Cooling system options

[TroyV]

I have been looking at my options for gaining more control over the heat that my super pig puts out. I have a plan to get the heat out of the engine bay, and now I'm looking for some simple solutions for increased cooling efficiency.

First to paint a picture......The 03 Cobra has two separate cooling systems, three if you consider the micro sized oil cooler as a system. The first is for the engine....standard radiator, pump etc... The second is the system for the blower....heat exchanger in front of the rad...and there is a separate pump. IIRC The oil cooler is just a short loop path from the filter housing to a small heat exchanger and back.

The nose of the mustang is fully taken up by the blower heat exchanger and the rad behind it, so it doesn't really look like a separate large oil cooler will be very efficient if it is blocking more of the primary opening.

With that in mind, on to the question at hand...

During my search for big ass aftermarket radiators, I have seen that several offer a separate circuit partition for AT fluid cooling on cars with an AT. Can anyone tell me if it would be of benefit to run some extra lines and just route the oil through the AT partition and back into the loop? Would there be too much heat xfer to the coolant?

I'm just looking for ways to cut some of the heat with some clever plumbing and off the shelf pieces....no fab work required..

Thoughts?

[John F]

You may be able to do that. I know people that use that for a power steering pump cooler. I don't know how much pressure drop you might see, though. The early police 5.0 Mustangs had an oil cooler that bolted to the side of the block and had radiator coolant running through it and tubes with engine oil running through that, so they were usually the same temp. Don't know if something like that is available for the mod motors, but there should be info available on the web.

[cfossum]

Clever. Although I wonder if the radiator can handle 80psi (or more?) At what pressure does a transmission cooling circuit usually run?

[breakaway500]

Most transmissions circulate fluid through the coolers at 9-11psi. Transmission "coolers" are there to help regulate the temp of the fluid,both to help warm it as well as help keep it from excessive heat.There will be almost no benefit from running engine oil through one.A failure of that cooler will create a large mess,to say the least.
An oil to air cooler will be the most efficient,as radiators work on the difference in temps to remove heat.If the cooler in the air stream is 70 degrees,it will extract significantly more heat than a cooler that is at 200 degrees,or more.

A larger,more efficient main cooling system radiator wiil be the largest asset to cool the beast.
They also make larger,more efficient intercooler radiators.
You can place an auxilliary oil cooler almost any place that is exposed to air.It does not have to be up front to do its job. Any oil cooler is better than none. I run a small one on the Focus and dropped oil temps by 40 degrees.That is significant.

[cuda6666]

Have you tried running with the heater on full blast?

[TroyV]

Thanks for the resposnses.

I usually run the heat on track. Thank god COM rules are for the windows to be open. The car really kicks the heat on track.

I recently had a discussion with a guy running an A/S mustang that routed the oil through the tranny cooler in a rad. It helped in keeping temps down, but the tubing in the rad was not up to the oil pressure and eventually ruptured and leaked into the coolant. The one thing that helped was that the oil pressure was always higher than coolant pressure, so there was never coolant in the oil, but was oil accumulating in the coolant.

I found an Evans radiator that has a built in cooler specifically for the engine oil, but there are two problems with it that I can think of. First, it takes up the same package space as a fluidyne w/o an oil cooler would. So, the overall radiator size is compromised by the addition of the oil cooler........AND second.........the cost of the thing is 800+ dollars.. The good aftermarket rads run in the 350-400 range.

[breakaway500]

Another issue about using the transmission cooler built into the radiator is insufficient volume.They just cannot flow enough volume for an engine oil cooler. Notice how large motor oil lines are compared to transmission lines?There is a reason for this. Tranny fliud is about 5 weight,cold. Plus,not all of the tranny fluid flows through the cooler,as it is split depending on demand.

I have heard of some using the radiator trans cooler for a power steering fluid cooler with success.That's about it.

I believe a good aftermarket alu radiator will go a long way toward helping your heating woes..

Removing the A/C condenser would help cooling as well,but I'm sure you do not wan't to sacrifice that.

Next thing you know,you would be stripping 600 lbs out,too!

[brucesallen]

Ensure that all the air that enters the fornt of the car is forced to go through the radiator and that there is no path around the radiator. Keeping air pressure (not velocity) in front of the radiator makes a tremendous difference in cooling.

[Stynger]

What are you running for fans?
2 high flow fans are mandatoery, then you have to think about exiting the hot air from the engine bay.

Some kind of air scoop that draws air between the IC and radiator really helps.
http://www.bellengineering.net/product_ ... ucts_id=68

Getting air out from behind the radiator also helps air flow.
http://apexautoeng.com/images/Spyder_6.jpg

An oil cooler with a fan (like on an Atom I saw ) also works well.

BTDT.

[TroyV]

These are good responses...Thanks.

I knew I would have to look at boxing in the radiator, but I hadn't considered running a scoop on the bottom side. That is something I can fab into the radiator shroud.

So, a big ass radiator, the hood I have been considering, a shroud w/under scoop, running straight DI water and water wetter..etc..

Maybe I'll look at replacing the puny stock oil cooler with a bigger one as well.

[John F]

You could probably dial back the boost

[TroyV]

I already have it dialed back.....I mean...I already have the smallest pulley on there.

[StephanAlfa]

Hi Troy:
I come with a philosophy that everytime you add something new to the car, it adds weight and yet another mechanical potential "issue" you may come accross.
Perhaps taking this in "steps" so see what works could be a solution. Spending $$ in radiators, etc vs. using scoop.
I am not sure if heat wraps to dissipate heat out of the engine bay is also an idea.

Just my 2 cts fwiw.

[offcamber09]

Troy be careful with the hood mod. By creating an escape path for the heat you may also create a new path for the air that was intended to go through the rad. Bruce is right -on with the boxing-in of the radiator on the sides and above from the bumper cover to the top of the radiator. We've installed a couple of the MM oil filter relocation kits- which move the filter behind the left front bumper support. I don't think that really frees up enough space to do anything with it, but, with the added plumbing and larger filter- any added oil capacity won't hurt.
On the subject of Evans cooling systems, I haven't had any feedback on their waterless system. I know one of the Mustang mags did an article on it a few years ago.

[TroyV]

Thanks Scott. The hood prototype was developed and tested on an 03 Cobra all last summer, with countless hours of data logging confirming the results. The hood is in the pilot production stage, and I'm pretty sure the first or second one off is mine..