oh man i wish i could come out this weekend to see this event it seems like its gonna be big. i know you guys all said i could ride with one of you, its a shame im working all weekend
one of the cons of working at a Heinen's lol, they run into "produce emergencies" as what I'm told hah.

 

All they have to do is go to axtime.com and create an account (free) and register. If they never have autocrossed before, they get $5 off as a rookie. Are you coming out this weekend Jon?

 

My friend Miki has Auto-X his TransAM many times.
He plans on running at Nelson's in a couple weeks and when I mentioned the NORA event this Sunday, he decided to "warm-up" his car at Northfield since he hasn't Auto-X in a couple years.

I do plan on coming out Sunday (and possibly to Nelson's too), but I'm watching Fox8 news and they are calling for a 50% chance of rain Sunday.
Hopefully its not too bad.

 

Rain is bad. Hopefully it doesn't rain all day, and if it does it just rains in the morning.

 

Saturday is the fun day at the ledges you're all talking about, correct? I won't be there in person, only in spirit.

Yeah. . . that thing is a monster. However, its about as smooth kitty litter and pleasant to drive as a Rhino on acid.


I'm watching the weather, too. Called for rain all weekend. Boo...

 

Rhino on acid.... Nice

 

All,

I have been experiencing higher than normal (in my opinion) cooland and oil temps.

Jon+John have seen this first hand according to the analog gauges and confirmed by the Accessport.

I am sort of unsure of the plan of action here, so I'm going to just throw this out there because I know heat is the killer of compression.

Cheapest solution first (according to my logic)

1. Remove stock thermostat - replace with nothing.
Cost - Free
Pros - Coolant always running through radiator.
Cons - Engine takes a long time to heat up. Poss. more prone to flooding as result.

2. Coolant swap with re-mixed antifreeze amount
Cost - Meh, 25 bucks with water wetter
Pros - I know the coolant mixture is correct, more distilled water cools better than antifreeze, and since i'm not driving in the winter, the antifreeze isn't a huge concern.
Cons - Its a pain to drain all the coolant, may not improve cooling at all.

3. Replace stock fans with after market fan. Bypass ECU control for a direct switch mounted in cabin.
Cost - 100-150 for a good permacool electric fan
Pros - I control when the fans kick on without buying an accessport.
Cons - Fans won't run after the car is turned off... I "may" forget to the turn the fan on causing my car to explode.

4. Purchase upgraded water pump and RE-medy thermostat from mazmart
https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...79#post3143579
Cost: 300 bucks,
Pros: Better flow, thermostat opens sooner, should cool better
Cons: Expensive, no guarantee to cool better.

5. Purchase Oil Cooler fan kit from fluid.
cost - 350 for 2 fans
Pros: will help cool the oil, which is a huge part of our engine's cooling system
Cons: 350 for 2 little fans is lame. new product from a questionable vendor (in terms of design)

Okay those are the big ones I'm considering.
Other are
6. New Radiator - about 300 bucks
7. Homemade vented hood (probably would look like my hood now with plasma cutter holes in it. )
8. Greddy Oil pan - Don't remember the price, but it was expensive.

Just throw out your thoughts and suggestions.....

 

Steve- If this were my car, I would start with a new thermostat from MazMart.
With a new thermostat you already drained the radiator so new fluid is required (there is your fluid swap).
But you would also need to drain the fluid at the block to completely drain the coolant.

 

If you're looking at higher oil temps you can also do the DIY for cooler oil flow:

https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.php?p=3130689

I would think tho that if you're seeing higher oil and water temps it's due to improper air flow in your engine. Run with your heater on max and the windows down to see if that helps. You don't even have to turn on your fan and your heater vents will allow some heat to escape the engine into the cabin.

Also venting your hood or buying a vented hood does nothing other than making your hood look like poop unless it's combined with other changes to take advantage of the air flow. Course the scoop might provide you enough drag to keep you slow enough you won't heat up your engine as bad.

Oh and changing your coolant fluid isn't bad at all. Just wear eye glasses when you pull off the coolant cap on the engine. Sucker really does spray.

 

Im with Jon...start there...it's cheap.

 

Plus.. his other ideas are just band-aids to mask a possible problem.

 

I was just thinking about this Steve... when you had the AP running on your car, how high did the coolant temp get according to what the AP read?

 

hey guys just wondering, you prolly already thought of this but weren't we debating this at my house last time we were all over? because of where your thermostat takes the reading and where the accessport takes it arent the same? cuz i was asking about where we would put the sender for my lotek pod and that came up cuz steve and you had totally different operating temps and you said that could be why. just wondering though.

and i just ordered my midpipe about two minutes ago

 

It does measure from different locations. The problem is with Jon and Steve comparing in the same location Steve is still 20 to 30F warmer. New coolant should be enough for Steve...but a new thermostat can't hurt.

 

But that is what I'm questioning.
Only time Steve and I had the same reading location is with the AP, and I don't recall it going above 200 like his RB gauge was reading.

 

Ryan - good find on the oil cooling mod. I've seen those ghetto cooling ducts people have put in too. I think we'll start with the exacto knife DIY.

Mazmart has the pump and thermostat on sale, so maybe I'll just get both, swap water pumps, coolant, and thermostat. but... 300 bucks - That's money that SHOULD go to buying Ryan's stockers and track tires.


In terms of the temp, I don't want to say its getting worse, but high humidity yesterday coupled with 83 degrees on the ambient temp = Coolant temp of 225 (roughly), oil temp of 190. ... after some sitting in traffic and such.
This morning though: Ambient temp 67 degrees, coolant 192, oil 170.

I still think its worth looking into. I mean, Ryan's car has digital gauges, but never read anything close to mine. His car was running at around 170 degrees, mine cruises at 190-200... a little too hot for me.


So, plan of action: . . . I dunno yet. Probably oil cooler mod cause its free, then maybe order the thermostat alone and swap the coolant and flush out the radiator.
If that doesn't do the trick, I guess an upgraded water pump or radiator, which ever makes itself available first.

I think i'll still run on Sunday if the weather holds despite this temp issue.
Jon - if you're going, can I plug your AP in to log the temps? It can do that, right?

 

How are you going to log the data if you can't have anything loose inside the car on the track?

 

Hide it... or stow the AP itself in either the center council or glove box, or in the door's lower storage bin.

 

Oh, and in other news, sent an email to the previous owner of my car asking him if he ever changed the shifter... he said he never has. . .

Honestly, that has me very very confused. I'm going to bring my stock shift **** to our next meet to see what changes.... I really don't know what to make of that thing.

Do you think the dealer added it and forgot to tell him about it? My car was one of the ones that got a bunch of crap added to it because mazda missed their HP numbers.

 

get an inexpensive sticky mount like I have. 10 bucks from bestbuy.

And my gauge has always been a little low. I usually run around 180 via the ap and get up to 215-220 on the track. Usually only on turns when I'm close to redlining. It'll drop down 10 degrees on a straight where the airflow is optimum. Also I'm almost running just distilled water. Probably 90-10. So I'm not sure you are runnng all that hot. I'll log my weekend sessions so you can compare if you want but as long as you're not getting over 210 cruising then you're not overheating.

 

just thought i'd let the "gang" know, the ultra-sound this morning showed that Heather and i are expecting a girl! Due Dec 14th-ish.

going to crawl back into my hole now. see you again in about a month or so.

 

Congrats!!! Maybe I'll have someone to share my birthday with (12-12)

 

Nice! Maybe. one thing is for sure though, i now know when yours is. i have a good mind about dates. i'll remember it.

 

I think her middle name should be "wankel" its feminine, yet strong.

Congrats!

 

Just curious who is all going to Northfield tomorrow.

My buddy Miki just blew out his rear end today street tuning his TransAM, so he wouldn't be there tomorrow.
And he probably won't make it to Nelson's either.
He did sign-up for Mid-Ohio in Oct so he should be able to make that.