David B and I got together yesterday to take some temperature readings on our '02 S2000's with his Raytek Minitemp Pyrometer. David's S is stock (except for insulation on the bottom of his air box), and mine is not. I have the Hondata Intake Manifold Gasket / Insulator, Mugen Thermostat / Thermoswitch / Radiator Cap, AEM CAI with Insulating Sleeve, 80% Water / 20% Ethylene Glocol Coolant Mixture with Redline Water Wetter, and IK24 Iridium Spark Plugs (1 step colder than stock).

Both of our cars had been driven before we took any measurements, and were completely heat soaked. We put the cars nose to nose, and allowed them to both idle for about 10 minutes (several cooling fan cycles). The radiator hose (Top Hose) temps were measured over time, and the maximum temps were recorded.

After taking the measurements at idle, we went for a 10 minute drive. We both agreed that we would stay below 6000 RPMs, and go no higher than 4th gear. We did most of our mileage at about 5500 RPMs in 4th with very few stops. At the end of the drive, we pulled straight off the service road into a gas station parking lot and recorded the temps as quickly and accurately as we could. The highlighted reading in the chart, is a suspicious reading to me.

Ambient temperature was somewhere in the upper 80's.

 

I don't think the temp of the IAT connector is particularly relevant, since it probably fluctuates more with the temp of the engine compartment than anything else. Plus, the Minitemp is hard to use to measure temps of small things (like the connector).

 

Very interesting readings. I guess that would put your concerns about overheating the head to rest?

 

to make this test valid, you would have to use more than one of each (modified & stock). manufacturer's variations in the engine can result in different results. it's difficult to test the effectiveness of modifications like the hondata insulating gasket because your vehicle has too many variables. it could simply be that the stock intake airbox is so big that it blocks the flow of air around the head as opposed to an AEM that leaves a big gap where the airbox used to be. this alone could change the temperature by a significant margin.

good work though.

 

I think these readings are consistent with what you might expect from a lower-temp thermostat; roughly 10 degrees across the board. At what temp does the Mugen thermostat open?

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Rasputin314
[B]Very interesting readings.

 

I definately don't consider these results to be scientific, but my objective was to see if my modifications were making the car run hotter than stock. I posted a thread a couple weeks ago asking if the Hondata gasket would cause head temps to rise, since lowering intake air temperature causes higher combustion temps. I also thought that the manifold might act as a heat sink to cool the head, so I was concerned that insulating it would increase head temps.

 

I had hoped for a more significant difference. These temps are Fahrenheit (sp?), not Celcius. The Thermoswitch activates 23 deg. F (13 deg. C) cooler, and the Thermostat is 13 deg. F (7 deg. C) cooler at full open / 18 deg. F (10 deg. C) cooler for normal operation.

 

exactly how is this possible? Gasoline burns at a given temperature, regardless of the starting temperature of the air. Granted, there's more O2 in the colder charge, but the computer should adjust for that and keep A/F ratios relatively even. In that scenario, EGTs shouldn't change w/o a significant change in A/F...

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by netwiz
[B]

exactly how is this possible?