Cooling a TSE EFR kit
 

I've currently got a '91 with a VVT swap driven by an MS3 ECU. The car is a weekend (sometimes daily) driver, drives up gravel mountain roads, and I also want to be able to bring it to casual track days as well for fun, but not serious racing. Yes, I'm keeping my A/C, and no I won't add hood vents.

Here's the conundrum: once I put the TSE EFR kit in, I'm worried about cooling it down. From what I've read, the presence of A/C and lack of my willingness to cut into my hood makes this a bit of an issue. Originally for cooling I was looking at the Supermiata crossflow radiator, coolant reroute (with 99-00 style gasket change), and the TSE 16 row oil cooler. Would this hold up on a track day with the EFR kit on a car with A/C and no hood vents? Is this a kind of situation where I'll have to test and see? I'm just trying to build an enjoyable car that I don't have to worry about, and I'd hate to get the performance without the cooling.

Start with a reroute and radiator if you havent done so already. If your oil temp gauge is getting warm then look at an oil cooler.

Your post lacks a lot of details though. Have you dont proper ducting? Do you have the under tray installed? Why havent you posted in the meet and greet section?

Ask Andrew at tse and do as he say

Above guys said good stuff.

EFR from TSE can run from 175 to 350+ WHP (rough numbers). Answer to cooling needs will vary greatly between those two.

Sorry, let me add some details. This is on a stock motor, so that would put me around 240WHP as any more sounds like it would be outside my comfort zone. Undertray is in place, and I want to leave as much of the car intact as possible so no ducting planned. What I was worried about was buying a radiator to start with, then finding out the parts I bought are insufficient for my purposes and having to re-buy ones with better cooling. I was also worried about going too thick and making it difficult to get airflow while I putz about on city streets as this is a multi-purpose car. The lower cost and less work, the better, but I tend to want a good bit of error leeway. Basically, I wanted the only external signs of my car being modified to be the wheels/brakes and roll bar, unless you bent down to look through my grill.

At 240hp you will be fine with a reroute and the supermiata radiator. If you plan on more in the future with a built motor I would go with the trackspeed radiator. Then proper ducting and such. Also the trackspeed intercooler is an easy button or if you have fab skills you can save some money and just just the precision intercooler and make your own mounts.

I would start with a $110 ebay radiator before splurging more on one of those. Then go with QMax reroute and proper ducting using OEM undertrays and stuff. You should be more then fine for weekend drives and some HPDE's.

As far as ducting / cooling is concerned I would think that the LRB under-tray should help more than the stock undertray. It has a diverter flap to force more air through the radiator and it looks like it lets less air around the radiator. It is certainly on my list of things to consider buying.

Perhaps I'm just being contrary, but I would (and did) buy the TSE radiator. Yes, it's expensive, but it's the best drop-in Miata radiator there is and I hate buying things twice (or even three or four times). If you're keeping the AC condenser in the car then you've compromised the airflow, will need to compensate for that somehow, and having extra radiator capacity is a good solution to that.

With the TSE rad, reroute, no AC, some basic ducting, and a stock hood (no vents) my car has done 320+ rwhp at the track on 90 degree days without any issue. I haven't tried it at 110, but I'm reasonably confident it would be fine there too.

--Ian

I nabbed one last time there was a 15% eBay coupon (they sell them on there as well). For a cut-to-order product I was exceedingly happy with the customer service, turn around time, and the finished product. Easy to modify/build off of if you decide to build more ducting/flat floor up front and like $10 more than a stock plastic tray if you grab it on ebay with the promo code. I even requested they not cut their logo into the tray and they were happy to do it (cause aerodynamics totallllly matter when you drive a 100 hp Lego brick). Happily sporting an LRB sticker on the car now.

I was not happy with my LRB undertray. I tried it on 2 or 3 miata's and it just never was as good as the stock one. I sold it to a friend and he preferred the stock on on his car also.

I do like the TSE radiator. It is the best choice, just an expensive first jump. If the cheap ebay radiator does not work, jumping to the TSE next is the answer.