96Formula6sp
Well-Known Member
Hey guys so our Lemons car is having a little overheating issue at our last race. We ended up having to run our electric fans the whole race and it was hard to keep temps under 220.
For that race we have a 3 core radiator with an ac water pump as our car was an ac car to begin with. Pretty sure it was a 6 blade when I swapped it out as the old one was making a horrible noise. Our heater core line is just looped with about 14 inches of coolant line as the heater core is long gone in this car. We have two electric fans mounted to the radiator. They could be boxed in a little more but the idea was to run no fans. These are a pull style. At the time it had a new 180 degree thermostat with just water in the cooling system. It does have a spring in the lower rad hose. Rad cap is a 1.1 Bar unit. Will say it was HOT at our first race and we were running in 95 Degree weather with a good 60% humidity which is a cool day in South Carolina in September. As for the rev range on the car. Most of the time it was 3-5k rpm. More of shifting at 4500.
So we plan on doing some testing and have done a few mods. Including.
- Fixing a lot of bent fins on the rad. Probably 20% were bent and doing full blockage.
- Flushed the whole cooling system to get the nasty water out.
- Broke the thermostat and made it into a restrictor plate.
- Adding water wetter to the coolant system over straight water. No coolant allowed.
- Going to box the top of the radiator in to get the air going threw the radiator.
So question is we are racing for 8 hours a day and looking to do full 24 hour race with the car next year. We want it to keep it running cool and maybe even without the fans help. So I had a couple questions. One is there a good water pump to use. Our car had a 6 balde but the bearing was bad. I had a new chrome looking one in the back of the car that we swapped on. Maybe this one is not up to the task. Or maybe are the racers using the non a/c 8 blade unit. Is there a high volume pump people like to use?
I also herd that some people will wipe the heater core circuit out 100%. Our intake manifold would be easy as its threaded and we could just plug it. What would we do on the water pump side. Could bend it shut and weld it up. Not a fan of caps as they like to fail.
What about under driving the water pump. Maybe the pump is happy 2-4k rpm but when you start spinning it higher it could be cavitation?
So for you guys who might do long stint on a circle track or dirt track. What are you tricks to keeping the engine cool? Next race is in Barber in February. Would like to keep the car cool. I know this is different than more people who street drive or drag race. But still got a problem to solve.
For that race we have a 3 core radiator with an ac water pump as our car was an ac car to begin with. Pretty sure it was a 6 blade when I swapped it out as the old one was making a horrible noise. Our heater core line is just looped with about 14 inches of coolant line as the heater core is long gone in this car. We have two electric fans mounted to the radiator. They could be boxed in a little more but the idea was to run no fans. These are a pull style. At the time it had a new 180 degree thermostat with just water in the cooling system. It does have a spring in the lower rad hose. Rad cap is a 1.1 Bar unit. Will say it was HOT at our first race and we were running in 95 Degree weather with a good 60% humidity which is a cool day in South Carolina in September. As for the rev range on the car. Most of the time it was 3-5k rpm. More of shifting at 4500.
So we plan on doing some testing and have done a few mods. Including.
- Fixing a lot of bent fins on the rad. Probably 20% were bent and doing full blockage.
- Flushed the whole cooling system to get the nasty water out.
- Broke the thermostat and made it into a restrictor plate.
- Adding water wetter to the coolant system over straight water. No coolant allowed.
- Going to box the top of the radiator in to get the air going threw the radiator.
So question is we are racing for 8 hours a day and looking to do full 24 hour race with the car next year. We want it to keep it running cool and maybe even without the fans help. So I had a couple questions. One is there a good water pump to use. Our car had a 6 balde but the bearing was bad. I had a new chrome looking one in the back of the car that we swapped on. Maybe this one is not up to the task. Or maybe are the racers using the non a/c 8 blade unit. Is there a high volume pump people like to use?
I also herd that some people will wipe the heater core circuit out 100%. Our intake manifold would be easy as its threaded and we could just plug it. What would we do on the water pump side. Could bend it shut and weld it up. Not a fan of caps as they like to fail.
What about under driving the water pump. Maybe the pump is happy 2-4k rpm but when you start spinning it higher it could be cavitation?
So for you guys who might do long stint on a circle track or dirt track. What are you tricks to keeping the engine cool? Next race is in Barber in February. Would like to keep the car cool. I know this is different than more people who street drive or drag race. But still got a problem to solve.