader: (1)

A quick review. last year my stock fan came in contact with my sway bar. things happened and the the oem fan was toast. being that I was stranded at an autozone I picked up the autozone $50 special. rented 10mm and wire cutters, zip-tied the thing in place and headed home. car ran 5* cooler then with the stock fan. went back a week later and bought another one. works great.





Picture of the car overheating at autozone.

Braineack

iTrader: (62)

sorry you needed a fan just to maintain normal operating temps...

OGRacing

iTrader: (1)

most cars need fans to maintain operating temps. think about traffic bud.

the oem fan never worked that great. it would kick on and wouldn't keep a constant temperature. with two of these little suckers water temp never gets over 200*

patsmx5

iTrader: (16)

On my 99, if I keep the a/c off, and the temps are say 90 or below, and I'm "driving normal", if I catch a light, I can idle for about 3-4 minutes until the fans switch from low (a little air flow) to high (70A worth of airflow). With a/c on, the fans will turn on high a lot sooner and run a lot longer. When my ducting sucked, the fans ran just cruising down the highway though, since the radiator couldn't get enough airflow with my (at the time) less than ideal ducting.

I think having fans on a street car is important. I think this is why street cars have fans. But if your setup is pefect, the fans are pretty much for idle, low speed, a/c blasting conditions. On the highways they shouldn't need to run. Racing on a track, no idea.

concealer404

iTrader: (3)

Take your fans off your car and roll on the highway and see what happens.

patsmx5

iTrader: (16)

Why? I'm happy with the cooling system for now. On my car pulling the fans is a huge pain, so probably not gonna happen unless I really think I need to.

concealer404

iTrader: (3)

It would potentially/probably illustrate a point that Keith has made a few times in the cooling thread.

I've only had one Miata NOT cycle fans on the highway. And that one didn't cycle the fans because it had that dumbass Begi Racer bullshit on it.

patsmx5

iTrader: (16)

What would be the point to illustrate? Sorry I'm not catching it...

My fans run on "low" all the time. They get ~6V each. They do more air on low, but only about 1/3 the amount they move on High when they get full power.

Now that I've finally got my cooling system for the radiator sorted, I'm thinking of adding the wiring necessary to allow me to shut the fans off. I know it sounds simple to you, but I have a series/parallel/time delay setup I made and I have to add another relay to make it possible to turn the fans off while the key is on, but the time delay low work when the key goes off.

Basically my plan is to electrically unhook the fans on a really hot day and see what happens on the highway/city speeds. If it's obvious them being off is ok, then I'll make the wiring changes necessary as that will reduce wasted electrical power and not wear my fans out as quickly.

aidandj

iTrader: (5)

<p>My temps don't go above 190 at any point ever except when idling, or stop and go traffic. The one time they did my friend was following me behind my truck in my car. Basically sitting in the draft going 10 miles an hour up a 18 percent grade (yeah my truck is slow). He called me and said your temp guage reads 220 what do I do. I said pass me, and it dropped below 200 in 30 seconds.</p>

concealer404

iTrader: (3)

That fans aren't just for idling...

patsmx5

iTrader: (16)

Oh.

Well to be honest, if you have a/c, and a big intercooler, and a nice radiator, and no hood vents, crapy stock ducting, he's absolutely correct. With my setup I was able to mostly* control temps with all the above by having awesome fans. I had probably 5/10 ducting at the time. Biggest problem was the huge IC just completely blocked airflow to the radiator.

But now I moved the a/c condenser, swung the intercooler out of the way so the radiator gets clean air, and did the best ducting job BY FAR I've ever done, it's 10/10. Now I have sheet metal sealing every hole in the bumper, air can ONLY go through the radiator. And now the car runs thermostat temp all the time when driving.

I personally gave up on the idea of having 3 large stacked heat exchangers in the front and trying to make that work perfectly. Now it's just intercooler and radiator up front and that makes a huge difference.