I have to imagine mine is an anomaly. I see 217F EVERY time I'm on the highway. It's awful I end up putting the heater on every day when it's 100 degrees out.

There is no way other AZ MSM's are having the same problem. They would easily be blowing head gaskets.

I need to get these fans in before we start hitting 110+ every day for weeks at a time, with the occasional jaunt up to 118.

 

Mine was doing 230F on I70 west through Kansas. Not a great time. Dropped right down to 195 in slower traffic. 100F and sunny at highway speeds, good luck.

 

Well I built my fan shroud last night, now I just need order these babies:

 

Fair enough- can we at least agree that ducting is a good thing and one of the steps you need to do to keep a F/I track miata cool?

 

We can definitely agree on that. It's a good thing.

 

Ducting is key, as is running an under tray, it helps prevent high pressure behind the radiator helping flow and thus cooling. Im not FI but we have our own unique cooling issues at 6000'(air density). My car came from the east coast there was no ducting, and a huge oil cooler camped in front of the radiator; twin pass afco 21.5 x 12.5 x 2.5 thick, smaller in surface area than a stock radiator, and no under tray. The first test day was 50 degrees at 4800', the car ran 210 degrees, clearly the car would overheat during race season without changes.

The changes included getting rid of the over sized oil cooler and mounting a smaller unit next to the radiator. Ducting the radiator so all air had to travel through the radiator and oil cooler, I also performed a coolant reroute, 160 thermostat and installed an under tray. The result speaks for it's self, on 95 degree days racing at 6000 feet I see temps around 180 degrees, at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca last October temps never got higher than 170!

here are a few pics small space, kind of hard to get good pics.

 

I like how you joined your custom ducting into the OEM undertray. Nicely done.

 

Hi, I thought id share more of what I am building on the onset.

I am in the mist of a ground up build of my 92 1.6 NA Miata.

The old engine and gearbox is out, and I have a 99 VVT 1.8 6 speed that's currently lined up.

My challenge, beyond the weather conditions mentioned above, is that our local track is huge, 3.5miles to be exact with long straights where our normally aspirated BP motors struggle to keep up with the competition (S2000s, Evos, Civics etc)

So the solution is go for forced induction which in itself presents the cooling problems which are currently in discussion.

I ask this separately as I believe the weather conditions is unique and not many of you stateside have this recurring problem (all year round at least)

Would a properly ducted hood be enough to drive air thru the Massive radiator, intercooler, and airconditioning exchange unit? I have an SPL fan lined up along side the 76mm trackspeed engineering radiator.

Everything else is still in the midst of being bought/planned.

Thank you all for your contributions.

 

Id add that a friend with Miata has solved this problem by building a custom v mount which separates the intercooler from the radiator/airconditioning exchange unit. But this required extensive surgery to the car which im not particularly keen on.

 

The next time I get serious with heat exchangers, the A/C condenser is going in the rear of the vehicle, and the Intercooler and Radiator are getting V-mounted with proper ducting and at least 1 fan on each heat exchanger.

 

Proper V-mount is stupid efficient. It really is worth the surgery for a track car.

-Ryan

 

Yeap I want to do a V-mount as a winter project. Can't argue with having clean air to each heat exchanger.

 

Hi Ryan, just checked out your location and u live in a pretty hot part of the world how do u cope with summer track days and forced induction please? Pics would be greatly appreciated.

 

Did I miss a thread somewhere?

 

I saw it on facebook, they were asking for volunteers from the desert to test out a prototype. I don't see enough track time to justify volunteering.

 

Ok. Onto step #1 for cooling. A new undertray. I have read this thread and I jumped over and went through the DIY Aero Thread. I still have a question or two before I jump into this project. I saw some people using ABS for an undertray, but I also saw some people had issues with it. Am I better off using ABS or Aluminum for an undertray? I saw that Emilio had some issues with the .060 ABS being too flexy and grounding out. I also konw there was a lot more front Areo on his car (flat front and ducting). I am currently just running an OEM bumper and type R-lip. It will stay that way for a while. So what material would people suggest ABS or Aluminum, also thickness? I found a local shop with ABS if that is still a good option.

Also... In my head I am thinking running from the R-lip to the middle of the front axels. Would that be an ok area for coverage?

Cooling list....
1. Undertray
2. Radiator Ducting and FMIC Ducting
3. Track Testing in July

 

If I was trying to cheap out I would use fiberglass sheet from McMaster for the undertray and ducting. Their GPO3 Electrical Grade stuff is cheap, and easy to work with.

 

I would like to stay away from fiberglass or wood. That is why I was asking about ABS or Aluminum.

(also I know nothing about working with fiberglass)

 

With any material (AL, ABS, fiberglass), remember you can always add stiffness by putting in a bend. It doesn't need to be much of a bend either.

The OEM undertray goes to the front axle line, so I'd say that's a decent location. Also, keep in mind that the OEM undertray also incorporates air outlets at the back to help drop engine compartment pressure. You should be able to do something similar with a bend that adds stiffness. Louvers also add stiffness.

 

Good call and thanks for the advice. I still have my OEM undertray in my garage. I will check it out and try to add something similar.

Louvers... I thought it was best to keep it flat. Am I mistaken due to the lack of Aero mods on my car?

A local shop (MAP) posted this EVO undertray. Are you thinking something similar? Duct air into the engine bay with them?