I am genuinely interested in this setup, once you have a final product I will likely be in the market for this exact solution. Are the fans higher CFM over stock, I feel like the stock fans are so weak that that could be part of the problem with the car running hot. What people really don't see is that about half of the radiator is not in the direct airflow path from the "mouth" of the front end, so the fans have to work harder to draw air over the rest of the core.

I'm almost done installing my P&L Motorsports kit so yeah I know more fan clearance would be a god send, as it is right now the intake housing of the turbo is almost resting on the fan shroud...

It's a fair deal considering that the HKS and Greddy oil coolers are going for around $1k...and the Robispec solution kills two birds with one stone.

The fans probably don't even run at speed.

I do like his solution if I were replacing the radiator though. :thumbup:

That's entirely possible if they are thermostat driven, I will likely rewire them to a switch in the cabin so i can have them on 100% of the time.

Why would you want them on all the time?

You beat me to it.

1) This car runs hot.
2) Half of the radiator doesn't get direct airflow from the opening in the bumper...so you can see, everything above the bumper bar is blocked from direct airflow and has to rely on negative air pressure in the engine compartment to pull air through sections of the core. Heres a pic to give you an idea:

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y21...ps6cd8c3ad.jpg

3) Air has to pass through my intercooler, A/C condenser, and finally the radiator, every little bit of airflow generated helps.
4) I live in Phoenix Arizona, during the summer it can reach 120 degrees F. All of the above reasons are even more applicable when trying to run cooler.

I used to track motorcycles and one of the things people regularly did was wired up the fans to a switch so you could keep them running even at temps lower than the thermostat threshold. The fans on cars are no where near annoying sounding over the sound of the engine/turbo. The last thing about running the fans constantly is that my turbo is air cooled, constant airflow over the turbo will help longevity...plus I can wire my fans to be able to be turned on with the engine off to help cool it down. We all know this engine takes a while to cool off.

Cars can run too cold also. What are your water temps? I've run track cars without ANY fans at all in Florida heat and humidity, not 120 degrees, but hot enough, and never ran hot. :shrug:

I'd just be curious to see what the temps are and to see if more CFM is flowing past the radiator at speed already than the fans can even flow :)

It could be, but I am pretty sure that the radiator is not suited for turbocharged engines. I am looking at all the possibilities to keep from having to deal with heat soak and the issues that arise from a poorly cooled engine. Once i get this thing up and running again i will be flogging the piss out of it with the base tune of about 5 PSI, just to see how the car handles the extra heat from the turbo setup. I think i will be more than fine this time of year but as summer approaches I want to ensure that my engine doesn't pop because of heat issues.

What oil cooler are you running?(about to go order one after reading your posts and heat talk, planning some FI next)

I agree with that if you are tracking the car boosted :thumbup: Well I'm inclined to agree pending evidence one way or the other. I'm just not sure running the fans all the time is the answer, a real radiator like Robi's is.

@Supermassive - You might already be aware but at high speeds the fans actually become a hindrance. There is a point of equilibrium where the speed of the air passing thru the rads will be faster than the what the fans can pull - this happens on high speed tracks. At that point the fans actually decrease cooling significantly because the fans themselves cause the blockage. IMO it's always best to run a thermostat fan switch even at say.. a low 190F trigger point.

It also gets more complicated to where a vented hood might make more sense too. The air has got to escape somewhere and the easier it can escape the less you rely on fans. Like you said, negative underhood air pressure.

The more heat exchangers you place in front of the rad the more the velocity of the air is decreased so in hot AZ temps and with a IC, Trans Cooler, Oil Cooler, AC condenser, etc then you might need the fans to come on all the time. I guess when it comes down to it and you're out there track testing and you notice that your setup is still running hot.. try a thermostat to turn off the fans at temp. Please let us know your results!

This was what I was addressing.

To achieve the function/solution of this design is absolutely not $1200, but build quality with a "plug and play" install combined with a OE like fit naturally add quite a bit of value. I just went off the pic and didn't mean any thing negative.

My comment was strictly based on the photo and function of the device and cost of parts. Should be an excellent solution for a daily driven car. Honda has been doing this exact same thing for the last 15 years it's it's worked very well for them, with the exception that their coolant lines to the exchanger/plate don't come off the radiator. For a N/A setup or a daily driver option, I concur, best solution. Thumbs up.


Since people have posted FMIC/Turbo pictures in this thread it's worth noting:

In the that other VMIC thread where the turbo FRS was driven at the track, the host commented that it "got hot" and in that he was referring to the Coolant. If the cooling capacity of the radiator is already taxed, trying to cool your 300F oil may not be the right route to take in addressing your heating/cooling problems. In this case having your oil cooling separate from your coolant cooling will be more effective in evacuating heat.

:word:

Spot on. But this is only under the assumption that there is nothing impeding the airflow to the radiator and there are no areas around/above/underneath the radiator that would be easier for the air to flow to. If there are alternative directions of flow for the air or there is turbulence caused by having things in front of it then the actual rate of flow of the air through the radiator can actually be reduced (quite easily so) to be LESS than what the fans can pull.

So it is very important to install proper radiator shrouding so the air can ONLY flow through the radiator. This will dramatically increase its cooling potential.

True, but may I add a caveat regarding the extent of the decrease.

If there is no air gap between the things blocking the radiator and the radiator itself (sitting flush) then no gap = no turbulence and if that is combined with proper shrouding (nowhere else for the air to flow) then it will flow through all items with a very small decrease in flow.

However, if you have a FMIC, A/C condenser and an oil cooler all sitting up front and none of them sitting flush AND no shrouding... Then baby, let those radiator fans fly, cuz you're gonna need 'em!



p.s. we ALL have a turbulence-inducing-air-gap from the factory via the A/C Condenser. Just sayin'.