2jz FC3S

[Cam_Ron]

I don't have a proper under tray, just a panel that directs air from the back of the intercooler to the front of the radiator.

I would love to hear from any forum members that have a larger air to air intercooler in either a traditional mounting position or v mount and road race their FC.

[largeorangefont]

You need an underdray that seals the bottom of the car and runs to the back of the radiator or front of the K member. And in your case it will need fitted sides that seal off around the intercooler. You want the air that goes in through the front of the car to have only one real path to take, and that is through the radiator. You may be ok then leaving the hood as is, but it is likely You will need a vented hood since you are turboed. You'll want to vent the hood behind the radiator. If you do all of that you will probably be fine.

[Cam_Ron]

Sounds like a decent way forward with the current setup. I've started making some moves towards the v-mount conversion and will decide on the way forward in the next day or two.

Thanks for all of the input.

[largeorangefont]

Sounds like a decent way forward with the current setup. I've started making some moves towards the v-mount conversion and will decide on the way forward in the next day or two.

Thanks for all of the input.

No problem.

To be fair, you are going to do all the same work to get a V mount to work right, plus reconfigure the entire front end plumbing. My issue with the v mount is by definition you are dumping extra air under the car, where we want to remove it. With a vented hood you are pulling a higher percentage of air up and over the car.

Without a vented hood, it is all the same, but you are not going to run a v mount without a vented hood anyway.

[Cam_Ron]

True, the one distinct advantage of the v-mount configuration is the amount of direct airflow across both heat exchangers with proper ducting. As for the vented hood, I don't think that I have much of a choice given the relative position of the front of the engine and where the intercooler would need to sit.

[largeorangefont]

That is true, but the hot air wash through your radiator is not drastically hotter after going through your intercooler, and is still fine to cool the car. OEMs do stacked configurations like that all day every day.

[AKINA FC]

Love seeing this car on the track!  Jealous of the CF doors, on my list at some point.
I ran a front mount with my procharger for a long time with no issues but you absolutely need to have everything sealed around the intercooler core and from the intercooler to the radiator core, I even had a/c at one point and it never caused a problem. Stacking coolers works just fine, you can see pics in my build thread and gallery for reference. My radiator core is only 26x14x3 so its fairly small, intercooler was fairly large, dont remember core size at the moment. Road raced for a long time with that setup, miss it too haha.

[Cam_Ron]

Thanks for the contributions fellas.

   I attended the second track day with my club and had some marginal success with the original rad and intercooler orientation. After a complete bleed, some ducting (not complete) between the intercooler and radiator and 2 dedicated hoses directing air from the front of the bumper to the space between the intercooler and radiator it still gets hot and wants to boil over after 4 or 5 laps.
   The cooling system has a functioning thermostat, it is filled with water and water wetter and the fan works.

   At the moment there are 2 theories:

1) Radiator cap is weak and system does not maintain adequate pressure causing a premature boiling point
2) The cooling system is not able to be bled completely given the relative position of the rad cap

I have tried a vacuum and conventional bleed with the same result and have a bleed petcock at the highest point in the system. For this reason I am wondering about coolant system pressure.

My plan to address this is to install a coolant swirl pot with cap at the front of the cylinder head between the upper radiator hose and the water pump. This will then have a hose from it which will bleed into an over flow canister. Radiator will have the cap removed and welded shut. I would also like to perform some additional ducting on the sides between the radiator and intercooler.

My hope is that this should fix things for the next track day which is on the 12th of August.

Let me know what you guys think. 

[AKINA FC]

Radiator cap wise I would recommend a 20# cap, I use a Moroso as they let you pick your pressures. I use a Moroso swirl pot/tank on the front of the engine as my radiator is really low, its the only way i can bleed the system correctly. Tie the swirl pot into a overflow tank somewhere for expansion/contraction as well.
You really need to make sure the radiator and intercooler are completely sealed off to the incoming air flow, it doesn't take much of a hole or crack to loose that incoming air pressure to where you don't want it to go. For reference I forgot to seal an area on the sides where the oil cooler lines come in from and it increased my temps on the car by about 15*, the area was a 1/2" gap between the side of the radiator and side panel where i forgot to re-install aluminum foil tape.

[digitalsolo]

To echo Erik a bit, I saw 10-20* coolant temp differences with just perfecting my ducting/shrouding for the radiator.   It's a HUGE difference.   A front air dam is super helpful also.

[Cam_Ron]

Thanks for the empirical feedback. I'll make sure to not leave any ducting on the table for the next event.

Erik, I think the original carbon splitter you used on your car would work well on mine. Are you able to let me know the details? Do you still have it by any chance?

[largeorangefont]

To fully echo Erik, I also run a 20# Moroso cap, and a Howe swirl pot with an overflow tank. I have a low radiator as well, and the swirl pot makes filling the car with coolant simple.

The cap is key, because once a cap vents, you lose coolant and start a cycle of creating air bubbles that spirals into an overheating condition. My friend overheated and killed his Small Block Ford at the track and we traced it back to a bad radiator cap and bad fuel pressure regulator.. at the same time.

[Cam_Ron]

A bit of an update:

 - I cut the cap off of the R32 GTR Koyo rad that I've been running for years and sealed it with a plate. There is now a coolant swirl pot with a 150kPa cap on it at the top of the cylinder head between it and the upper port on the rad. The system runs cooler overall and is much easier to bleed. When its moving, temps are able to stay in check but it gets a bit hot while sitting in traffic on a 32C test day. I've ordered a form fitting sheet metal fan shroud and some different fans in an attempt to address this. With any luck, these moves along with the ducting might solve my issues.

 - Erik kindly found his old carbon splitter and made me a very fair deal on it. This will be the basis for the ducting when it arrives.

[Cam_Ron]

Fan shroud seems to be doing its job nicely. Temps never go over 90C even while sitting in traffic in 25C ambient temperature. With any luck, the ducting should be the last piece of the puzzle.

On another note, I think I am close to the limit of what my intercooler can effectively deal with. That will be another interesting test to come.

[7th Heaven]

Those old school HKS can pulleys look bad ass.