Help me Make My V-Mount Funtional
 

So my previous owner installed this V-Mount set up. I dont have an issue with over heating on the street, but Im trying to get the car set up to be reliable on the track. I know That I need to block off the gaps on the side so that air can only pass through the radiator and intercooler, but Id like to see if anyone has any other suggestions for how to improve the setup. Pardon the nastiness in the pictures. Im in the process of restoring it back to half decent.

As far as how the car is set up. Stock 1.6, TD05-16g turbo, ext. WG, 460cc inj, ms3x running full sequential, and 10psi of boost.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1330451254

Heres how the fan is mounted to the radiator.
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1330451254

I dont have measurements for the radiator thats in it now, but heres a picture to get an idea of its thickness ect...
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1330451254

Ignore the trash on it and the stupid stickers and ----. This is when I first tore it all down to restore. This is how the radiator sits without the intercooler.
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1330451254

Ignore the now not installed bumper.
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1330451254

Once again please ignore the ------- Rice. De-Rice is in progress. But this is the only picture of the hood I have that shows the vent right above the intercooler.
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1330451254

Ill get a few more pictures that better show how its mounted and everything when I return to my house on thursday.

Thanks in advance.

looks like it is functional. I'd just prefer the IC to be angled inside of parallel to the ground. And I'd absolutely seal the sides of the IC/Rad.

So your saying to tip the front of the intercooler down or the opposite? And how about the back of the radiator? Some kind of shroud around the fan?

well like sides/wall, v-shaped, that would make sure no air that came into the mouth can go anywhere but the IC or rad.

I remember that car. I wouldnt even bother with doing anything more with the V-mount. Coming from a guy that had a incredibly functionally sound v-mount setup, for what you have, youre better off doing a traditional front mount. If you insist on keeping that setup then box out the sides so no air escapes and is forced into both the rad and I.C.

I think what Brain is saying (and dont shoot me if its not) is that the intercooler needs to be tilted, the front needs to be brought up to actually make a "v" mount. Because it looks like the intercooler just lays flat and the radiator is tilted...But it looks like the cold side of the intercooler has been made specifically for where it sits. Which would make it pretty difficult to change I would imagine.

Modifying the fittings on either is no issue. Im just looking for the most functional set up I can make. I could probably gain a few degrees of tilt on the intercooler if I shaved down the bottom edges of the stock upper rad support and changed the angle on the rear bracket where it bolts to the rad.

As for changing it back to front mount, im gonna wait till I get it on the track and see how well it works before I pull the trigger on completely re doing it. Not that im completely opposed to it, but I think it would make more sence to at least try and get this set up on point then completely re do all of the radiator lines, intercooler piping, bov, ect. Like i said ive had 0 over heating issues in the past with it set up as bad as it is, even in CA summer traffic. But if its neccesary then ill do it.

I didnt exactly have a traditional Vmount setup. Mine consisted of the radiator being tilted and the intercooler having a boxed in duct on the bottom that channeled air through it. I put sidewalls on the radiator as well to make sure the air was forced through it. The faster I drove, the cooler everything became. Many local guys could attest to my setup working great. Try doing that vs redoing everything first

Indeed. Thank you for the input. Ill get to boxing up the gaps on it when I return to cali on Thursday.

is the hole in the nose above the IC? hard to tell.

do you have any pics, Jared? I'm looking through all my old bullshit right now for some

It is just behind it. It sits right about at the front of the valve cover. I think I should have the clearance to box it out so the air can only go out.

ill make sure to duct that so air is unable to flow above the IC and not through it.

Is that a mesh grill in the hood extractor? I'd remove that too, it looks very solid. Smaller mesh can act like a solid wall at speed.

My fans were near worthless when ziptied to the radiator like that. I had two and it seemed to work fine on the street, but once it overheated they would do nothing to stop it. Now when I over heat on track I can back off a bit and it cools down, or come to a stop with the fans on and that even works. Granted this is "overheating" to 240-250* vs 230*. I don't wait long before backing off, but unless I'm chasing down someone at above 8/10, I'm fine.

I'd work with what you have without putting any money into it, since down the line you're going to want to do a reroute, and you'll have to modify the radiator for that.

Did you ever come up with a better solution for mounting your fans? Im drawing a blank other then a piece of sheet metal the size of the rad that has a hole cut out for the fan slightly off of the radiator. My only worry with that is at speed, could that actually hinder flow through it by only having that 12" or whatever diameter hole to pass through?

you dont need no stinking shroud.

I ended up going back to stock shrouds, which you can't do obviously. They fit great, and are tapered to allow airflow at speed. My first attempt at a DIY fan shroud ended in a punctured radiator, so I quit while I was still only $40 behind. If I'm not mistaken, there's a fair amount of plastic on either side of the stock shrouds, you could try trimming those to fit, but without the mounts to bolt them too, it's probably less work to make something like FM's or CXracing's fan shroud.