Bob Woodhouse
Enthusiast
Cragin, wow, you are still posting and helping people, 17 years? Great stuff: You said something here that have been overlooked:
" The biggest issue with the factory cooling system is airflow. With little frontal area and not much venting on the hood its hard for the air to get in and out at low speeds."
I have been victim to lack of airflow before. Older radiators get their fins partially plugged from small road debris, like sand and rubber. Difficult to see since it buries in the radiator fins. You can back blow with air, this will help you determine if this is a problem, but the best way to fix is remove and clean the thing until you can see light, otherwise replace it.
This was our number one high heat fix in the many years of running CC's in the Pirelli World Challenge. Running in traffic while raining will do this to a street car. We removed and cleaned every third race and replaced the more than adequate stock radiator every season.
Next look at any possibilities you have for air to flow around instead of through your radiator core. Example is adding those K&N filters and losing some of the air blocking that the original filter box was designed for.
I dont like cutting holes in the bottom lip of the fascia becuase the possibility of air doing a full circle is there. EX: you are idling at a traffic light, the fan pulls hot air through the radiator and it exits the bottom of the car and returns to the low pressure front side of your radiator.
" The biggest issue with the factory cooling system is airflow. With little frontal area and not much venting on the hood its hard for the air to get in and out at low speeds."
I have been victim to lack of airflow before. Older radiators get their fins partially plugged from small road debris, like sand and rubber. Difficult to see since it buries in the radiator fins. You can back blow with air, this will help you determine if this is a problem, but the best way to fix is remove and clean the thing until you can see light, otherwise replace it.
This was our number one high heat fix in the many years of running CC's in the Pirelli World Challenge. Running in traffic while raining will do this to a street car. We removed and cleaned every third race and replaced the more than adequate stock radiator every season.
Next look at any possibilities you have for air to flow around instead of through your radiator core. Example is adding those K&N filters and losing some of the air blocking that the original filter box was designed for.
I dont like cutting holes in the bottom lip of the fascia becuase the possibility of air doing a full circle is there. EX: you are idling at a traffic light, the fan pulls hot air through the radiator and it exits the bottom of the car and returns to the low pressure front side of your radiator.
