Just got done with a track day where the temps were 100+ degrees. The temp gauge never moved. No upgrades for me until I know I need it.
Did the PS cooler upgrade though.

 

The benefit of having more water in your radiator is this

n the water cycles though the radiator and to the engine to coll its metal surfaces and back to the radiator. If the water amount is low the water will not have a chance to coll down or dissipate its heat and will come back to the engine and still be hot from its last trip. But if the water capacity of the engine is more, then the hot water will less frequently come back and in fact , relatively "colder" water will more frequaently come in contact with the engines colling channels. And if the ideal balance between cooling capacity and weight is reached( heating properties of engine should also be evaluated) then ideally the hot water will have a chance to cool off before it comes back to the engine making the "hot" water's contact frequencey with the engine or block itself zero out of infinite cycles.

Is it clear now, all those things about surface area and stuff are related to heat dissipation efficiency. The thermoswitch is a timer and the thermostat is a regulator of radiator activities and they both ensure that this cycle is dynamically being adjusted in order to maintain adequate operating temperature.

If i had a thermostat and a thermoswith whle regulating the Thermocouple heating rate in the lab i would measure al my Melting point ranges with a lot less stress without having to sit there and overcompensate for sudden spikes in temperature or drops there are such tools that exist.

 

FOr example , if you have a low capacity radiator but your cooling efficiency is autstanding, then you will pull it off, but if its 120 degrees outside out in the streets of willow and your traveling at semi low speeds but redlining your z then you migh tbe heating up your wate too much and then you have no insurance aka cusion of constantly cold water to help you out. Ideally you want to have a lot of capacity but also a good cooling efficiancy.

it is possible to have more capacity but less cooling efficiency and your just still left with a bunch of hot water, imagine the extrem, wee all send out radiator fuild to a a square tank with the same capacity as our radiators but without fins, kjust a box, the capacity will be the same but our engines will blow because no matter how much capacity we have , unless we have the atantic ocean the ehat will not be dissipated.

Now another crucial issue that has not been touched upon with FI cas is the stagnant air gap that exists between intercoolers and radiators. In the japanese tuning market the apex i intercooler has special free flowing fins so as not to hinder air flow to the radiator, and power industries has this suer new technology radiator(that is availale for the 350Z) that has super hich cooling efficiency and low weight. If you are going Fi get a radiator from a company whose test car aslso has FI. Nismo has FI so get ther thermostat. Power industries and Stillen both have Fi but Stillens intercooler is not as big as power industries, so keep that in mind. I honsetly think any radiator will do fine as lond as its geared towards performance but htink of weight too. there is also BLits for the Automatic guys, the blits radiator also doubles as a transmission fluid cooler. peace guys

 

bling factor does not even come into play here jroataryb - the Z has that big plastic cover of the factory radiator.

The amount of misinformation that is on this board is at a record level. We sell half the stuff that is talked about here, but that does not mean it is the right thing to buy for everyone. But it seems lots of people here are into the whole "my mod list is bigger than yours", rather than taking the time to learn the shortcomings of their car (actual not perceived), and upgrading things in a logical, sensible manner.

As I said early on in this post, the biggest reason to upgrade the rad on a Z, especially for forced induction guys or track day guys, is to get rid of the OEM unit and its plastic endtanks. The upgraded units from PWR, ARC, PE, and others are all aluminum, and while they may have more coolant capacity, their primary benefit is the material they are made from.

Just because someone makes it or sells it, does not mean it is worth you buying......

Adam

 

Didn't you say that in the Oil Cooler thread?

 

I can attest to the ARC being an awesome unit. Worth the price? That is totally up to you. For me, I think it was worth it...

 

Lads, for what it is worth, I ran the G35 car at Willow Springs on June 4th when it was 106 degrees on the track, with FI. The radiator on the car was stock, and the temp never reached 100 C. Now I did not push the car hard, but that was more out of concern for pre-ignition under those conditions, and it handled cooling just fine for sessions as long as 13 laps at a time, and speeds around 130mph on the back straight between Turn 7 and Turn 8, and 120mph+ on the front straight. I did run the course with gearing too tall in order to keep the rpms down (the turn 2 sweeper in 5th instead of 4th at 85mph, turn 9 the same, and upshift to 5th early in Turn 6, etc.). But basically this car design handles heat very effectively in my limited experience.

 

...And you have a Procharger, which tells me that I wouldn't need a radiator unless perhaps I'm pushing a built f/i engine on a track.

It is reassuring that are cars have such good cooling stock.

 

Both jason and I had major overheating going on on the same day (june 4th @ willow springs). After 2 laps in each session my water temp needle was heading up and looked ready to peg the top of the gauge. I'd back off each time it crossed the mid point and it would cool off pretty quickly when rolling down the straight at a higher gear.

 

we wereing over heating.. but getting very close to thats for sure...

 

From what I've found in regular driving the temp stays around 85C... but in traffic the temps can go to about 95C.. the increase from 85C to 95C has only a very minor increase in the stock gauge.. have not had the opportunity to push the Z hard again on track since installing the defi display, so don't know if the stock gauge jumps when temps get really high.. I’ll be upgrading the radiator in the future given some overheating issues on short tracks without long straight aways.. and that's without doing mods to the engine yet.. does anybody know if the ARC is direct replacement with no need to loose any other functionality?

 

It is a direct replacement.

 

ARC is a direct bolt in - we have installled them before

 

I had a bit of overheating at Streets of Willow on Memorial Day. It was about 104 air temp. I was running 20-25 min. sessions. My 3rd session the needle start to rise, and my overflow tank filled up. My power steering tank boiled over as well.

I think my solution for improved cooling will be the following:
1. Water Wetter
2. Nismo High Pressure radiator cap
3. Nissan Motorsports oil cooler kit (coming very soon)
4. Nismo power steering fluid cooler

http://www.performancenissanparts.co...th=153_174_379

If I need a radiator after that...then I'll do so. One step at a time though.

 

Mr B and Z1 Performance.. thanks for the info.

 

No problem!

 

there are some pics of alluminium radiator fitted on 350z? thanks

 

Man, there were some awesome guys who posted in this thread. I miss the way this site used to be.

 

I don't see anything different?........bunch of whinny *****'n going on at about page 2........same ish, different YEAR.....

I know what your saying though, im sure you know this, but in general "Auto forums are the blind leading the dumb"

I see that quite often here........I read through the rif-raf as much as possible and only really take the advice of those I know "know" what they are talking about or those I see have the experience to comment.....

there is a lot "quick responses" with no real merit on this site...........just gotta read through it all..

-J

 

I'm not sure if your talking about the same site, but even the arguments that were had back then had more substance than the some of the ******** that goes on here nowadays. Even with the disagreements on page 2 there was still good information to be learned from the posters who disagreed with each other.

Edit: In an effort to not take this thread off topic, even though its over five years old, that's the last I'll comment on how in my opinion this site has changed.