Project: Mavro Gato - 99 Turbo'd 3L

[FastCougar]

Let me just clear something up here ... 22 psi was a "mistake" of sorts. Rather than start my EBC at 10% duty cycle (it's lowest setting) and increase it by 2% incriments, I did it in 10% incriments. 40% duty cycle netted 15 psi 50% duty cycle netted 18 psi ... I mis-set my duty cycle to 60% instead of 55%, which was my intent after reaching 18 psi ... to increase in 5% incriments until I reached 20 psi. I find it odd that a 10% difference netted 3 psi in one instance and 4 in another. Regardless, I didn't sense any ping, but it's hard to say with tires breaking loose at every throttle tip in over 75% @ 3,500 RPM's or above.

I know one thing now ... anything over 50% duty cycle with this 13 psi spring in the wastegate will be achieved 2% at a time. I might just have to rent the dyno by the hour next time I go and get as much data as I can for say ... $300.

[Blackcoog]

Trevor,

I'm running a huge intercooler which blocks my radiator and I haven't had any overheating problems. Check into flushing your coolant system as you may have some crap in there. It may be that your turbo is putting out much more heat though.

Chris

[FastCougar]

The only way to test this is to bypass the turbo and disconnecting it will take too long. I know when the car was NA, it ran great temp wise. The radiator is brand new and the block was hot tanked when I had it at the machine shop when they fitted the pistons/rods/bearings, so I'm 100% sure it's not the cooling system itself, but the lack of cool air through it.

[bensenvill]

if you want I'll post my how-to for modifying the radiator fan motors. Its been 4 years now and I've yet to get anyone to take me up on that. You know you can get 2hp out of each motor rather than the 0.3 they are currently pushing.

There is also a way to modify the A/C wiring to tell the car that the A/C is running which will keep the fans running on low [and still kick to high when needed].

do you have room to add a pusher fan?

[and I was just planning on modding my fog-light delete panels for brake ducting]

[FastCougar]

I have a solid 3 inches between the radiator and it's nearest obstruction (radiator front support) ... about 4" at the bottom between the intercooler and then radiator. Have you performed the fan modification? Has it been 4 years since you did it and thus it's been running for 4 years, or are you saying that you figured it out 4 years ago? I'm a little lost on that comment.

[bensenvill]

I used them for my battlebots back in the day when battlebots existed. I used them because they were cheap and rather compact.

the motors run at 12V, they are rated at 24, you can run them as high as 30-31 in high temp enviroments before they blow. and yes, I have stress tested them on small engine dynos for very extended periods of time. Now if your 'ambitious' you can actually rewind them as they are bidirectional motors which makes no sense because they only need to spin in one direction. yes I have performed the modification and anally photo documented, I'll post it up in a day or 2... its fun information.

[FastCougar]

Have you ever done this on the engine in-car though? I would imagine at that voltage, you would drain the battery and max out the alternator and have a dead car on your hands in short order. Keep in mind that statement is being made by an electical dummy!

[bensenvill]

no I have never actually installed the motors in the car... and theres probably a limit that you can actually spin the fans. eitherway I'm just trying to get the point across that those motors are real beasts that are underutilized. I'm going to randomly pull some numbers out of my butt but I want to say my battery pack is only around the 7amp/hour capacity [2 of those batteries you find in those emergency flood lights in all commercial buildings, wonderfully low priced high power batteries BTW], but I was able to run 3 of these motors at 24V balls out for about 15 minutes [I'd have to check specs but that should've been at around the 60amp mark]. eitherway at worst it should total out to be about the same as running a large stereo.... dunno I also fall under the electrical dummy catagory.

btw, you keep saying its getting hot? how are you determining this and what temps are you hitting? I've always been concerned about the heat my car developes and have always thought I was sitting unacceptable hot. I assumed that my fans never worked since I had never once heard them turn over. Did some engine spray cleaning stuff the other month and did the recommended let it idle for 15 minutes to burn off and yes, I very clearly heard the fans turn on... they are loud!

You could always swap out the termostat with a 160 degree unit just to get the fans to click on a bit earlier.

You may also want to look into an electric waterpump setup in order to be able to push coolant after you turn off the car just to flush all that excess heat. That Alkzat guy who was doing that rather controversial hi-out alt on top of the engine had a very impressive electric waterpump on his car, you can find a bit of information on it on the old CEG boards [he posted that the week they converted over so I dont think many people saw it, the pump was off a boss hoss IIRC].

[StealthyWeasel]

What good will a 160* t-stat do? If you're overheating, that really won't do anything

[FastCougar]

Highest I have seen it during datalogging on the dyno was 236F and rose quickly to the red area of hot, but only hung out there for a few seconds and began to cool over the next minute of idling. However, on my 22 psi trip day, it did the same thing, but on the road, so I had to pull over and pop the hood. The overflow bottle never steamed and I never heard a ping. The rest of the drive home it was all over the map, from just below middle to approaching red. The ONLY thing to help was turning the heat on full blast. At first, I thought I had a sensor going out due to the overheating on the dyno (again, it never steamed or pinged). However, I once blew a waterpump in a Contour and it did steam and ping like an SOB ... engine was fine after replacing the waterpump, but the gauge was fried on hot ... replaced the sensor and everything was back to normal. So, the sensor hasn't been ruled out completely, but is suspect (low on list). I need to simply find the time to reduct the car's incoming air and see if that helps. I'm sure that aluminum charge piping would help tremedously as well as I'm sure the SS only helps the heat soaking.