Need Help with low speed cooling on single turbo terminator

rrpederson

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Hello everyone, I have been fighting with this low speed/ stop and go traffic cooling issue for about a month now. My goal is to build a single turbo cobra that can be driven in the hottest of Texas summer heat and still run cool enough to use the air conditioner whenever I want. I know this wont be an easy task but I would like to try anyway. The car is an 03 cobra with a hellion single turbo, comp turbo ct-7879 and if ran too long, it overheats. It doesn't seem to reach a temperature that it will not exceed, like in most vehicles.

So far I have done the following cooling mods:

Canton aluminum radiator tank
Mishimoto radiator
70/30 mix, water/coolant
Added 6 oz. of Royal Purple's Purple ice
160 degree thermostat
Comp Turbo turbo blanket
All but a few inches of the hotside wrapped
Stock fan with the weatherstrip mod

Earico's weatherstrip mod-
http://www.svtperformance.com/forums/engine-tuning-214/772762-my-mishimoto-radiator-install.html

I don't have my water temp gauge installed yet, but it will be going in within the next week or so, so I can get more exact temps. Right now I am getting my temps from the TEST mode in the gauge cluster. I have not yet installed a head cooling mod. I have one but I am missing a part and need to have another one made. It seems to me that the car will heat up relatively slowly. For reference, it seems to heat up slower than when it was stock. Once it reaches operating temps from normal, low-traffic, driving it will stay above normal operating temperature. I have found that in the morning driving to work, it will be between 90 to 93 degrees outside. On the freeway traveling at 75 mph, it usually stays below 185 Fahrenheit. Once I get off the freeway, it takes me about 10 minutes to get to work. In that 10 minutes it can reach 194 Fahrenheit. Does that seem normal?

When driving around town, I have seen the coolant temps go from 177 F, to 191 F, while accelerating from roughly 10 mph to 65 mph normally. Not using any boost. This was in the afternoon when the outside temperature was around 100 or so. Does this seem normal?

The problem seems to be at its worst if the car has to run at idle. It is especially bad when using part throttle at low speeds. Heat builds and builds and the only way to cool the car off is to get on the freeway going 80 mph. Even then it doesn't bit come back down very much. This seems like an air flow problem to me but with limited space in the front of the a/c condenser, installing a pusher fan does not seem to be an option for me. The intercooler is taking up much of the space below the bumper support and behind it. I have measured the actual surface area on the a/c condenser that I could use to place a pusher fan, and the space is only about 6" tall and 15" wide. Looking at summit and jegs shows me that the only pusher fans that will fit in that small of an area are only moving 350 CFM. If I put two of them on there does anyone think it will make any difference? I'm thinking not.

My next move is going to be data logging intake air temps, in case they are too high. I have already checked to make sure my high speed fan is working. Does anyone have any suggestions on what else to do next? I'm kind of stumped. I have done many searches and haven't found too many other with this exact problem. Any help would be much appreciated. Sorry for the novel. Thanks very much in advance.

Richie
 
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HFBPA889

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Are you overheating? Your temps seem fairly normal to me. My car has similar temps, never thought it was a issue.
 

AntiHeightPunk

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mine gets pretty hot so im working on cooling, with 2 trans coolers mounted in front of the intercooler in front of the radiator
tweaking is coming
 

rrpederson

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Antiheight- I looked into getting a Mark VIII fan but, unless I'm mistaken, the dimensions are too big. I had to trim the stock fan shroud quite a bit to make it fit, due to the placement of the turbo and 4" downpipe.

HFBP- Yes, if I continue to drive the car for a longer period of time without air conditioning, or in a shorter amount of time and I use the air conditioning it will overheat.

itslow- What kind of temperatures do you experience in the summertime in your part of the country?

Anyone have any more ideas? I tried datalogging this morning on the way to work, but I messed it up.
 

hotcobra03

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Over heat as in coolant blowing out cap?

Air is a big problem..I had the tinest of leak and that caused this issue.

Mine would start to overheat 1hr into drive..like clock work..

Jar of barrs leak. Problem solved..
 

rrpederson

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Hotcobra- I don't let it get so hot that it will puke coolant. I will pull it over and shut it down before coolant temps reach 222.

Update** did some datalogging, still trying to figure out how to make use of the info, but today with no air conditioning, driving at around 70, temps stayed under 200 or so in 107 degree weather. After making note that the coolant temps weren't moving much, I turned the air conditioning on to see how hot it would get. By the time I got to my house, the coolant temps had risen to 220, and it looked like it might still climb.

While I had the hood up to check if the fan was running, I checked the air flow through the top portion of A/C condenser, behind the snake. The air flow there seemed good, but when I felt the airflow at the intercooler, there is no airflow through the intercooler while sitting still. Also when I looked closer, I noticed the bumper support is another thing blocking airflow. I believe if I remove or modify the bumper support and some of that foam, and partially box in the radiator to direct air flow into the entire radiator and not just a portion, then that might be one step closer to my goal. What do you guys think?

Thanks everyone for the replies and ideas. I really appreciate you.
 

hotcobra03

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Hotcobra- I don't let it get so hot that it will puke coolant. I will pull it over and shut it down before coolant temps reach 222.

Update** did some datalogging, still trying to figure out how to make use of the info, but today with no air conditioning, driving at around 70, temps stayed under 200 or so in 107 degree weather. After making note that the coolant temps weren't moving much, I turned the air conditioning on to see how hot it would get. By the time I got to my house, the coolant temps had risen to 220, and it looked like it might still climb.

While I had the hood up to check if the fan was running, I checked the air flow through the top portion of A/C condenser, behind the snake. The air flow there seemed good, but when I felt the airflow at the intercooler, there is no airflow through the intercooler while sitting still. Also when I looked closer, I noticed the bumper support is another thing blocking airflow. I believe if I remove or modify the bumper support and some of that foam, and partially box in the radiator to direct air flow into the entire radiator and not just a portion, then that might be one step closer to my goal. What do you guys think?

aThanks everyone for the replies and ideas. I really appreciate you.


during my testing south texas heat..I found the air is just to hot to help.

I seen 60 mph vs 70vs 80 made a big difference in how fast temps drop.or climb.


im in same shoe..ac on temps go 228

guage on dash still strait up..

I have new ac ready to install.just need new lines..than I will see if 10 yr old ac is cause..

if I put garden hose on radiator it sits 170 with ac on at idle all day
 

rrpederson

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during my testing south texas heat..I found the air is just to hot to help.

I seen 60 mph vs 70vs 80 made a big difference in how fast temps drop.or climb.


im in same shoe..ac on temps go 228

guage on dash still strait up..

I have new ac ready to install.just need new lines..than I will see if 10 yr old ac is cause..

if I put garden hose on radiator it sits 170 with ac on at idle all day

My compressor, lines, evap and everything is new, well maybe a year old. I would have suspected the same thing if not for that. I'm seriously considering removing the bumper support and the. Seeing how the temps are. There is a large portion of the condenser and radiator that is being covered by it. In my case the bottom half of the condenser and radiator are covered with the intercooler. So maybe I need to do something with that. Do you have a turbo as well? Also I added the thread containing earico's weather strip mod and how he did it to the original post. Maybe look into in.
 

SVTDice

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You may want to look into getting a more beefy Air Dam. Or check if your Air dam is there at all. That's the only thing I can think of right now. For Idling and part throttle may want to look into some Mark 8 fans as well.

But either way. You're in a very hot area. As long as you're not full on overheating you should be "Okay"
 

racebronco2

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I wouldn't worry to much about temps in the 220 range in the heat of the day in traffic. I have had my car on track as high as 240* before i started modding the cooling system. The mark viii is a little taller than the stock, it will help some but without the air exiting somewhere you will still have the problem. You need to get a real heat extractor hood. With my hood and the car idling in my garage you can feel when the Mark Viii fan kick in. Sitting in the driver's seat all you need to do is to put your hand forward and you can feel the heated airflow from the engine compartment.
 

rrpederson

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You may want to look into getting a more beefy Air Dam. Or check if your Air dam is there at all. That's the only thing I can think of right now. For Idling and part throttle may want to look into some Mark 8 fans as well.

But either way. You're in a very hot area. As long as you're not full on overheating you should be "Okay"

Yeah my air dam is gone. I will likely do the bigger wider air dam, outlined in one of jimmysidecar's threads, but it won't improve the airflow at low speed or idle.

I also looked deeper into things and I think my intercooler is blocking a bunch of airflow. There is literally no air being drawn through it while sitting still. Does anyone out there have a turbo setup where their inercooler is not flush to their A/C condenser? If this is possible to do, I think it would improve the fan's ability to draw air through the radiator. Can the intercooler be brought away from the A/C condenser without any problems?
 

rrpederson

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I wouldn't worry to much about temps in the 220 range in the heat of the day in traffic. I have had my car on track as high as 240* before i started modding the cooling system. The mark viii is a little taller than the stock, it will help some but without the air exiting somewhere you will still have the problem. You need to get a real heat extractor hood. With my hood and the car idling in my garage you can feel when the Mark Viii fan kick in. Sitting in the driver's seat all you need to do is to put your hand forward and you can feel the heated airflow from the engine compartment.

Could you enlighten me on the dimensions of the Mark VIII fan?

I just sent jimmysidecar a pm about the tiger racing louvered hood but its still too soon yet.
 

AntiHeightPunk

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I wouldn't worry to much about temps in the 220 range in the heat of the day in traffic. I have had my car on track as high as 240* before i started modding the cooling system. The mark viii is a little taller than the stock, it will help some but without the air exiting somewhere you will still have the problem. You need to get a real heat extractor hood. With my hood and the car idling in my garage you can feel when the Mark Viii fan kick in. Sitting in the driver's seat all you need to do is to put your hand forward and you can feel the heated airflow from the engine compartment.

where can i get a good hood to get rid of heat?
 

rrpederson

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where can i get a good hood to get rid of heat?

Well google tiger racing mustang hood and it will show an awesome one. But as of right now, they aren't being made for our cars. I was thinking about just taking my hood to a place for custom body work. Rain be damned.
 

racebronco2

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racebronco2

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The more people in the group buy the cheaper it will be. I'll start a thread in mid september, i first need to talk to Ron and Steve.
 

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