Heat bad for your car? Ways to cool it?
 

Hi guys, new here and I just bought my first car. A white-out FRS :thumbup:

Had a Miata (was my parents). Rear-ended and totaled :(.

Anyways, I live in an area where it gets to 115+ multiple times a year. I noticed my miata and my GFs Accent don't feel quite right after about 110+. The best way I can describe is, the cars start feeling.. lazy? especially my GFs car. I'm sure on the pavement it's probably another 20-30 degrees hotter too.

I was wondering if this is putting wear the drivetrain? And if so, what could be done to help keep the engine cool? For example, maybe a cold air intake?

I actually had another question that I'll ask here so I don't have to start a new thread. I've been trying to teach my GF stick but she is too scared. Anyone have any advice on how I can convince my GF to learn? I think it's something important that everyone should know how to do.

Move north? A cold-air intake provides cooler, denser air for the intake system, typically farther away from the engine heat under the hood. When the air itself is on fire, what can you do?

You lose a bit of power when it's that hot, as the air isn't as dense. A CAI would help a *tiny* bit, in theory. Maybe not a noticeable difference. Your GF would probably be more comfortable learning to drive stick in a car no one cares about.. not your FRS. Find her an old beater civic/corolla/focus or whatever, teach her the basics, and send her out to learn by driving on her own. I taught my gf with my corolla that way. She's decent now... but will still never drive my FRS lol.

Funny story about teaching our GFs stick shift. My dad owned a '69 Boss 429 when he was in his early 20s. How he taught my mom to drive it was she needed a ride home from my dads office. He threw her the keys and said, "I have to get to an emergency meeting. You better just drive home, I'll be a few hours." Pretty ballsy of my dad haha

My GF drove my Miata in a parking lot and didn't stall it once. I think she will be fine with the FRS. The miata had an awesome trans but this FRS is AMAZING.

I'll look into the CAI. The laziness might have been because my Miata and my GFs accent are pretty old so maybe a newer car will be fine?

drive w/o a hood

Some cars will pull timing when it is very hot, thus less power.

Your FR-S will be OK in the heat as long as it's not FI.

humfrz

Ah, of course, of course. And I'll hook up a mister :D

Okay, great! Thanks for the help!

I bet if you ran e85, the cooling effect of the fuel would counteract the heat pretty well. You'd just need a tune. Course you'd need a station with it nearby.

Stock intake already pulls dense air from infront of the bumper. You could always just get a tube replacement to smooth out the air between the filter box and the intake.

You might also want to get an oil cooler. But this is way more expensive than an intake tube replacement.

Run your AC vents into your intake. BAM Instant Cold Air.

1. Offer your FRS a bowl of water, or ice cream.
2. A cold air intake is not going to "keep the engine cool".
3. How are you going to teach a woman to drive? Do you have a very large kitchen?

When i drove to Vegas last month it did feel like i lost some power, i couldnt imagine being out there all summer..an oil cooler would definately be my first mod if i lived there

I'm here to answer one thing about the learning manual transmission part:

I learned on my FRS. I'm still learning, but one could say I'm getting good enough for it not to be a problem anymore.

The best way to teach someone would be to show her a few videos showing the basic technique (two of my favorites are
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhRwgRN3f1A"]this one[/ame]
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slBxtYWKdjo"]this one[/ame])

and teaching her how a transmission/clutch works.

I learned that and I quickly got the hang of it. Needed a few tricks from this very forum and a friend of mine, but so far, I'm getting good with it. Patience is required, I had to learn in a parking lot and I stalled at first, a lot.

The hardest part of driving a manual is getting the feel of the clutch and learning to downshift.

The idea of some members to learn in a beater is a good one. I wish I could have done that, but in my case it was not possible. Now I'm not going to be racing with heel and toe tomorrow, but I'm almost out of the break in period and I feel comfortable with the car now :)