Intake Temps

[LRP]

the most ive seen at 155mph was 59c  this was on sunday when it was a hot day!which shocked me too before the filters were housed it was alot hotter 60+ most of the time having the v-mount fitted should bring the temps right down ill post some pics as soon as it is done its then bein re mapped to push the turbos bit harder

[richard cash]

i have seen temps of upto 60 sometimes when sitting in traffic but when i get going its normally around 30 up until about a month back where the summer heat has made it go up a few degrees. But i then got a scoot bonnet and temps have dropped back down to around 28-30deg.

When the water injection activates too this also drops the temp down. When sitting in traffic and then get a little stretch enough to give it some i put my foot down and literally within 10secs the temps have dropped 15-20degrees. This is activated at 0.6bar boost so i dont need to work the engine too hard to get the temps down.

[LRP]

thinking about having a spray bar fitted with the v-mount? is it going to be worth it or will the V bring it right down??

[John Yorke]

V mount + Wi = low intake temps.
Comming from the charge cooler setup running 460+ atw I know all about intake temps, when you get to that level any positive form of cooling is a must WITHOUT compromising the water radiator cooling, comming on to boost I would see [dependant on time of year] anything from 25 - 35c as soon as the wi kicked in that would drop to 20 -25c [at about .6bar].
1st lesson on tuning make sure you have made your engine safe [ensure water temps are stable you should not see anything above 90c when driving]
2nd lesson - make sure you have a sound engine [7.4bar or above on all faces]
3rd lesson - ensure you have all the bits in place [after market ecu, correct fueling, boost controller, free flowing exhaust, a clutch that will take the additional power, these will enhance the performance] Like good brakes and decent tyres - then you can turn your boost up!
HTH

[andrewrx7]

stock intercooler [which is well documented as being pants]

Is this because of the lack of air flow through the IC or the lack of size (or both)?

[John Yorke]

Is this because of the lack of air flow through the IC or the lack of size (or both)?

More size than air flow Im afraid + there is no clear route for the air to exit [arnt vented bonnets wonderfull!] it is no wonder they [smic] suffer heat soak. If you think about it you have a cold air feed passing through the IC which hits the roilled air from the water rad and then has to pass the very hot engine, not the best recipe for good air flow. Size wise its tiny, I had a 323 4x4 turbo and the IC on that was slightly bigger and mounted in the wheel arch so at least it had a good air flow.

[iaint]

Interesting to look at Mazdas design for the fan control system on the FD...

As STANDARD the rad fans are set to come on on low power at (from memory) 105C, medium as 110C and high at 118C.  Indicates that Mazda didn\'t see a problem with temps in the 90-105C range in terms of failed components.  

Clearly the various water and oil seals are fine at much higher temps as switching off the engine on a completely standard car after pootling round town will see heat soak on the block of ~120C.

One interesting thing about cooling properties - the hotter the water the more heat will be transferred from it to the air as heat transfer is a coefficiant of the temperature differential.

Running a decent level of coolant coupled with the pressure the system runs at significantly raises the boiling point of the system.  Somewhere well north of 140C.

Another thing many of us don\'t consider is the importance of the oil coolers - the rotary gains significant operational cooling not just from its water cooling system but also from the oil coolers so they\'re well worth upgrading.

I\'m not 100% convinced by the charge cooler setup as there are two points of thermal inefficiency - the air-water rad and the charge cooling jacket.  A big benefit is the reduction of the length of intercooler piping reducing lag.

On the bonus side for a decent FMIC it\'s worth noting that teh air travelling through it will not be heated to the charge temps (unless travelling slowly) but will be raised by a few degrees as the air is only in contact with teh cooling fins for a brief period.

There\'s also a huge temp gradient accross a decent FMIC so the \'out\' end of things should be close to ambient air temp anyway.  This was certainly the case with mine on tract @ Brands - the hot side was untouchable and the cold side was completely cold.

The real key to any route taken - FMIC, V-Mount or Charge Cooler - is to monitor temps and make sure your chosen route is working for the driving you do and the power you\'re running.  

There are some very wrong ways to do it and a number of right ways.

[Mave]

hello john this is the set up im running 0.9 boost on high

Aah, was your car at the classic car show in Bristol a few weekends ago? I was taking a look at teh setup for ideas for my cold air intake...

[LRP]

yes that was mine at the show on the downs , cars going back down to spec-r today for stage 2 il post pics as soon as i get it back!!

[CRC83]

John do you have any pics of your charge cooler setup? I have never been a fan of charge coolers. I have only seen them on 2 cars but they were not right for either one. 1st was a Saxo VTS that was super charged, running around 220, and the charge cooler suffered heat soak badly the driver informed me and the temps soon started rising, second was on an MR2, the owner reaconed that he suffered the same heat soak problems.
That said, they do seam to work on these cars, is it because you are able to keep the cooler away from the main engine area? Saxo and MR2 engine bays are very cramped.

Chris