Boosted Track Cars: Cooling setups
 

I think we need a thread that gathers all the cooling setups used on the track by those with boosted miatas for others to reference when planning their build or planning to upgrade; what is your setup and how well does it work or does it not work? Hopefully we can get a lot of info in one place and make it a sticky! This combined with the reliability thread that covers hot-side hardware should pretty much cover building a reliable track miata.

This is an all-encompassing "cooling" category: air, water, oil

Copying the idea of Emilio's race seat installs thread on m.net.

Please use the following template and try to include as much info as possible:

Post title: (Turbo or Supercharger) - (Horsepower)
___________

Fuel: (type and octane, additives?)
Intercooler: (brand, dimensions)
Water/Meth injection: (yes/no, % meth, kit/DIY)

Water: (% mix, straight h2o, water wetter)
Radiator: (brand and size)
Fans: (how many, brand, shrouding?)
Coolant bypass: (yes/no, kit/DIY)

Oil: (brand, weight)
Oil cooler: (kit/DIY, core size)

Ducting: (yes/no, details)
Bumper opening modification: (enlarged/reduced)
Heat extraction: (extraction hood?)

Real-world Results on track: (length of sessions, ambient air temp, IAT, h2o temp, oil temp)
Notes: (reliable?, any issues, do you have to use the fans on track, did you have to pull timing to avoid pinging once heatsoaked, etc.)

___________________
Adding images
If we can keep it to one or two pics per post, let's try to do that. A pic of the front of the car without the bumper to show sizes of heat exchangers and placement as well as ducting would be good.
If you have images hosted somewhere you can inline link them here easily. Or, you can upload from your computer as an attachment.

Please keep the thread on-topic as a place to document individual's setups and their overall effectiveness on the race track.

I'll start

Upgraded Greddy Turbo kit - 185 whp / 180 ft-lbs @ 7psi
___________

Fuel: regular ol' 91, no additives
Intercooler: CXRacing 12x18x3"
Water/Meth injection: no

Water: 80% water, 20% antifreeze, 1 bottle Redline water wetter
Radiator: Koyo 37mm aluminum
Fans: Stock fans w/ stock shrouds, wired to switches on dash
Coolant bypass: no

Oil: Mobil 1 10W-30 synthetic
Oil cooler: DIY - Mocal sandwich, Tru-cool 24-row 11x5.75.1.5" oil cooler

Ducting: Yes - enclosed from bumper mouth to factory plastic undertray
Bumper opening modification: normal
Heat extraction: Yes - DIY dremel-cut vents in hood.

Real-world Results on track: 20 minute sessions @ Buttonwillow, 85* ambient, Water 210*, Oil 210* solid from beginning to end.
Notes: So far so good. Never saw the temps rise past 210. Big IC for my power level allows me to use 91, never ever have to use the fans on the track - only switch them on in the pits after session.

Attachment 189054

Hood modifications: Heat extraction behind radiator. The scoop in the headlight lid dumps straight onto the intake, the vent behind that vents any un-inhaled air back out of the engine bay so it doesn't interfere with the through the engine bay air flow:
Attachment 189055

Turbo 230whp ish
 

Turbo: molested greddy 15g
Fuel: 91 pump
Intercooler: Starion
Water/Meth injection: no

Water: 70/30 water antifreeze mix
Radiator: Ebay CX Racing
Fans: Single stock with stock shrouding
Water bypass: No. Thermostat has been gutted, heater bypassed.

Oil: Shell rotella synthetic
Oil cooler: Not currently, previous build had one, I still highly recommended it.

Ducting: yes, minor
Bumper opening modification: No. The hood has been cut between the tops of the headlights for air extraction.

Real-world Results on track: 20 minute session 4 seconds under spec record with no issues. 5000ft elevation.


Notes: No A/C. Water does not heat up unless left at idle for a long time or on track. The stock gauge never goes more than a quarter warm unless on track. Never goes past half on the stock guage on track. The tires overheat long before the water.



Some photos of the hack job hood.

http://racingsouthwest.com/forums/in..._image&id=8936

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i107/1Il/IMGP0434.jpg

Post title: T3 Turbo, 231rwhp@15psi

Fuel: 93
Intercooler: OBX 21x7x2.75 core
Water/Meth injection: NO
Water: Distilled H20 + water wetter
Radiator: Godspeed 2xpass
Fans: Dual 12" temp sensor on or bypass manual switch
Coolant bypass: M-Tuned, (4)1/4" holes added to T-stat
Oil: Rotella 5-40syn
Oil cooler: 25 Row CXracing
Ducting: Removed+ducted bumper turn lamps to oil cooler, radiator, and intake filter
Bumper opening modification: Modded oem lip for direct radiator cooling (center 2) and brake (outer 2)
Heat extraction: custom louvered hood
Real-world Results on track: several 30min sessions @ 120F track temps, 95-100F ambient - never got past 1/2 way on factory gauge
Notes: TOO much cooling when low ambients (60F or lower) - have to block off 1/2 radiator to keep coolant temps up.

This is what it looks like behind the mat - from passenger well. Oil cooler to upper right, ducted incoming air from modded lip spoiler holes under the intercooler directly to radiator.

Attachment 189048

Driver's well capped off...

Attachment 189049

Vented hood

Attachment 189050

Great replies so far! Added heat extraction hood to the list, had forgotten about that. Try to be sure to include intercooler size - important for someone planning a track setup.

Upgraded Greddy Turbo kit - unknown whp / unknown ft-lbs @ 10psi
___________

Fuel: Premium (93?), no additives
Intercooler: CXRacing 18x12x3" core
Water/Meth injection: no

Water: 60% water, 40% antifreeze
Radiator: Mishimoto 52mm
Fans: Stock fans w/ stock shrouds, wired to switch on dash
Coolant reroute: DIY w/1.6 neck on back, GM 1 piece hose to front.

Oil: Mobil 1 10W-30 synthetic
Oil cooler: DIY - Ebay sandwich, Tru-cool 24-row 11x5.75.1.5" oil cooler

Ducting: All stock for now
Bumper opening modification: 3"x~12" in front of oil cooler
Heat extraction: None, mini cooper scoop in hood is waiting install

Real-world Results on track: Last time I had bandaids, 105* ambient, 100% water (boiled)*, leaky reroute, and other issues. Track day on 6/10 will hopefully give me a better idea. I now have MS, COPs, probably 70* ambient, and the above leak free setup.

*boiling water due to using Royal Purple's "water wetter" which is not like the real water wetter by Red Line. It doesn't raise the boiling point like Red Line's product, hence the boiling.

Hole in bumper:
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5067/...e46f7821_b.jpg

Post title: JRSC M45 supercharger - 167whp
___________

Fuel: 98 RON
Intercooler: JR water to air
Water/Meth injection: no

Water: distilled water with one bottle of Castrol rust inhibitor
Radiator: Cooling Pro 40mm alloy
Fans: 2, stock, LOTS of shrouding
Coolant bypass: yes, MX-5 Plus spacer with M-Tuned hose

Oil: Castrol Edge 0w40
Oil cooler: stock oil to water

Ducting: LOTS of ducting, no air can pass anywhere without going through radiator
Bumper opening modification: no
Heat extraction: no

Real-world Results on track: 15 minutes approx, 35c, IAT 90c max, oil temp 90c max
Notes: IATs got heatsoaked towards end of sessions but Adaptronic tuned to pull timing

Honestly biggest gain from shrouding and ducting, do this first!!!

Excellent thread, subscribing. I'd love to see some more pictures of ducting around the radiator. Genesplicer, that first pic looks great, what did you use to close up the sides?

Nice idea for a thread... Might be a good idea if you post a pic of how your hood/bumper was modified to see what seems to be working the best as well. Just a thought... Still have to have a hood built for mine so any time saved would be much appreciated. :D

Last year with my 1.6 2871R setup:

Fuel: 91 pump
Intercooler: jdm 24x2.5x 6 standard mounted fmic
Water/Meth injection: no

Water: 1 bottle redline water wetter, 95% water, 5% coolant
Radiator: mishimoto
Fans: stock rad fan (1) and oem shroud cut to fit fmic
Coolant bypass: No

Oil: Amsoil 10w-30
Oil cooler: no

Ducting: factory underbody


Real-world Results on track: autoX and one drift event. worked great... no logs of this though.
Notes: installed low temp (160-170 degree) thermostat and oem under duct after overheating problems, then the guage didnt move all day.

I used PVC bathtub/shower liner from home depot - worked great and still holding up. Added pic to 1st post to view behind the mat..

Post title: Turbo - Garrett GT2871R .86 A/R - 350whp @ 17psi
___________

Fuel: E85
Intercooler: Precision 600hp (31x8x3.5")
Water/Meth injection: No

Water: Straight distilled, 1 bottle Redline Water Wetter
Radiator: Trackspeed Engineering 76mm dual-row
Fans: Single 14" SPAL curved-blade, no shrouding
Coolant bypass: Yes, DIY, gutted thermostat, heater core delete

Oil: RotellaT 15w40
Oil cooler: 2nd gen Rx7 oil cooler, Mocal sandwich plate, -10AN lines

Ducting: Fully ducted.
-Bumper opening is split to two chambers
-Upper chamber bypasses intercooler and feeds into top half of radiator only.
-Lower chamber feeds intercooler, then feeds bottom half of radiator only.
-Chambered duct behind intercooler so radiator-only air cannot backfeed the IC from the rear

Bumper opening modification: RB TypeII nose, mouth opening reduced, auxiliary ducts covered
Heat extraction: Rharris "cooper scooper" hood

Real-world Results on track: 20-25 minute sessions, 100*F+ temps, 200-205*F water temps, 240*F oil temps, IATs are ambient+15F with horrible intake placement
Notes: Fan runs all the time. Stone reliable. Remove any one part of it (radiator, sheetmetal ducting, oil cooler, vented hood) and I bet it would go to shit.

Pic of second chamber. IC angle is crap and needs to get fixed someday.

Attachment 189019

Pic of front mouth w/o side ducts blocked and rharris hood.

Attachment 189020

Ducting is crucial crucial crucial. There's no way this car would stay cool on track without the extensive airflow management it's got. With the baller radiator and baller ducting, though, I haven't had to cut a session short from overheating in a very long time.

Same here, subscribing. I'll need to duct eventually for when I go turbo.

That is a winning idea right there. Well done. I am going to look for that stuff next time I am at Lowes Racing Supply.

I do not have a boosted car but an LS1 conversion. There are similar issues with cooling due to the increase in power but the specifics are different so I'll stay out of this one except for a general comment. Assuming the cooling system components (radiator, IC, oil cooler) are already decent, the three main things you need are ducting, ducting, and ducting, followed by extraction, and, oh yeah I almost forgot, extraction.

Ducting raises the pressure in front of the heat exchangers, and extraction lowers the pressure behind them. The larger the pressure differential across the heat exchangers is, the more air flow you will get through the heat exchangers and the better the cooling will be. My biggest improvements in cooling performance have come from ducting and extraction. All of the flow coming in through the front is ducted through the radiator and the oil cooler. I have a Carbontrix extractor scoop on the hood and I think I'll be adding some additional louvers soon.

GeneSplicer;

I really like your setup, I'd like to try and duplicate this best I can. Do you cap the passenger well as well?

I need to get a front lip..

Edit- Do you have a picture of above around the hood latch? I assume you use the same stuff but I'd love to see it.

Here - Skip to pages 7-8 (w/full browser window) for the ducting. It's all there.... :)

Ducting pics

Genesplicer I want to make sweet love to your hood.

I will add that increasing frontal area is not the right way to go under any circumstances. With the right components and proper airflow management, you should be reducing frontal opening areas, not increasing them.

I'll be redoing the front section of my ducting for aesthetics, as well as to further pinch off the mouth opening for aerodynamic gains.

I wish there was that 'perfect' front clip that would work both cooling and aero-wise with 225+ tires. I remember the aero thread back when. I'm not hurting for cooling, that's for sure, but now getting into TT, the aero (or the lack of) is really kicking my ass.

Sav - you have about the best setup I've seen thus far staying with a modded oem clip (oops - closer look reveils RB2 clip). We needs some close-ups...

N/A, Approx 180 hp
___________

Fuel: Pump gas


Water: straight one bottle water wetter
Radiator: stock
Fans: one stock
Coolant bypass: reversed flow (enters cyl head first)
Oil: 20W-50
Oil cooler: none

Ducting: none
Bumper opening modification: stock
Heat extraction: none

Real-world Results on track: Drag racing. Made 15 passes in one day. Temp reads 180, but I have my doubts that is correct.
Notes: Still working out the kinks. I plan to feed both ends of the cylinder head from the radiator when the car is back together. I use a universal CSI remotely mounted electric water pump. I would love to see a turbo road race car try a similar set up. Not sure how reliable an electric pump is on road race cars or if it is even done.

Attachment 189003

Attachment 189004



Attachment 189005

I have no idea why the pics loaded like that.

Edit: I fixed it.

I am not trying to crap in the race section with my N/A drag car, but I thought that maybe it would inspire someone else to try either revearse flow and or an electric pump.

I have been considering an electric pump. But wasnt sure if anyone else was running one. It looks great and functional. I run a CSR electric pump on my small block Dodge Dart. I love it. I will defiantly look into this for my car. Did you gut the stock water pump?

It's been on my long-list for a long time. The biggest benefit is the ability to reverse-flow the head, which should allow for a lot more timing under high sustained loads.

What are you willing to pay? ;)

It's ugly as hell right now - when I made it I was trying a few things and wasn't spending the time to make it presentable. Now that it works, I'll rebuild it, tweak it, and make it pretty. When I rebuild it I'll snap a bunch of photos. The ideas are fairly simple, just time-consuming to implement. The same duct work on a customer car would be 400-500 in labor.

I pressed out the impeller and bearings, and welded a cap to cover the hole left by the shaft and bearings.

There are a few things I need to modify. I need to relocate my water temp gauge to a place that reads the hottest water. Also, I failed miserably with the oil filter cooler, the water is stagnent. And of coarse I need to get cooled water to both sides of the cylinder head. It looks like I am going to have to replumb almost everything.

The mistakes I made on a high powered turbo car probably would have been serious, but cools my N/A nicely. The real test will be when I am shooting nitrous, which creates a lot of heat. If I get it right, I would think it would work good on a turbo track car.

Post title: Turbo - 240+ WHP race fuel - 225 WHP street
___________

Fuel: F&L 101 race and 91 Chevron street
Intercooler: Custom PWR Extruded tube IC, 15x12x3.5
Water/Meth injection: No but I have a high pressure water misting system for Rad/IC/Oil cooler
Coolant: Evans NGP-R zero pressure no H20 system
Radiator: custom BEGi 57mm cross flow twin tube
Fans: 2 Spal (one 11 inch paddle one 11 inch slim) 2/3rd'sCobra Shroud
Coolant bypass: Yes - M-Tuned

Oil: Rotella T6 5-40
Oil cooler: DIY - 18 row Earls w/ 8AN fittings w/ modified FM brackets

Ducting: yes, lower ABS gap panels and custom under tray
Bumper opening modification: No, but TSI's ducted to top half of radiator
Heat extraction: custom louvered hood

Real-world Results on track: 20-25 min, 100+ ambient, h2o temp - 215, oil temp-260 top, recovers to 185/210 within cooldown lap
Notes: Tune is dead reliable, no issues with overheating of oil or coolant. PS fluid boils though, but not for long ;) .

Post title: I touch your privates.
___________

Fuel: 93, son
Intercooler: BEGi #3, very large
Coolant: Piss, distilled water, a couple cups of O'Reilly coolant
Thermostat: 185*
Radiator: "Radiator Barn Race" version from eBay, $120
Fans: One stock fan, on the driver's side

Oil: Rotella T6 5-40
Oil cooler: DIY - 18 row Earls w/ 10AN fittings w/ modified FM brackets, plastic ghetto ducting

My heat exchangers are ducted and the oil cooler scoops air and rocks from below, mounted to the steering rack. These is lots and lots of aluminum tape on my crummy ducting. I also have a garage full of alumalite for the next try.

Real-world Results on track: 20-45 min, 100+ ambient, h2o temp: 190-195f, oil temp-220*f.

Notes: I have the best tune of any Miata in the world, certified by Guiness. When I run a cool-down lap, my temps don't really change, oil drops to 200*f though, lol. I've run the car at Hallett for 45-minutes at 98*fat a time, run the car at TWS at 90*f ambient for the same and the temps never budge.

Can I get some more information on this?

I warned you.

Search, coolant reroute.

Dann

I have, been reading those too. Summed up, most of them are "This is how you do it. Ive been able to advance timing because of it." I want to know why though.

the stock head flows coolant from the front of the bloclk to the front of the block, the only water that is at the back is almost stagnant, it isnt forced to the back and then returns it just flows from the inlet straight out the outlet.

The rear cylinders are much hotter than the front, causing it to detonate earlier than the others, causing us to tune with 3-4 degrees less timing just to save 1 hot cylinder.

Dann

But reverse flowing is something different. Reverse flowing uses an external water pump and a gutted stock pump. The water enters through the head and leaves through the block via the water pump housing. The GM LSx engines are cooled in a head first, reverse flow manner.

CBF to explain that cheers.

Dann

The BP motor was originally a FWD application that had the thermostat at the opposite end of the head from the water pump. When mazda put it in the miata, instead of using a longer hose, they moved the thermostat to the wrong end of the head. As a result, on the RWD BP, the thermostat, coolant temp sensor and water pump are at one end of the head and there is nothing at the other end of the head except the heater core, which flows back to the water pump via a tiny pipe.

When the RWD BP is relatively cool, the thermostat will often be closed (because the front of the engine cools very rapidly) and the heater core flow will dominate flow (with the closed thermostat, it's the biggest source of water for the water pump), keeping the back of the head cool.
When the engine gets hot (because you're driving really hard and have a turbo), the thermostat stays opens and most of the water in the engine will now flow through the thermostat because it's a much bigger hose. Since the heater core is a relatively tiny hose, the hotter the engine gets, the more the thermostat flow will overwhelm the heater core flow. It eventually gets hot enough to break stuff. The whole time this is happening, the thermostat will function normally and the sensor will indicate a normal engine temperature, because all that stuff is at the front of the engine.

BP FWD- all cylinders cooled equally
Water pump ------->--[1][2][3][4]--->-- Thermostat, heater core, temp sensor
water enters engine----------------------water exits engine to radiator

BP RWD- front cylinders cooled more, rear cylinders cooled less
Water pump, thermostat, temp sensor======[1][2][3][4]-----heater core
water enters engine, exits engine to radiator------------------------heater core drains back to water pump manifold

The coolant reroute restores the original correct flow by placing the thermostat and and temp sensor at the back of the head. The whole head gets cooled and the thermostat opens and closes based on the temperature of the entire engine.

It's like 2011 all over again.

Oh fuck sorry. I must have googled up that thread looking for something else.