Myself, Genghiskwong, and Phils2000 all had a track day with the vette club in Pensacola, FL. At the lunch break we had to go pick up our ladies that were patiently waiting for us... this meant a 25 minute drive back to the beach house.

Within a few minutes of normal driving while leaving the track my temp guage went down to two bars!!! Considering that we had been running pretty hard all morning I was pretty amazed! I have the Spoon thermo switch and Spoon thermostat installed in my car. They did EXACTLY what they were suppossed to do IMHO.

Considering I live in the deep south where the humidity is often higher than the IQ of the general population.... I think these are good mods for me.

Just thought some of you track/mod junkies would like this tidbit of info!

 

I'm not dissing the cooling mods, since I have them too, but the mods are "intended" to keep everything cooler during hard driving, not just on the highway. The only real proof that they do what they are supposed to do would be to do some data logging during a long sprint on the track. I have noticed that I spend TOO MUCH time at 2 bars during normal driving. I wish I could find a good way to reduce their effects during normal driving, and improve their effects during extreme driving. I have considered putting a partial air block on the front of my radiator during daily driving, like a lot of busses and 18 wheelers have during the winter.

 

I don't think 2 bars is too low in this car... especially since I could still V-tec. The ECU wouldn't let me do it if the car wasn't at the right temp.

Heat is always a killer to an engine. IMHO I don't think the cooling mods bring the temp of the engine below safe operating conditions.

You are right about the data logger... would be nice to have one and notice the dif after a track run.

 

Maybe there is a large tolerance with the parts or whatever drives the gauge. Gernby, I have all the same cooling mods that you have and my car reaches three bars and stays there. The only time I see two bars come back is after I shut down and it cools off.

 

Same here. Mugen cooling mods.

 

Heat is not always a killer to an engine. Actually, it would be more accurate to say "cold" is the engine killer. if the oil is below 175 degrees F, it won't do a very good job protecting the engine. By using the colder thermostat and fan switch, the coolant starts to flow well below the oil's safe temp, which means cold start wear will be greater.

On the other side of the coin is the fact that the FULL OPEN efficiency of your cooling system is exactly the same as stock (thermostat and fan switch only), which means that in warm weather, your cooling mods won't have any effect on PEAK temperatures on the track. The only thing you can do to reduce PEAK temperatures on the track is to increase thermal conductivity. The only way to increase thermal conductivity is to decrease the amount of antifreeze in the coolant (increase water concentration), increase the operating pressure, get a better radiator, increase air flow (vented hood), etc.

 

What I don't list in my signature is that I have a 75% water / 25% antifreeze mixture with Redline Water Wetter. Cdelena, I don't know how warm it was yesterday here in DFW, but it was NOT cold, and I was going back and forth between 2 and 3 bars in the afternoon. I had my top down, and no jacket. Could it be that the colder spark plugs keep the engine cooler?

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by gernby
[B]

What I don't list in my signature is that I have a 75% water / 25% antifreeze mixture with Redline Water Wetter.

 

IMHO I don't think that the cooling mods that I have drop the temp below the safe zone of 175 degrees. I have no data to prove that as of yet... I hope to soon.... real soon.

I also agree that once the thermostat opens that your stock cooling system will be the same as if you had a stock thermostat.

All the Spoon thermostat does is open up at a lower temp.

As far as the cold startup... I would think that the thermostat is a non issue on that since *most* of the wear is done in the initial seconds before the oil can circulate completely through the engine. Even cold oil lubricates better than no oil

I think that the Mugen and Spoon cooling mods must open at different temps. I need to look up when they open up for then I get my OBD-II logger.

Gernby..... did you notice any changes in your heater this winter after installing the mods?

 

Interesting. When you are driving around town, do you normally drive in higher gears (RPMs low)? I generally stay in lower gears with my RPMs at or above 4K. If I cruise in a gear at 3K RPMs, it will stay at 3 bars. Even then, if I keep the RPMs up for just a couple minutes (even at WOT in VTEC), it will drop back to 2 bars. The same does not hold true above 4th gear, though. It will go to 3 bars and stay there if I'm in 5th or 6th at any speed.