Miata cooling system thread
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From: Canberra, sort of
I have avoided the cutting of that bracing, for same reason - concern at impact on structural rigidity. Plus authorities here would go ape-***** if they twigged.
But that, now that is gold. Looks solid, well secured to the two rails - probably stronger/stiffer than the original (at some weight penalty).. Give it a coat of engine bay paint, and it could be original.
But that, now that is gold. Looks solid, well secured to the two rails - probably stronger/stiffer than the original (at some weight penalty).. Give it a coat of engine bay paint, and it could be original.
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From: Lake Forest, CA
Considerably lighter than the OEM bumper bar, and much closer to the center of the car for improved PMI.
It's neat, maybe we should have made them haha. But frankly, you'll notice our catalog includes almost nothing that you can't just bolt on in your garage, with the exception of internal engine parts which we are slowly phasing out. This is by design. This is more of a DIY piece that would inevitably require more customer support, doesn't really fit in with what we do. Pretty neat piece, though.
It's neat, maybe we should have made them haha. But frankly, you'll notice our catalog includes almost nothing that you can't just bolt on in your garage, with the exception of internal engine parts which we are slowly phasing out. This is by design. This is more of a DIY piece that would inevitably require more customer support, doesn't really fit in with what we do. Pretty neat piece, though.
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Yup, the center plate is 3/8" thick 6061 T-6 aluminum plate. Not heavy even with the steel brackets on each end.
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So I just installed the Flyin Miata stage one turbo kit on my track Miata (2003). I live in California and run Thunderhill several times a year. We’re talking 80 degrees on a cool day. Last year one event hit 113. I do not daily the car but I do drive it to and from the track so I’d love to not have to delete the AC.
here’s what I have for cooling:
koyorad 36mm rad (not crossflow)
stock fans
FM reroute
singular motorsports NC hood vents
radiator cowl
lots of aluminum tape to better seal rad
distilled water with water wetter
FM Setrab oil cooler
does this sound like a beefy enough setup for a ~180-200 whp track car?
here’s what I have for cooling:
koyorad 36mm rad (not crossflow)
stock fans
FM reroute
singular motorsports NC hood vents
radiator cowl
lots of aluminum tape to better seal rad
distilled water with water wetter
FM Setrab oil cooler
does this sound like a beefy enough setup for a ~180-200 whp track car?
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So I just installed the Flyin Miata stage one turbo kit on my track Miata (2003). I live in California and run Thunderhill several times a year. We’re talking 80 degrees on a cool day. Last year one event hit 113. I do not daily the car but I do drive it to and from the track so I’d love to not have to delete the AC.
here’s what I have for cooling:
koyorad 36mm rad (not crossflow)
stock fans
FM reroute
singular motorsports NC hood vents
radiator cowl
lots of aluminum tape to better seal rad
distilled water with water wetter
FM Setrab oil cooler
does this sound like a beefy enough setup for a ~180-200 whp track car?
here’s what I have for cooling:
koyorad 36mm rad (not crossflow)
stock fans
FM reroute
singular motorsports NC hood vents
radiator cowl
lots of aluminum tape to better seal rad
distilled water with water wetter
FM Setrab oil cooler
does this sound like a beefy enough setup for a ~180-200 whp track car?
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His 2003 is an NB.
That's a very reasonable power level. The 36mm rad is a bit small but the oil cooler is a major improvement. At those low power numbers, with good sealing, and avoiding blocking the bumper mouth too much with the intercooler, you may be just fine. Try it and see. Remember when setting the coolers up that the radiator and oil cooler are more important than the intercooler.
That's a very reasonable power level. The 36mm rad is a bit small but the oil cooler is a major improvement. At those low power numbers, with good sealing, and avoiding blocking the bumper mouth too much with the intercooler, you may be just fine. Try it and see. Remember when setting the coolers up that the radiator and oil cooler are more important than the intercooler.
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So I just installed the Flyin Miata stage one turbo kit on my track Miata (2003). I live in California and run Thunderhill several times a year. We’re talking 80 degrees on a cool day. Last year one event hit 113. I do not daily the car but I do drive it to and from the track so I’d love to not have to delete the AC.
here’s what I have for cooling:
koyorad 36mm rad (not crossflow)
stock fans
FM reroute
singular motorsports NC hood vents
radiator cowl
lots of aluminum tape to better seal rad
distilled water with water wetter
FM Setrab oil cooler
does this sound like a beefy enough setup for a ~180-200 whp track car?
here’s what I have for cooling:
koyorad 36mm rad (not crossflow)
stock fans
FM reroute
singular motorsports NC hood vents
radiator cowl
lots of aluminum tape to better seal rad
distilled water with water wetter
FM Setrab oil cooler
does this sound like a beefy enough setup for a ~180-200 whp track car?
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Fans and shrouds
On a track car, only one fan is needed and no extra shrouds. We use one OEM fan and call it a day. Any extra shrouding actually inhibits high air flow mass at higher speeds on cars with adequate ducting. There is a sort of minimum air flow mass required to cool a high hp track car. Add full coverage shrouds for low speed, light load street cooling problems and you are handicapping high speed, high load airflow. On cars that are more street oriented, have A/C and big power, fans can help bandaid airflow enough to keep it alive if it never goes on track. If that same car that requires massive dual fans to survive on the street ever gets driven in anger on the track.. it’s a better idea to ditch the shrouds, start cutting up the hood and improve ducting through the nose. You will rarely see fans and full coverage shrouds on a purpose built racecar unless it's an offroad car where low speeds and debris are concern for an externally mounted core.
On a track car, only one fan is needed and no extra shrouds. We use one OEM fan and call it a day. Any extra shrouding actually inhibits high air flow mass at higher speeds on cars with adequate ducting. There is a sort of minimum air flow mass required to cool a high hp track car. Add full coverage shrouds for low speed, light load street cooling problems and you are handicapping high speed, high load airflow. On cars that are more street oriented, have A/C and big power, fans can help bandaid airflow enough to keep it alive if it never goes on track. If that same car that requires massive dual fans to survive on the street ever gets driven in anger on the track.. it’s a better idea to ditch the shrouds, start cutting up the hood and improve ducting through the nose. You will rarely see fans and full coverage shrouds on a purpose built racecar unless it's an offroad car where low speeds and debris are concern for an externally mounted core.
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I still run AC b/c it is a street car in Florida. I've been trying to do testing to see at what MPH that the fan on reduces cooling (via datalogging), but I'm up to 85/90 and street driving isn't going to allow much more than that. At that speed, having the fans on or off seems to have the same effect. Has anyone done track or street testing at what speed it makes sense to turn the fans off and let wind physics do the work?
I've seen no change in temps by shutting off the fans at 20mph. But I have a good effective duct system forcing all of the air through the radiator. This is on both a 250whp turbo BP and a 500whp LS motor both on the same size radiator.
Also as a data point I did an entire track weekend without a functional fan, no issues even coming into the pits and taking a good while to creep back to my Pit spot
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Years ago (22?) I did some testing on this with a manometer. What I came up with was about 15mph before fans stopped doing more than the airflow from car movement. This is why we only recommend dual or heavy duty fans for FMIC + A/C cars in stop and go traffic or autocross. For everyone else, one stock fan and good ducting keeps things cool.
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I have one OE fan on my K24 track car. ECU turns it off above 20mph. No real ducting, but also no A/C condenser or anything else in front of the rad. No cooling problems, but I should put some ducting in just to be safe.
I've seen more people have problems with aftermarket fans + shrouds + bandaids than have problems with the stock setup (or less).
I've seen more people have problems with aftermarket fans + shrouds + bandaids than have problems with the stock setup (or less).
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I have one OE fan on my K24 track car. ECU turns it off above 20mph. No real ducting, but also no A/C condenser or anything else in front of the rad. No cooling problems, but I should put some ducting in just to be safe.
I've seen more people have problems with aftermarket fans + shrouds + bandaids than have problems with the stock setup (or less).
I've seen more people have problems with aftermarket fans + shrouds + bandaids than have problems with the stock setup (or less).
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Crossflow radiator question
Ive got a supermiata radiator in my turbo car. It works pretty good, especially at lower boost/hp. I want to turn it up to 300whp next year. Yes I have ducting and hood vents. Considering buying this radiator. Is it a upgrade over the supermiata crossflow? Id assume yes? Id really like the track speed radiator but they stopped making it while ago....
https://5xracing.com/i-23993340-esr-...-radiator.html
https://5xracing.com/i-23993340-esr-...-radiator.html
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By full coverage shrouds, do you mean like the ones that Flyin Miata sells to stick on the back side of their radiators (I think they visually look stupid, even if they aren't worse)
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Ive got a supermiata radiator in my turbo car. It works pretty good, especially at lower boost/hp. I want to turn it up to 300whp next year. Yes I have ducting and hood vents. Considering buying this radiator. Is it a upgrade over the supermiata crossflow? Id assume yes? Id really like the track speed radiator but they stopped making it while ago....
https://5xracing.com/i-23993340-esr-...-radiator.html
https://5xracing.com/i-23993340-esr-...-radiator.html
I wrote out a bunch of stuff here, but this is the cooling system thread. I'd just be regurgitating what's already in here.
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Don't waste your money. The ESR radiator is specifically designed for the unique world of Spec Miata championship winning. A lot of its value comes from the fact that it increases the coolant capacity by a large amount. It's one of those things where they engineer around a ruleset.
I wrote out a bunch of stuff here, but this is the cooling system thread. I'd just be regurgitating what's already in here.
I wrote out a bunch of stuff here, but this is the cooling system thread. I'd just be regurgitating what's already in here.
Okay thanks for the info. Is there a better radiator i can buy?
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From: Canberra, sort of
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From: Lake Forest, CA
It just depends on what you're doing. Try to avoid using "better" as a question on its own. Go for "better for x".
The crossflow is the most efficient radiator available for the Miata. If you can get airflow through it, it'll keep the car cool. In some racing series where you're doing a bunch of bump drafting and there's very little airflow through the radiator, or when drifting, other elements become more important. Drift cars rely on fans much more than HPDE cars, and Spec Miatas rely on having a big heat sink up front a-la Trackspeed radiator, and that ESR beast up there.
The crossflow is the most efficient radiator available for the Miata. If you can get airflow through it, it'll keep the car cool. In some racing series where you're doing a bunch of bump drafting and there's very little airflow through the radiator, or when drifting, other elements become more important. Drift cars rely on fans much more than HPDE cars, and Spec Miatas rely on having a big heat sink up front a-la Trackspeed radiator, and that ESR beast up there.
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