FAB

iTrader: (4)

It's the difference between collectively and all at once. Collectively on a track I might spend 10 seconds at full load, 1 second here, 4 seconds here, a few seconds here... But never will I go from 30 to 150 full load all at once then do it again over and over. Also, in regards to length of these pulls - I wish my 30-150mph pulls only took 6 seconds, but in reality these are much longer pulls and much more frequent than 1 minute per hour. I am very hard on the car.

Let's compare my internals to a delicious marshmallow... I can collectively cook my marshmallow in an open flame for 60 seconds, not all at once, a few seconds at a time will probably net me a decent looking treat after 60 seconds of total direct flame exposure. But if I toss that guy in open flame for 60 seconds straight I end up with two very different types of smore. Follow me?

Props to this random clip art site for helping me add a spot on visual representation of the marshmallow story.

EO2K

iTrader: (37)

What exactly do you plan on doing to prep the block and head for new MLS head gasket while its all still in the car? I started looking back at all the head gaskets I've done and realized I've never dealt with an MLS before. I guess that's what I get for owning old cars

FAB

iTrader: (4)

Luckily with MLS gaskets you don't end up with that stubborn gasket material that is baked to your mating surfaces. In fact, depending on the manufacturer you can get away with simply wiping the surface down with brake cleaner. Other manufacturers like to use a coating on their outer most layers of their MLS gasket that ends up partially sticking to the deck. This can be cleaned up with a light scuff pad and brake cleaner. You really want to avoid anything that visually changes the surface of the deck.

Don't use this:


Or even though it's sometimes called a "gasket removal" bit, don't use this on aluminum.


After it's cleaned I take a straight edge and a set of feeler gauges to check flatness. On a car using an MLS gasket the tolerance is usually 0.004". Anything outside of that it needs to go in for deck surfacing. Obviously your cylinder head is more likely to warp given the differences in materials.

flounder

Man, Mexico looks a whole lot like 696.

18psi

iTrader: (76)

Purely a doppleganger

FAB

iTrader: (4)

This past Sunday I was able to get back out to the garage for a bit. A few small action items were crossed off the list.

• Route AN lines
• Weld AN fittings to coolant necks
• Fabricate a mounting system for the Koyo
• Mount the shroud to the trunk

AN line routing was actually way easier than I had anticipated. In the wheel well of the NB you have a plastic cover on the front/inner side, when you remove that you have access to the area on the bottom side of the trunk just in front of where a roll bar mounts. I used a hole saw and punched out a circle on each side allowing the supply and feed lines to route comfortably under the car. Then using a more robust version of a conduit mount I fixed the lines near the frame rails, one on the passenger side, one on the drivers.

The next step was to prepare the coolant necks on the engine... Simple stuff here.



Now for mounting the Koyo to the shroud.. I wanted to leave the Koyo as un-molested as possible to keep things serviceable down the road. So for this I took my factory upper mounts and cut them down to weld them to the shroud. This would allow me to easily slide the radiator in and out of place using the rubber isolators. I chopped them down and cleaned them off for welding.



This would cover the bottom/top who knows the orientation at this point.. For the other end I decided to use hardware, so I welded these two tabs on that will be drilled to line up with existing 10mm threaded holes on the rad.



Here is what I ended up with, it now only takes a 10mm wrench and a minute or so to remove the radiator.





Mocked up, everything was looking pretty good. I used rivets and 3M Window weld to mount the panel in place and make sure it was air tight. Once the 3M urethane cured up the assembly was really solid.

Next steps are to remove the radiator and prep the back for paint, then work on a fan shroud and wiring up some relays for fans.

18psi

iTrader: (76)

so crazy lol

I love it

concealer404

iTrader: (3)

You should do this to my daily driver. That'd be great. Kthx.

FAB

iTrader: (4)

More Sunday-funday updates.

Everything is mounted in and functional so I went back and did some finish work on the trunk.

Weather seal around the opening:


I chopped up my old fan shroud and welded on new tabs for the Koyo radiator, then I mounted the two fans:


I will be adding a couple of bleeders to the system and I had a hole to plug here so it seemed like a great place to start. It also helps tremendously when trying to fill the system:



I needed to route it out of the trunk (onto the ground where I'd place a drain pan). So I went with aluminum tubing and a small opening in the trunk.

paNX2K&SE-R

iTrader: (8)

This is a pretty neat concept but are you sure those fans are going to move enough air through the rad to keep temps reasonable? Also are you worried about radiant heat from the exhaust below the opening at all?

18psi

iTrader: (76)

I'm pretty sure the fans will be pulling, not pushing

paNX2K&SE-R

iTrader: (8)

For sure.

I'm thinking more along the lines of the huge airflow difference between a couple of tiny fans compared to the 40+ mph wind at speed on a traditional front mounted setup mounted in the natural air stream.

18psi

iTrader: (76)

He's got the vents in the trunk to pull air out and through the rad, and I think he's going ot need at least a small scoop of some sort, but I won't speak for him, I'm just a spectator

FAB

iTrader: (4)

Correct - Fans are pullers, the area above the trunk is low pressure and heat will naturally want to raise - no reason to fight nature.

Also correct on the "scoop". At some point ducting will be built into a diffuser. Also the exhaust will be routed differently. Although I think for this season it will work just fine. If not I'll make changes.

Alejo_NIN

iTrader: (2)

i always thought you'll have the radiator mounted on the trunk lid....

FAB

iTrader: (4)

Yeah this is a valid concern. In typical driving conditions your fans wont even turn on so these guys have a lot of flow to make up for. That's why I'd first like to see if the fans can sustain on their own, then I'll move forward with the ducting.

The aero engineer I'm working with seems to be confident this will work quite well but I've never seen it done on a Miata so who knows.

sixshooter

iTrader: (12)

Hose length makes a big difference in the effort required to move fluid. Often, if it is a longer distance, a larger diameter will be used for the run and then necked down to the requisite size on each end.

Leafy

iTrader: (1)

This is true. It makes it a pain in the *** at work when fluids specs 2" hoses on stuff with 1.5" ports but thats how this **** works, and it sucks.

But now that you mention it. Using an inline water pump to assist flow on this thing could probably be a mega help to cooling capacity. Ron Davis here you come.

18psi

iTrader: (76)

If you set up a scoop/diffuser and then duct the back of the rad to the trunk, there's potential to create some serious downforce in addition to cooling, isn't it? In addition to the already beneficial weight over the rear wheels.

So this might be even more beneficial to your spin happy monster.

FAB

iTrader: (4)

Right, it will help the situation but it's not the proper way to produce downforce. The Drag to downforce ratio created by this setup is not optimal. Where as a typical wing will produce more downforce and less drag because it's easier for the air flow to roll off the back of a wing as opposed to changing it's direction and pushing it through a radiator/deck lid.

As for the flow of fluid, you're both correct. The line size is important and I'll likely end up with an electrical pump regardless.