Hood louvers

argatoga

argatoga

Can't Start His Wank
Joined
Oct 4, 2005
Messages
18,200
Location
Zagreb
Car(s)
'08 Pontiac Solstice GXP
Well my MG is in better shape right now. However it has a bit of an over heating problem. Would hood louvers help things out? If so how would I deal with rain?
 
it has a bit of an over heating problem. Would hood louvers help things out?
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a) They could help if put in the right places.

If so how would I deal with rain?
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b) They'd have to be put in the right places.
 
Louvers should be a last resort. Can I get a pic of your engine fan arrangements and your radiator? Those are the first things you should upgrade. Also, do you have an oil cooler at all? That can help.
 
I don't have the car at the moment. I'm picking it up on Monday. I will have better pictures then. I'm not sure if the radiator is stock or not.

It seems that another guy who did this conversions used the radiator from an Audi 5000.
http://www.geocities.com/mg12a/mg12a/intro.html

From his log:
Measured out radiators. Found a 1R948 radiator that fits an Audi 5000 88-85 2.2 L5 MT. core size 24/1/4" (Len )*12/1/8"(wid)*1/7/8"(depth), and side tanks are 2/5/8"(depth) * 12/1/2"(height). This radiator has the inlet and outlet hoses on the passenger side. The lower outlet is located about 3-4 inches from the base, which will hopefully clear the steering rack on the MG. There is no radiator cap, so an external header tank will be needed. A water temp sensor fitting is located on the passenger side, below the lower hose. Phone number to order (in Northern California) is (800) 225 6296. I will most likely try to find a used radiator in a wrecking yard. Radiator 1R947 is very similar to the 1R948, all dimensions are identical execpt the core length of the 1R947 is only 22/1/2 inches long.



** other radiators may fit by mounting them backwards and having hoses exit facing away from the engine. VW radiator 1R604 (20/5/8"*12/1/2"*1/1/4", assorted rabbits 77-82, has rad. cap) and 1R633(21/1/2"*12/1/2"*1/1/4", 80-82 pickup, some diesel rabbits 77-80, no cap) may also work.

** note The stock RX-7 radiator is about 21"*16"*1.5"

6-18-98 bought the Audi Radiator for $100 bucks used. I also bought the matching expansion tank and a new cap, both for 5 dollars.
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I cut the radiator supports, lengthwise, and was able to see how my radiator will fit. Looks like it should fit no problem. The header tank will go on the drivers side front.
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Geez, that's not enough cooling capacity. You need another core or two on that to give you the heat dissipation capacity you need (rotary engines are second only to the 5.3L Jaguar V12 in terms of underhood heat generation, IMHO). All the more so since the radiator is set up to allow coolant to flow through the header tank back into the engine without passing through the radiator first. I would never fit a radiator that had inlet and outlet in the same header tank.

A check of my hypothesis - do you overheat all the time, just at idle, just at freeway speeds, or what?
 
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Not sure about idle, but it defiantly does it on the move (including the freeway).
 
Okay, then that tells me your radiator can't shed enough heat (as air flow on the highway renders all fans irrelevant). Check your coolant chemistry/composition as well.
 
What would be a good replacement? Are there any better after market ones that I can fit in there?

Interesting fact, the car currently does not have a thermometer valve thingy (its free flow). The guy I am having work on it rigged one up and found the engine became hotter with it.
 
Yeah, you should have a thermostat, but you don't have enough cooling surface to use one.

How much clearance do you have between the fan and the radiator?

Apparently you can use an MGB radiator too - which means you can use one from an MGB-V8 which should solve the problem. You'll have to get a radiator shop to alter the inlet and outlets, apparently:

http://www.britishv8.org/MG/BillYoung.htm

Also, from this:

http://books.google.com/books?id=rh...=X&oi=book_result&resnum=3&ct=result#PPA78,M1

There's a Griffin radiator that *should* work.


For that matter, all you *really* need to do is go to a good radiator shop and bring some measurements with you. A custom three or four core aluminum radiator shouldn't run you more than $250 or so and will solve the problem permanently.
 
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Keep in mind rotaries run between 200 and 400 degrees hotter than piston engines. Get a good radiator, electric fan, and front mount oil cooler.
 
Someone once told me that you have to provide cooling to a rotary as if it were a piston engine of approximately three or more times the displacement, and that seems like a good rule here.
 
I think I'll go the Griffin route. It seem like it would be my safest bet. I'll stop by Kitsap Muffler and have them see how feasible it is to do.
 
Get a better pic of your engine, and especially that mess of wires on the inner fender.
 
Yea, I'll provide some better pictures on Monday. I had this guy give the engine a look over and he says it is good (minus the over heating). Once I fix the overheating problem and diff I'll look into doing the MSD install you mentioned earlier.
 
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argatoga said:
Yea, I'll provide some better pictures on Monday. I had this guy give the engine a look over and he says it is good (minus the over heating). Once I fix the overheating problem and diff I'll look into doing the MSD install you mentioned earlier.
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Just go with 2nd gen (FC) coils, easier, cheaper, and just as effective.
 
Body from the UK, engine from Japan, and it overheats like an Italian. :lol:
 
starfox07 said:
Just go with 2nd gen (FC) coils, easier, cheaper, and just as effective.
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Maybe, but I like the idea of having a rev limited to protect it from me being an idiot. But right now the distributor is working fine (apparently the coil sparking was caused by a missing contact).

jayhawk said:
Body from the UK, engine from Japan, and it overheats like an Italian. :lol:
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I like the international theme of it.:p
 
The joys of engine swaps :)
 
For Spectre

https://pic.armedcats.net/a/ar/argatoga/2009/01/24/IMG_0015.JPG

https://pic.armedcats.net/a/ar/argatoga/2009/01/24/IMG_0016.JPG

https://pic.armedcats.net/a/ar/argatoga/2009/01/24/IMG_0021.JPG
 
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