Cooling alternatives?

[luckyNot]

Hi everyone,

I have heard that there are various fluids now available that can be used to replace the water in engine cooling system. Does anyone have any experience of this, ideally in an FD? One tuner quoted me £400 to 'remove the water' and fill with new coolant.

Part of the reason I ask is that I am considering upgrade options/path for stock twins and have assumed heat will be a factor, so one of the first is to consider a new radiator or (and?) this new cooling fluid stuff.

What are your thoughts?

[boosted]

have not used the Evans stuff.....as read some great things about it....but then i read it was flammable which really put me off big time.

[luckyNot]

Following that I did some more reading. It seems that you are right, in certain circumstances. I also read an article that stated a temp increase, and other limitations were evident. That said, the company I first spoke to said their racing rx7 was the only one not to overheat on a hot race day last year.. confused 

I guess from the lack of responses to this thread these products are not in general use within our rx7 community.

I guess when I decide what upgrade I want I can talk to my tuner about cooling options

[C J R]

Hi, Just saw your thread/question.
Have no experience of 'Evans', but did read up on it and it looked a bit of a faff ensuring all water is removed for the Evans product to work.

I have run and do run a single set up with big HP and have great success with a Fluidyne replacement rad and now a Rotary Works rad, both using anti freeze suitable for an aluminium engine and water mix.
Running temps are around 83 to 85 degree C, even on track.

Hope this helps.

[boosted]

Can i ask what mix antifreeze water you are using....im stable for 15ish mins on track then she starts to move into danger zone. Had watter wetter etc in there as well. My rad is radtec. Ta

[clive]

Even on the hottest days I have no issues with the RX-8 FD engined race car which uses a Koyo FD rad then for coolant I use the proper Mazda FL22 pre-mixed coolant, a coolant that also has all the right ingredients to stop furring up the waterways etc.

Toyed with the idea of running Evans, but then heard that actually inside the Rotor housing water ways damage has been seen to have been caused by the use of Evans, but now I know that even if this was more efficient I would not need it anyway 

Don't forget that with a rotary some parts of the block get extremely hot inside hence the reason why Mazda fitted an Air Separator Tank  (AST) because at times the inside of the block can produce bubbles just like ion a kettle .

Never ever seen an AST on a piston engine which is problably why Evans is good in boingers but not our Rotarys

Hope this helps     

[re japi]

I have run and do run a single set up with big HP and have great success with a Fluidyne replacement rad and now a Rotary Works rad, both using anti freeze suitable for an aluminium engine and water mix.
Running temps are around 83 to 85 degree C, even on track.

Really? Wow, thats amazing, only 85 C...

I have seen similar system like AST used in high revving piston engines. Few rally and sprint cars use them here. Toyota 4-age engines. Dunno if they work, and how they work but still...

I have been thinking alot engine cooling lately. I think that coolant injection system to housings, near exhaust ports is really interesting and worth investigating. However, it needs big modifications to system. Here is pic of that:

[shaunwil]

One of the big things to look at too is airflow in to the engine bay from the front bumper. The standard bumper doesn't have a very big intake compared to after market bumpers.

I've run in the 90's on track with my setup but hardly had any issues where I'd slow down on track for water temps. Usually more down to the tyres going off. I'm not running as much power as CJR, only about 430bhp at the flywheel now.

Shaun

[luckyNot]

Thanks everyone for your detailed and interesting responses.

C J R, I think everyone on the thread would like to know more about your setup, anything else you can share?

My Apexi Commander showed me running between 85 and 90C whilst driving at 30 mph around town today (22C ambient temp), this was without any hard driving beforehand - my car is almost stock Type R with twin oil coolers.. Track driving in April pushed this to 95+ running and 110+ stationery (ambient temp approx 15C)

I had thought about improving airflow via body work changes and I have been tempted to add bonnet vents, but at the moment I am keeping the car looking standard.

[C J R]

So I agree 'big' deliberate holes in bonnet and front nose will help air flow and escape of heat. You can see on the attached picture, Scoot style bonnet in FRP, but I have increased the size of the vents to release more hot air whilst driving/stuck in traffic.
The front nose is an Origin Labs design and again I increased the size of the middle vent.
I don't have any pictures immediately available, but under the front nose, the Rotary Works Rad is now in a V Mount with the Rotary Works Intercooler and both are boxed in, but not air tight. I have also left a 2" gap between the Rad and IC to let cold air vent thru' the V mount and hit the engine bay.
The Rad has 2 electric fans and the first is triggered at temps above 85 Deg C.
We did the run to Rotary Stock Holland this month and even though we had long periods stuck in traffic on a very hot day, me and the missus were suffering heat exhaustion in the FD (no air con), the water temps remained 83 to 85 Deg C.
Coolant is towns water mixed with anti freeze from the high street motorist shop suitable for alum engines.

Chris   

[luckyNot]

Thanks for the extra details and the photo. I like the idea of the modified bonnet, but I think you need a body kit to balance the look - it certainly works for your car!

My current plan is try and source a Fluidyne radiator and then see what difference that makes. I am considering upgrades that would keep the car sequential and with stock twins, so I am hoping the radiator mod and perhaps a modified downpipe would dissipate as much heat as I am adding. I am guessing (I have not found a specific article yet) a setup like this cant add much more than 50 bhp, so heat increase will be manageable..