water temp?

Ok, thanks for all the advice re oil temp. Next Question - maybe this has been covered before but what is everyone doing in the rad dept? race rad like a Howe? one with built-in oil cooler? using a thermostat? what degree? just a restrictor ring instead of a thermostat? Thanks guys.

Robert Barg

[Mark Allen]

Get the biggest baddest radiator that you can fit and that you can afford. End tank oil cooler is OK. Unless you spend big bucks and set the car up with a C&R high dollar radiator and really good ducting make sure that you set it up with a fan that you can switch on and off. Even those of us that had really good cooling could run into trouble post race when going 5mph to impound. The car that ran 210 all race long could suddenly be at 275 and climbing with no airflow.

We used no thermostat and no restrictor with no problems. This is a matter of significant debate, some will say you need a restrictor, some insist on a stat.

Mark

We Have Used The Howe Radiators With The Built In Oil Cooler. We Have Never Had Any Heating Issues. Just Ran At Nelsons This Past Weekend And It Was Aprox 94 Deg Air Temp At Race Time, 70 % Humidity, Car Ran At 185 Deg Coolant Temp And 250 Deg Oil Temp. Have Always Had Excellent Results With Our Cooling Systems, We Run A 180 Deg Hi Flow T-stat. All Aeras Are Closed Off And All Air Goes Through The Radiator. We Have An Electric Fan Set Up To Turn On And Off If Needed. Slow Laps Or In The Pits Sometimes. We Do Not Run The Fan During The Race,
Kevin Langston
The Gear Box.

[jimwheeler]

We have pretty much the same set-up except we use a restrictor in place of the thermostat. Set of 3 from Summit/Jegs, whatever for about $7. We use the 3/4" hole and it works well. Jeff Kopp put in a restrictor at MAM this weekend and it dropped his temps. That also depends on how fast you're spinning the water pump as to whether the water is staying in the radiator long enough for good heat exchange.
We do have an air/oil cooler in front of the radiator.
Jim

[jkopp]

As Jim mentioned, we put a 3/4" restrictor in the Camaro before qualifiying and the car never got over 210. I thought we had it licked but it quickly got to 250 for the race later in the day. I am running a big pulley on the water pump. The crank pulley is about 5" and I would like to try something smaller. I ran the fan the whole time. I'm sure the duct work could be reworked to be more effective also. I'm sure the 102 degree race temp didn't help but it would be nice to not have to worry about it.

[thomas toth]

Okay.......let's see if I'm right here because your car sounds exactly like my old car. Between the radiator and the air inlets on the front facia, do you have the stock black plastic piece that covers the front of the radiator? It was used on later Camaros to force the air directly into the Radiator and is often missing. I ran the same motor in both cars. The first car as I said was exactly like yours, the new car will not run over 200 degrees and it has the piece in front of the radiator, the old car didn't. On the old car I needed to run fans on the track, the new car I don't. There are 2 other changes in the new car. Header wrap and a light colored engine compartment.

Tom
#38 Camaro

[t4wallace]

Tom is right about the importance of "upper deflector." It might well be worth 15 degrees. Not painting your engine compartment black? Priceless.

A good cap is also your friend. I have heard conflicting stories on whether running a fan at race speed helps lower temps. My experience is that it does not help once you are at race speeds. But that could have been related to the style of fan (production) used at the time.

TW

why not black over a lighter color? Dark absorbs heat and lighter colors reflect...


sorry .. still a newbie plus my engine compartment is empty and now would be the time to visit this issue

[thomas toth]

Go outside today and put your face against a black car. Now when you get back from the ER try the other side of your face against a silver or white car. Yes black absorbs the heat but it also retains it. Kevin Langston took some temps once and noticed a significant reduction in under hood temp with a light color engine compartment vs black. Remember the under hood is not sealed, you have a constant flow of air through it. If the underhood does not retain the heat as black would you will reduce the underhood temps. Okay, time for Mark to chime in.....we need an engineer.

Tom

[jkopp]

Originally Posted by thomas toth

Between the radiator and the air inlets on the front facia, do you have the stock black plastic piece that covers the front of the radiator? It was used on later Camaros to force the air directly into the Radiator and is often missing.

Tom, is the part you are talking about #31 in this pic?