Radiator Ducting with Cement Mixer
 

My car currently makes 320 whp with my GT2871 and e85. I did an HPDE a few weeks back with temps at 95 degrees ambient and struggled the entire day with overheating. I would come off the pace when coolant temps got to about 220. That was frustrating so I reached out to the guys at 949 who pointed me to the cooling thread. The cooling mods I had on the car were as follows:

• Supermiata Crossflow
• Qmax reroute
• Marginal ducting at best (still had undertray at least)
• 50/50 antifreeze (that was dumb on my part)

It became apparent I would need hood vents and far better ducting. I struggled for a while figuring out a clean way to do ducting on car that still had the front bumper support (wasnt ready to cut it off yet). I messed with aluminum, coroplast and then I got an idea from PatsMX5 over on m.net. He mentioned a cement mixing tub from Lowes. Picked one up for $13 and I am very happy with how it turned out. If you cut it right it already has contours to direct the air into the radiator. I struggled to find a lot of pictures of peoples ducting work up close so here are a few for reference. I tried to seal any reamaing gaps with weather seal strips and Gorilla tape. I have an HPDE this week so we will see how it works out. Things I changed in this process

• Singular Hood Vents
• Ducting work
• Distilled water with Amsoil water wetter equivalent (or better supposedly)
• 180 t-stat
• removed one of the OEM rad fans.

In regard to the rad fan, I have not had any issues with the car staying cool street driving in stop and go and 90 degree ambient temps so far and the lack of the second fan should help airflow at track speeds. Pictures below:

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...3028bab352.jpg
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...b32fc4392b.jpg
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...7a5249aed9.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...b5ea52da55.jpg
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...3150e97293.jpg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...8ab116f9b5.jpg

Not where I thought this was going. Cool. :likecat:

That cement mixer works great, lol. I think I might do something similar, thanks for the idea.

This would work well to bypass some air beneath a FMIC also. Quite nice.

This reminded me that I need to dilute my coolant (still 50/50) before my track day. I may not need the cooling capacity, but why not? We never see below 0*F here.
DNM

This is a genius idea. I am just about to start ducting in my radiator with aluminum. I'm going to give this a try instead.

Plus a track car gets added respect points from me the more items on it that are from the hardware store.

Is this the tub you used? https://www.lowes.com/pd/Creative-Pl...Pan/1000642569

That's the one. Drywall mud mixing tub*. Oops close enough.

Thanks!

The Lowes here in SF doesn't stock that. But it is the worst run retail store in the Western Hemisphere. Other Lowes are fine, not that one. However, my closest Home Depot stocks a tub exactly like that one with another brand name. Apparently not a lot of innovation in the world of cement/drywall mud mixing tubs.

Absolutely genius, I gotta try this.

Neat

Actually looks way less ghetto than I thought.

My ducting is currently done with plastic cutting boards and metal duct tape. It needs to be re-done, and this looks fun and easy.

Still prefer 1/8" coroplast but this works nicely and its easier to source the material.

...

Very easy now that its election time. :loser:

Good job, these things have tons of uses. XL sand box for my elderly kitty. He has a heart condition and takes 4 pills a day which affect his bowels, he was missing sometimes but this solved it.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...850320daba.jpg

Great idea using that! I'll have to give it a shot!
OP, did you run cooler after the ducting? Large changes?

Well, he passed not too long ago, so he's running pretty cold these days. Ended his missed targets tho. :bigtu:

I was talking about kmo25..
Sorry about your cat Sonofthehill

Thanks, he had a good long happy life.

These also make excellent coolant drain pans.

Man I was very confused for a second, my condolences.

My car ran MUCH cooler with all those changes. I imagine the hood vents likely had the biggest impact, but the changes together eliminated my overheating issues. I was running the car at full tilt (~18psi on e85) for 25 minute sessions with ambient temps anywhere from 60-80 (different events) and my car never went above 220 degrees. The majority of the time i would glance at my gauge it was at 205-210. Certainly makes tracking the car more enjoyable when you can stay in it an entre session.