S/C vs A/C vs HOT WEATHER

[circmand]

Has anyone tried an under mount scoop? I cant think of the correct name of it but a lot of sports cars that run hot by their nature have an attachment behind and under the bumper which directs air from under the vehicle up into the engine compartment

[newthings]

Alpine S/C people suggest the quick way to get more cooling is to get the trans cooler function out ot the radiator and into an external trans cooler. Where to mount it has always been the problem.
Roy

[Chopper]

Newthings is there...open that rad up. Flush it for sure(should do that every 24 mths. anyway) or look into a new rad. Check those hoses, too soft? It's certainly not unknown for GM radiator to sludge up...they need distilled water and clean antifreeze. Good luck

[WormGod]

My radiator is only about a year old and the latest flush was when I actually put the S/C in, with all new fluids just earlier this year.

I think my future plans include another rad fan and a some better air porting.

I am NOT touching a single thing that involves medium to heavy work because I think my tranny is on it's way out anyways. It's been showing the sure signs of a dog that knows that it's last days are coming. That happens, then she sits in the garage until I decide to drop another money bomb and go full throttle with an overhaul. Or.... I sell her.

[tom4bren]

Sorry to hear about the potential tranny SNAFU. Any chance that it could be heat related? Since your engine is running hot, it follows that the tranny is too.

[tom4bren]

I did some research on upgraded cooling systems and came up with some good info but I need input from some of you that are experiencing the problem. Most of the info I got from Dave at Evans Cooling (888) 990-2665 www.evanscooling.com. I also found www.calsonic.com that seems to carry some nice radiator/fan combos but the guy is out till next week (248) 848-4876.

1) For those of you that have installed the S/C, did it include a new pulley for the water pump? If the pump is turning too fast with a water based anti-freeze, you will get cavitation at the pump which will actually reduce the flow. Evans sells a product called NPG-R that can be used in a stock set up that will not cavitate (their product NPG+ requires upgraded radiator, pump & thermostat). Dave indicated that if you run NPG-R, you can remove the thermostat & eliminate that as a potential cause for the overheating.

2) Some vehicles constantly circulate anti-freeze through the heater core (even with heater off). This actually limits coolant flow through the radiator. Need to determine if that is the case with the VX & if a cut off valve can be installed for summer use.

3) The VX has a 2 stage thermostat set for operating at 192 degrees and also has a bypass circuit. The bypass circuit shunts coolant back to the engine without going through the radiator. If you are overheating, the bypass circuit may be stuck open. Need to determine where this bypass is and if we can plug it off. This should be your first plan of attack.

4) Radiator - The VX comes stock with a single row of 1 inch cooling tubes. Standard configuration for upgrade radiators are 2 rows of half inch (no improvement (0%)) or 3 rows at three eighths inch (small improvement(12.5%)). Dave indicated that if you don't increase the total diameter by more than 25% then you will not get ANY benefit. He would like to see 2 rows of 1 inch cooling tubes for the S/C application.

5) If we meet with screaming success in getting your temps back down to a comfortable level, we may actually create an opposite problem. If the temp gets too low, the computer will sense an out of spec reading from the temp sensor and send it into a "limp home mode". It probably won't send any error codes but the VX will probably run bad or no power or even worse gas mileage (and I'm guessing it would be even worse with a S/C).

I hope some of this info is helpful. If I come up with anything else, I'll let you know.