It\'s just one thing after another, yet still I love my little rexy - in fact it adds to the fun. lol
For the past 6 - 8 months my Apexi has been reading about 95 degrees during normal motoring, goes up a couple when on the motorway, and even to just over 100 when driven hard then returns back to 95 - 96 ish. I asked a well know tuner who I bought the car off last january about this an he said not to worry as long as it is stable it is ok. I expressed my concerns about fitting my front mount and again he said it should be ok, so I\'ve left it at that since.
Anyway last week I mounted my frontmount, and I took it for a drive over the week to see what difference it makes (it\'s not plumbed up yet, just hung in place) Now my apexi is reading an average of 98 - 102 during normal driving and while playing with some bikes it even rose up to 110!
Now I did expect it to go up obviously as I\'m blocking airflow to the rad. My worry is that It is still fairly cold at the moment, what is going to happen in the middle of summer? and when the IC is piped up with warm air being blown through it?
Most of the other FD\'s I see settle at 85 degrees or there abouts, I\'m not loosing any fluid, and I have an ally rad already that I fitted a few months after I bought the car. I bought it last January from the tuner I mentioned above. It had just had a full rebuild. I just can\'t help thinking that if it\'s had a rebuild it should be running the same as all the others?
Would a coolant flush help? I\'ve seen an add for some Royal purple coolant that looks quite good? Has anyone any advice?
Thanks
Mark
Sounds worrying mate! my car sits between 85-105 at all times in this weather after a fresh rebuild (1500 miles on engine), and im gonna upgrade my rad for the summer. I Really cant think why your temps are so high unless you do have a blockage somewhere. Some rad flush may do you some good, but be careful you dont damage your coolant seals or anything.
The only thing i can think of to help you is get a vented bonnet (£££) and/or do the fan switch mod: http://rx7.voodoobox.net/howto/fanswitch/fanswitch.html
Also, where is your sensor located for the temps? because obv a sensor located in the coolant filler neck is going to read hotter than one say just after the rad.
OH yeah, also get an FC/MX5 thermoswitch
those temps are too high..i have fmic and ally rad and on cruise i see 85-86 but it will climb rapidly if at lights or in traffic to 94 which is what my fans are set to..the running temp of 82-85 is a ideal temp but u need to adjust the apexi for fans to kick in at 94deg
It\'s normal nothing to panic about most people who have lower temps is because the person who tuned their car with a datalogit changed the settings for the fans to come on earlier.
See if anyone close to you has a datalogit or if there are any rx7 specialist near you who can do it for you. Sorry I am completely ignorant of most places outside of south london, so I don\'t know where stockport to point you in the direction of the nearest tuner.
Quote from: rotaryimports.comIt\'s normal nothing to panic about most people who have lower temps is because the person who tuned their car with a datalogit changed the settings for the fans to come on earlier.
See if anyone close to you has a datalogit or if there are any rx7 specialist near you who can do it for you. Sorry I am completely ignorant of most places outside of south london, so I don\'t know where stockport to point you in the direction of the nearest tuner.
Pips not a million miles away.
I\'m only in Denton mate. If you want to come around I can drop the fan temps with my datalogit.
Steve
Just as a point of interest doesn\'t the PFC have a fan cut in temp of 94 as standard?
my pfc is set to 94
I\'m pretty sure the fans are already set to kick in at 85, I bought the car off pip an he set up the PFC.
i doubt they are set to 85 as this is only just after the thermostat has opened
Nothing wrong with it being set to 85 thermo opens at 82.
If it normally set to 85 and your seeing 90\'s & 100\'s etc maybe you should check your thermostat is actually working correctly.
I get temps of 110 when in trafic (every morning commuting for 1hr) my coling system is standard.
Fans cut in at 110 and cool it to 100, normal running temps are 85 to 90 on mine.
Been like that forever acording to the guy who had it b4 me, he understands it to be standard.
i may be wrong but i dont have any trouble.
Oh and yes im fitting the fan mod and mx5 thermo switch this week.
Here are my suggestions...
FMIC reduces airflow to your radiator.
Also because most FD\'s with FMIC still retain AC condensor, it will even farther reduce airflow.
Here are the list of stuff you might consider:
1. create a duct to flow more air to your radiator. You could do this by modifying your undertray. And also seal up the bottom and the sides of the radiator. Air will flow to the least resistant. If you have huge gaps on the side, air will flow thru there instead of your radiator core.
2. Remove your AC condensor (which means removing your AC system), but not many wants to do this unless its a track car
3. Turn on your AC, it will turn your cooling fans on. It will work well if your AC system is not working. But as soon as your condensor heats up, its not as effective
4. Change out your fan blades. Stock FD (93-95 US model) came with 4 and 5 blade combo (5 and 7 blades for 99+). This is because of the smic location and 4 blades pull more air than 5 (I was told my MIT eng. grad). When you go FMIC, you could put 2 x 4 blades.
5. Datalogit to change your fan turn on temp (others have mentioned this). Stock ECU wouldn\'t turn on the cooling fans until past 100C. Also when changing this temp, make sure it works. Start the car and let the car warm up to set temp. Look to make sure the fan kicks on. I set mine at 86 for the first fan and 87 for the second.
6. Add a second oil cooler and aftermarket oil temp sensor. Coolant temp is important but most important thing is the oil temp. When the oil temp exceeds certain level, its over.. Most parts of your rotary engine will be out of spec and can not be reused.
7. Go with bigger radiator... Well, I personally think stock rad does a great job. If you do go with bigger radiator, you want to make sure how well it cools. Just holding more volume of coolant doesn\'t always mean its better. It still needs to be cooled and in order to do so, air must go thru.
8. Greddy/Trust water pump pulley upgrade.... This is only good when you are in high RPM. If you don\'t drive your car in HIGH RPMs all the time, then stick with your stock pulley
9. Electric water pump.. Its expensive and a lot of work. But flow can be very high at any RPM. Mainly used by race cars (new M3 and Vettes) because its one less thing your engine has to pull, hence slightly more power. Also you don\'t have to worry about cavitation at high RPM.
This is why you should try to maintain at certain coolant temp. I\'ve talked to Jim Downing\'s master mechanic, Rick Engman (one of the best rotary builder in USA) and he had zero coolant seal failure with an engine that ran under 89C. Rick has built race engines for past 30 years and probably built more 4 rotor engines than anyone on this planet.
Also, when rebuilding your engine, get your housings lapped. Very few USA builders have lapper(s). Usually the most experienced builders will have a lap table. By lapping your housings, you will greatly reduce the chance of coolant seal failure and better side seal contact with the housings.
I\'ll try to post some pics of what lapped housings look like. I recently saw someone who tried to sell a lapped housings and it wasn\'t lapped correctly at all.
I would suggest making sure your coolant system is in tip top condition first. Replace thermostat (A must when you have dodgy temps), replace radiator cap and then flush the whole lot.
Higher percentage of water during the summer and less in the winter.
Also, higher pressure AST cap (or Radiator Cap).
Wow, thats a lot of info :2eek . Thanks for all that.
I Still want to keep my aircon, I already have a Greddy Pully kit and have removed my airpumpbut the temps have not changed from before to after these changes.
I already have twin oil coolers, it is a type R model.
I like the idea of sealing around the radiator . I\'ll have a look at that this weekend.
What are my options for the thermostat. do I just get a standard one off mazda?
What is the FC/MX5 thermo switch?
I\'ve never heard of "lapping" before, but I don\'t want to have to go to the extream of stripping the engine down to solve the problem. Especially as it was only rebuilt in Dec 04.
Thanks everyone for all the help so far.
Mark
Some people on here are running colder thermostats, which isn\'t a bad idea - keeps temps to about 75ish, instead of 85. You could look into one of those.
Quote from: nikpSome people on here are running colder thermostats, which isn\'t a bad idea - keeps temps to about 75ish, instead of 85. You could look into one of those.
Is the lower temp stat off another Mazda, or another car completely? All I need is the model and year an I\'ll be able to get one from one of my suppliers.
Thanks, this sounds promising :Thumbs-up
Mark