I think you guys know what i'm talking about. Theres always air coming from the vents, it seems to be air channeled from outside, well do you guys have the temperature knob at max heat or max cold? My friend tells me that if you twist it to the hottest position the outside air that passes through actually cools the engine. Would cooling the engine actually be beneficial? I see many posts where people say that "the hotter the engine gets the more power it puts out". So for instance, why would spoon and mugen have radiators and thermostats to cool the engine better? I believe they mean that there is an optimum running temp for this engine, but again wouldnt honda Engineers have known this optimum range? So why then would mugen and spoon come out with these products to lower the temp range?

 

Since I live in S. Florida, I'm not turning my temp knob up . It's nearly always on the coldest setting which still channels warm air into the cabin when it's warm outside.

I doubt that it would have much of an additional cooling effect. If you don't like the warm air blowing out the vents, just close them.

My guess is that a radiator and thermostat upgrade would do a lot more to cool the engine than openning up the vents.

 

This used to be true when the TEMP knob controlled water flow through the heater. When water was flowing, the air would be warmed up and the water cooled off; but if no water was flowing then of course neither thing happened.

These days water always flows through the heater because the constant cooling means the radiator can be smaller. The TEMP control either dumps the warm air or mixes it with cool outside air to give the temperature you want in the car.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by dhayner [B]

 

Turning the heater up does cool the engine in the S2000.

With the Mugen thermostat & radiator cap and Spoon thermoswitch installed, I often see the dash oil temperature gauge drop from three bars down to two if I turn the heater on shortly after the third bar has lit up.

Ted

 

The S2000 still uses a water valve to control flow through the heater core, so yes it will affect the cooling of the engine.

 

Upon inspection of the manual and the actual system, I see that you are right. If the S2000 is overheating, turn the heater on full.

 

Others answered the TEMP knob question, I'll take a stab at these.

Be sure to distinguish engine (i.e. coolant/oil) temperature and intake air temperature. Reliability suffers when the engine gets too hot. Performance suffers when the intake air gets too hot.

Spoon and Mugen's thermostat/thermoswitch/radiator mods address engine reliability under harsh racing conditions, helping prevent the engine from overheating due to constant VTEC operation. The stock system is more than adequate for street driving, even in very hot weather. (Unless you're hauling 500 lbs of gear uphill in 100+ degree weather, I'd bet you'll never overheat; in fact you'll probably never even see 4 bars.)

CAI (cold air intake) mods address the loss of power that occurs when the intake air is heated. Such heating results from a variety of sources, but primarily from heat soak into the intake manifold (from the cylinder head and coolant path) and the location of the air inlet directly above the radiator.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by twohoos
[B]

CAI (cold air intake) mods address the loss of power that occurs when the intake air is heated.