Quote:
Originally Posted by zazzn
Wouldn't a bigger Rad fix some of the overheating issues? Does the car use a electric fan setup or mechanical fan? I know that when I have electrics on my supra it would easily overheat, but using the stock mechanical fan keeps it super cold. See the problem is electric fans usually just do not flow enough CFM where as the clutch fan especially with thicker oil will float stupid amounts of air making up for tight tracks where not a hell of a lot of air flow gets over the rad.
You really couldn't have spent 10k on coolant stuff... For that I would have expected a PWR rad, push and pull fans, (if electric) and a bunch of other crap... On my mk4 supra, I used to overheat the oil after 5-6 hard laps because I wasn't getting enough air over my B&M oil cooler I installed. I needed to make a better air duct for it.
Thanks for the constructive replies.
BTW peter, you are an AUTO, and aren't auto's usually coolant cooled by the rad as well? Wouldn't a manual not suffer from this nearly as much? Doesn't that attribute even more to your problem, also you are 335 which is a little heavier which works the engine harder and longer? Are all the cars on your list 335's or are there any 135's?
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Yes, autos are worse than MT but both exhibit overheating at the track. This forum is for the e90 platform so we're referring to the 335 mostly, although there are a few that track (non-turbo) 328s and 330s.
It's typically a toss between coolant and oil overheating first.
For water issues, we typically run distilled + water wetter/Mocool. We've only seen 1-2 aftermarket radiator reports and one of the early installs (prototype?) was leaking. And even then, here's a complication with cooling the 2 cylinders on the back:
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showpo...&postcount=417
Somewhere in the thread I've also reported very volatile water temps, that was early in the summer where a long straight could drop temps by several degrees (& skyrocket at the pits when cooling was significantly reduced). As ambient rose to 80F+, that delta disappeared and water temps stayed high up, the cooling system was saturated.
On the other hand, several of us run aftermarket OCs with great success. Have a look at the spreadsheet to see how oil temps have been contained. Last year I was hitting 300F (immediate limp mode), this year with the STETT OC I don't even look at the oil gauge anymore.
Then you have IATs and traction control limp modes, both covered at the 1st post.
Having said all this, the car is fun to drive at the track. It's tossable/adequate handling and has a good torque curve. If you're willing to avoid the warmest month(s) of the year and/or run cool-down laps once in a while you can still have a very enjoyable track day.