What sort of water temps are ppl running?
Ive got an 82c stat, alloy rad, turbo cooler and fmic with the fan on the front.
My car seems to warm up to 94-96c nicely and then it just stays there with the fans on...
Im wondering should i get a higher temp fan switch or is 96c too high to be sitting at anyway?

 

does your ofam have fan control?

 

I dont think 96 is too high, but you do want the fans to go off again otherwise something isnt right. As long as your fan switch is a higher temperature switch than your thermostat, it should cool down to the fan switch point and they should go off.

Mine can get well over 100 when I've been booting it but when sitting at the lights the fans will go off once they've done their job.

I'm yet to block up my rad with a front mount though!

 

Ofam can have fan control, but i havn't added it yet... Its on the list lol!
It gets to 96c even if i don't drive it, just leave it idling and it warms up to 96c and sits there... The fans cool it to 94c but they stay on.
What are the temps for a standard fan switch?

 

I'd like to know this aswell, because my fans come on when I'm driving along and I'm wondering if they are actually slowing down the air because they are in the way?

Could be our Orion bumpers too, they don't exactly have a big gap for air on the front

 

i think at speed, say 40mph plus the fan is restricting airflw to the rad, esp with a fmic. switching it off (manual switch) see the temp come down faster than when the fan is on. my temps get toward 100 quickly in traffic. thats why a good fan setup is essential with a large intercooler in the way of the rad.

 

Your ecu does indeed have fan control just one wire to a relay and your done

My fans are set to come in at around 80-85, although i have two stage fan control on my car, so one fan kicks in 8deg (or there abouts) before the other one. Makes for a quieter car (fans piss me off) and the fans don't constantly cut in and out. 2nd fan only comes on when stuck in traffic.

Rob,

 

Yeah occasionly mine are on when im moving, they must restrict airflow...
Ive often wondered about the bumper as its not designed for alot of flow and orions use a bigger rad as standard than erst's so maybe erst's bumpers allow more air through...
I'll try starting the car up at the wkend with no bumper on?

Rob - i'll pm you about my fan control, cheers!

 

I've got a spare scruffy bumper that I'm going to try making some holes in.

Taking this example picture of our 90 spec ones, I'm thinking of cutting out the "mouth" bit behind the plate as that should make quite a considerable hole. Shame you cant put the numberplate anywhere else too

 

Ive cut the "mouth" grille out, and meshed it...
Im tempted to try a smaller number plate and maybe, drill some ducts around it...?

 

Also what about a suction fan on the back on the rad, that comes on with the ones on the front mount...?

 

Have you? Shows how much I notice I'll deffo be doing it then

If there was enough room for a suction fan, I'd remove the ones from the front, then nothing blocking the air

 

I can fit a small one to the right hand side of the turbo prob an 8" i reckon...
I'll have a measure up at the weekend!

 

Does your fan continue to run f you are doing a gentle run between 50 and 60? please? I was wondering if the thermostat for the rad and the fan switch have enough "slop" in them so the fan is still just switched on when the rad isjust switched off?

if so you could try a slightly lower thermostat for the rad.

Hope this helps Brendan.

 

It doesn't totally work like that mate, if you block the back of the rad, no air can pass through either, so the restriction is still there.

My car has 2 10" front mounts and cools perfectly at rest and whilst moving....

 

Rob - r your fans on the ic?
Also my fans go off when driving at 50-60 gently, when i give it some the temp gauge rises and the fans kick in, altho they wont be doing much when the cars moving at 60+mph...
I think i have a lack of air moving over the rad to be honest...
With the fans on full chat there is next to no air moving through the rad...

 

Yes mate they are on the inter cooler, air will flow via the path of least resistance... in lots of cases this is through the intercooler and then out the gap between the cooler and rad, you need some way of forcing the air which has passed through the intercooler through the rad as well, rather than around which is what i believe is happening.

My rad is very close to the intercooler (touching), my fans don't come on when moving above 40, my temps are perfect on the motorway too. Give it a go, let you fans kick in and have a feel around the rad, you'll notice most of the air is blowing out from between them.

The above brings me back to my original plan of making a sealed rad/intercooler pack, although looking at my car it would probably be a mare to fit and remove... You see lots of OEM cars with fans after the rad with a cowl, the purpose of the cowling is to increase the fans efficiency (in a way), rather than the air being pulled through in a relatively small patch of rad (as it would be with no cowl), the fans pull air in from across the whole rad, ideally I would employ a similar system, fans behind the rad/intercooler pack, with a cowling and two high flow 10" fans... sadly to do this the turbo must be moved to above the gearbox.

I can see why blocking air flow after the rad with a fan is marginally better than blocking before, but the whole system still relies on air flow through the rad, a restriction after will stop this through flow of air, im not convinced the fans are such a large restriction any way....

Rob,

 

Fan cowling,






This photo isn't massively clear,

Its an intercooler/rad pack from a WRC scooby



Note the cowling on the back with fans.....

 

I like the idea of a rad pack, but like you i think it would be a nitemare to fit/remove with the front panel being as it is.
I do need some way of sealing my IC to my rad tho, the intercooler sits around 25mm away on the pass side and around 10mm on the drivers. So one or the other doesnt sit square, the rad i think...
Thats going to be my next "project" then, sealing the rad and ic together

 

Be an interesting one to try mate, you could bodge something temporarily to test the theory....

 

as a bodge some good old cardboard and gaffer tape does the job, seen this done in race/rally situation to cure this very problem

 

My CVH sat at about 90-95c and IIRC stock fan switch comes on at just over 100c, I would see temps as high as 115c when booting it for extended periods, ambient temps of about 25c.

 

I plan to run my radtec FMIC and alloy rad as tight as i can to the front panel, with a 10" and 8" suction fan on the back of the rad. I have altered the brackets on the rad to make it sit tight against the I/C. This is coupled with a 82 Deg C fan switch and a cossy style fan loom feeding from the battery. Hopefully it will work as I really don't want to cut my shell to get fans on the front.

 

Maybe i have a lower temp fan switch than standard... Can any1 remember the standard fan switch temps?
So maybe my temps running at 96c isnt that bad?
Also Steve - how have you modified the radiator brackets?

 

lol

 

Yeah i read that but u didnt take much notice lol ... What do they go off at?

 

They go off at the same temp they come on at! Or at least they should do?! lol

 

Thought they went off 5-8c lower than they came on...
A quick google up, says 102 on and 93/94off? Mines on a 95/96 and off at 91...

 

TBH I've not paid any attention to the 'off' temp so you may well be right, those figures do sound about right from what I remember (well the 'on' temp does).
Yours must be lower than standard then by the sounds of it.

 

Yeh i think so, i tried an MSD switch and the fans never went off once they come on!
I think i'll get the ms to control them eventually!

 

Mines on a mk3 so not sure if they are fitted differently. basically fitted the intercooler as far forward as i can and when bent the upper rad brackets to force ghetto rad and i/c to be tight together and then made up some lower brackets to keep them there. will find out how much room it gives me at the weekend once the turbo is back on.

 

Damn phones and predictive text!! im sure you can understand what i meant

 

Yeh sounds good, get some pics up if you can to show how far forward it all is...
I'll have to take my front end apart to see when i can move things around.

 

Right i've had enough of this now
96c at cruise might not be an issue but the fans on constantly is... It bugs me knowing im cruising around at 70mph with the fans on, if i drop to 50mph after 4-5miles the water temps recover to around 90-92c and the fans go off!

Im going to pull the front mount ic off tonight and run the standard intercooler, blat it around a bit and see what coolant temps i get (also inlet temps) if the coolant temps cool down significantly i'll look for a different charge cooling method, altho if i dont see much increase in inlet temps i wont bother... If not then i think i'll try sourcing a fan switch that comes on around 100-105c, so i dont have to drive round with the fans on all the time.

 

Be an interesting comparison Rog, let us know the results!

 

what stat have you got? ive got a -82 and i see consistand temps of 82c above 40mph. the fan on the o/s of the fmic does little apart from cool inlet temps. as for coolant temps i have to watch the gauge and wait for an open bit of road for it to come back to 82c. in slow traffic i see 100c quickly. im looking at altering the fmic/fan/rad setup. let us know how you get on rog.

 

82c Stat m8... Mine must be an airflow problem, if not its time to look deeper!

 

You tried using water wetter Rog? Will knock off a few degrees for ya and seems to certainly keep the temps a bit more stable

 

No, maybe i'll give that a go...
Ive noticed cruising at around 14:1 afr keeps it cooler (ever so slightly) than 14.7-15:1
Also anyone using distilled water?

 

Ive now tried sealing the rad and ic together... No air escapes from between the 2 now!
Still runs hot lol