Already mentioned, but post pics of your shrouding. I don't think a 200whp miata needs every cooling mod in the book, sounds to me like something is off. Given how bad miata ducting is, that's my guess. No matter how good your radiator, water pump, etc etc is, if you only have X amount of air going through the radiator, that limits how much heat you can shed. Also if ducting can be improved, that's cheap and lightweight too.

 

While I have no regrets going to the TSE radiator, I didn't really need need it. Andrew just talked me into it while I was buying several other things from him.

At 300hp my smaller aluminum radiator was doing a pretty good job holding temps below dangerous levels in 100º heat with full radiator cowling.

Do the cowling first, then, if necessary, give Andrew all your monies.

 

M-tuned reroute is done with 94-00 head gasket. New 949 water pump. Ducting all redone. (went a little crazy with "Great Stuff"!) Removal of AC fan. Moved my FMIC back closer to the rotrex oil cooler to allow a larger path of air around it to the radiator. I have a track day July13. There are (5) 1/2 hour sessions so I ought to know if there is any improvement. If there isn't there will be a (mostly) very nice street legal track Miata for sale!

 

Has anyone figured out a way to fit 2 fans with the bigass TSE radiator in an NB with a 1.125" front bar? Objective is best a/c with stop'n'go driving.

 

Funny I was looking at how much room I had (without AC fan) to install this if all else fails. I would have to relocate or replace my OEM fan because it won't fit with a 3" radiator. I think Andrew recommends one fan in the middle. Maybe one bigger fan would be enough. I'd check with Andrew. I'm betting someone has done this

 

I think it's impossible from the pics I've seen of that radiator in a NB.

I think it's a lot easier (possible) to use a smaller radiator, and bigger fans.

 

I've got a TSE rad and a big-*** spal in my car, but I eliminated AC and am using the AC condenser mount holes for the bottom mounts on the TSE rad.





Note that the TSE rad only has one set of fan mounts welded to it, so you'd need to address that before you could even think about fore/aft clearance.

--Ian

 

Good to see I'm not the only fan of the aluminized tape!

 

Drove the car to and from work today... about 25 minute drive each way. It was pretty cool today. 60s. Temps would not go over 180*! That's a first! Normally, even with the 180*tsat it goes right up to at least 195* right away. I got a CEL PO128. I think that's thermostat is stuck open. Is the computer looking for it to heat up to 195* in a certain time? I'll live with the CEL if I get lower temps

 

One thing I am seeing is you do not have the plastic undertray that goes behind the radiator.

You might have the entire front ducted so whatever goes into the front bodywork gets forced though the radiator, good, but the air flows due to a pressure differential.

Right now what is likely happening is that air is going under the bumper and then when it passes the radiatior is spilling up and causing all the air in the enginebay to be turbulent. By installing the undertray (or some other ducting that goes along the bottom and sides ) it creates a low pressure zone behind the radiator and the engine bay, helping suck hot air out along the trans tunnel

The air in the engine bay is being slightly pressurized and/or backflow due to this turbulent air, so the flow from the ducted side of the rad into the engine bay is poor at speed.

If the undertray was in place the engine bay pressure would be lower and then the air would move itself though the radiator faster, thus transferring heat out of the rad system at the same time.

 

That is CODRUS, not me. I believe he was just showing the fan clearance not asking for help. I have my belly pan in place, although it is butchered up to fit!!

 

Yeah, Ian (Codrus) has his **** on lock, no worries there.

 

Moving the IC back to allow more air around it and over it made a big difference for me when I first installed my turbo. I originally had the IC way up in the bumper mouth and it was stifling the airflow badly. Moving it back helped a lot. Then as I turned up the power, the engine oil cooler had to be added, and the triple pass radiator with Spal fan and shroud (still has A/C). Even with the silly A/C condenser in the way it seems to be doing pretty well in reasonably hot weather on the track. I haven't run it in the middle of the summer here since the rad/Spal addition because it is miserable to try, even with a cool shirt.

 

Yeah, those are my photos, uploaded to illustrate clearances with big-*** fans and TSE rads.

The under tray was off in those shots because I was installing crap at the time, it gets put on for track days. Sometimes I'm lazy about putting it back on after taking it off to do something, it hasn't proven to be necessary for keeping the car cool on the street in San Jose.

Actually, the only time the car has ever overheated on the street was when I tried to run the AC in Las Vegas with ambient temps of 117F. That was a decade and many cooling system revisions ago.

--Ian

 

<p>&nbsp;</p><p></p><p>That might be my issue as well. MAT stays low, but cannot boost and run A/C at same time if ambient is 100*F. I plan to do the reroute first, and then, if more is needed try to get some air to bypass the FMIC. So you think it would work to cut back some ot the top of the bumper cover inlet, and allow air to flow over the actual bumper? (I'm not looking at the actual car).</p><p>Conversely, don't some people purposefully duct such that all air is forced through FMIC, Condensor, Radiator in that order (zero bypass)?</p><p>EDIT: I also have foam stuffed between the sides of the IC and the Air Guide. I'll pull that and see if it helps. That should bypass some of the air around the IC and guide it in the normal, stock, manner.</p><p>&nbsp;</p>

 

If you look at the top of the bumper mouth there is some room to trim both the bumper cover and black plastic inner bumper to give another inch or two of inlet area through the mouth most of the way across. I also sealed the huge gaps between the bumper cover and black inner bumper with cut blocks of upholstery foam. There are openings big enough to put your fist through that bleed off air towards the outsides and into the wheelwells.

Upholstery foam is cheap at any fabric store.

 

Did you do this bumper trimming? Do you have pics?

 

Yes, I opened mine up. And I sealed up inside the bumper cover as I mentioned (which is probably even more important than making the opening larger). I'm having some browser conflicts with trying to get to my photobucket pictures, though.

 

I tried that on my car back in 2008, but it was condenser, IC, radiator, all sealed 100% to each other. It resulted in better a/c performance, don't remember on AITs but I think they were better, I know they didn't get worse, and it overheated on the radiator big time, especially at highway speeds.

Ended up un-sealing them so the radiator could get some clean air, which helped a lot at keeping the radiator happy.

 

^Yes. It is more important that the radiator get air than the intercooler.