To make a long story short, I am having cooling issues with a 2003 Mach 1 when open tracking it. It has a Vortech V3 supercharger with an air-to-air intercooler making about 450 whp. I don't have any cooling problems on the street or at the drag strip. I only have problems when I'm pushing it hard for extended periods of time on curvy canyon roads or HPDE/track days. The coolant temperature, as read via the ODBII port and Torque app, slowly but surely rises. Once it gets past 230 F, I start to get worried and upshift and/or drive slower to get the temperature back under control. The more technical (and thus slower) the course, the faster it overheats. I guess this makes sense because there is less airflow through the radiator at slower speeds. It is especially bad on courses where I'm spending a good amount of the time in 2nd gear at high RPMs.
Over the past several years, I have more or less replaced the entire cooling system and made numerous modifications to attempt to address this issue. While these changes have helped somewhat by making it take longer for the car to overheat, the underlying problem still persists. Here is a list of what I have done so far:
- Replaced radiator with a new Mishimoto unit.
- Replaced the OEM fan with a new one from Ford after the bearings went bad.
- Got rid of the overly-complicated factory coolant crossover setup and replaced it with an On3 coolant crossover delete and GT-style lower radiator hose.
- Replaced water pump with an aftermarket high-flow unit (has a few more blades on it).
- Put a spring in the lower radiator hose after noticing that it was collapsing.
- Replaced the coolant mixture several times in the process of replacing parts.
- Tried using coolant additives and a higher percentage of water.
- Removed the AC system completely.
- Removed the hood liner and rubber shaker grommet.
- Added louvers/vents to the hood.
- Removed the stock bumper and bumper foam and replaced it with a tubular bumper because the stock piece was right up against the air-to-air intercooler and blocking airflow.
- Attached a sheet of aluminum under the front of the car to direct air to the intercooler and radiator (an attempt to box in the radiator, but only on the underside).
- Cut out a portion of the lower bumper cover.
After doing all that, I'm about at my wits end. I can only think of a few remaining options:
- Replace the Mishimoto (2-core) with the thicker Fluidyne unit (3-core). I'm hesitant to do this because I will either need to tuck the radiator or install a slimmer fan so I don't get clearance issues with the supercharger.
- Install a higher CFM puller fan or add a pusher fan in addition to the OEM Ford fan. I know this probably won't help at higher speeds, but it may help at lower speeds where I'm not getting enough air flow.
- Ask my tuner for less timing and more fuel at higher RPMs.
- Remove the factory oil cooler and/or add an aftermarket oil cooler.
I’m leaning toward doing something with the radiator fan, as I think the underlying issue is that I’m simply not getting enough airflow, especially at lower speeds. Unfortunately, though, it looks like a lot of the direct-fit aftermarket fans aren’t that great (lower CFM than the Ford one or bad reliability).
Does anyone have any recommendations? Thanks.
Over the past several years, I have more or less replaced the entire cooling system and made numerous modifications to attempt to address this issue. While these changes have helped somewhat by making it take longer for the car to overheat, the underlying problem still persists. Here is a list of what I have done so far:
- Replaced radiator with a new Mishimoto unit.
- Replaced the OEM fan with a new one from Ford after the bearings went bad.
- Got rid of the overly-complicated factory coolant crossover setup and replaced it with an On3 coolant crossover delete and GT-style lower radiator hose.
- Replaced water pump with an aftermarket high-flow unit (has a few more blades on it).
- Put a spring in the lower radiator hose after noticing that it was collapsing.
- Replaced the coolant mixture several times in the process of replacing parts.
- Tried using coolant additives and a higher percentage of water.
- Removed the AC system completely.
- Removed the hood liner and rubber shaker grommet.
- Added louvers/vents to the hood.
- Removed the stock bumper and bumper foam and replaced it with a tubular bumper because the stock piece was right up against the air-to-air intercooler and blocking airflow.
- Attached a sheet of aluminum under the front of the car to direct air to the intercooler and radiator (an attempt to box in the radiator, but only on the underside).
- Cut out a portion of the lower bumper cover.
After doing all that, I'm about at my wits end. I can only think of a few remaining options:
- Replace the Mishimoto (2-core) with the thicker Fluidyne unit (3-core). I'm hesitant to do this because I will either need to tuck the radiator or install a slimmer fan so I don't get clearance issues with the supercharger.
- Install a higher CFM puller fan or add a pusher fan in addition to the OEM Ford fan. I know this probably won't help at higher speeds, but it may help at lower speeds where I'm not getting enough air flow.
- Ask my tuner for less timing and more fuel at higher RPMs.
- Remove the factory oil cooler and/or add an aftermarket oil cooler.
I’m leaning toward doing something with the radiator fan, as I think the underlying issue is that I’m simply not getting enough airflow, especially at lower speeds. Unfortunately, though, it looks like a lot of the direct-fit aftermarket fans aren’t that great (lower CFM than the Ford one or bad reliability).
Does anyone have any recommendations? Thanks.