It is starting to dip into the 50s here at night and in the morning. When I get up, the car starts beautifully, idles around 2k then drops to 1k where it should be. It takes the car about 20 minutes, however, for me to get any heat and I'm assuming for the engine itself to warm up. I have a vented hood, Koyo Radiator, Mugen thermostat, and my fans are set to come on at 195( I believe) on the EMS. I also have ceramic coated mani and dp. Is this normal? Is it because I have all these cooling mods? I dont wanna damage anything by driving it if it's not ready. Thanks for the help, the satisfied Lovefab customer ,
Jonathan

 

So what's your "normal" operating coolant temp? It doesn't matter what your fans are set at if your thermostat never lets the temp get up there.
At those current outdoor temps, you should be getting to "3 bars" after about 3 to 5 minutes. And you should be getting heat to the interior within 2 to 3 minutes. If not, you've cooled your system down too much and your engine is operating very inefficiently till it gets up to operating temp (if it ever gets there at all).

 

This is one reason I haven't gotten a thermostat yet. It is getting colder now so I plan on monitoring my coolant temps to see how cold it gets and depending on how cold it gets with the cold ambient temps, I will decide whether I should get a thermostat.

 

I feel like I'm going to get in trouble...but...I have the EMS and no way of monitoring my temps. I get heat literally after about 20 minutes of driving. XViper, by inefficient, do you mean I;m wasting some money on gas or I am damaging my engine. I do drive quite conservatively until it gets hot.

 

get a standalone coolant temp gauge or a serial datastream gauge.

If you choose to go the serial datastream gauge, make sure to update the calibration for the coolant temp sensor in your EMS to show the proper temps.

 

Jonathan,
I do not know the exact name of the item, however CaptKirk and myself are friends. Not too long ago (earlier today) he had told me of an item that will allow you to monitor engine temperatures! I suspect in the next few moments he will be commenting on this!

Personally, I do not feel that you are running too many engine cooling mods - or atleast hope you are not.

As I too was nervous about engine cooling, I have purchased a good bit of cooling mods myself. At this time I have the following installed : Koyo Radiator, Dual FAL Fans, Hondata Intake Manifold Gasket, ARC Radiator Cap, and Spoon Radiator Hoses. In my toolbox I have my Spoon Thermostat and Thermoswitch - which were removed not too long ago. perhaps I should consider selling those

Again - I am not 100% sure of this next part. This is what I have gathered from my research. Hopefully someone can confirm or deny this! Please do not take my comment for full accuracy until either is done!
It is to my knowledge that having too many engine cooling mods will not allow your engine oil to heat up to standard operating temperature. In doing so, this will put excess stress on your piston rings - basically by not allowing your engine oil to flow properly reaching the rings, more or less.

Something you may want to consider - instead of running a 50/50 Coolant/Water mix, just run straight coolant during the winter and a 50/50 mix during the summer months!

 

Expected temps around race time tomorrow for the hill climb 45 to 50deg

Not racing in it but will be taken the car to the show part of the event.

I will record my engine temps for you
DEFI setup with the probe placed in the engine coolant drain plug so I get actual water temps in side the block.(plug is locatd on the exhaust side inbetween Cylinders 2 and 3)

Mugen Rad, Rad cap, Mugen thermostat, and Mugen fan switch, Honda factory fluid.

 

Jonathan, do you have access to a laptop to which you can hook up to your EMS? If you do it would be an easy way to verify your temps granted you have a calibrated temp table.

 

I have the same mods as you've posted and my Defi coolant temp is mounted in the Koyo rad exit back to the block.....and my water temps on a normal summer day run between 160-165 all the time during cruise.....and my oil temps run all the time around 170-175 in the cooler.....and rarely push above 190 during hard track abuse with constant 7-9k rpm......i am wondering the same thing as you....i might have gone overkill too.....my best dyno #'s have been when the water temp is right at 180 and the oil temp staying around the same......my HP #'s were actually lower at 160-165 than at 180.....so there might be such a thing as going overkill in the cooling system...LATER, BILL

 

I can't cite you line and verse from the information I've garnered through my automotive life, but here is a brief description of what I'm talking about:
From .............. http://auto.howstuffworks.com/cooling-system1.htm
I'm sure there are resources that can expand upon these points.