220-225. at 10psi and 16psi it hit 230 and would have got hotter, but my alarm started beeping and I let off.

 

the other day i was going down the freeway and saw a splash of water hit my passenger side windshield, i knew exactly what it was so i turned my heater on to check, of course, no heat. i pulled over and my overflow was blowing out steam. this was just cruising on the freeway for 30 mins without ever getting into boost at all or even over 5" vacuum. i slowly let pressure out of the system, and it took 1.5 galllons to fill!!!!
last night i could not help myself, and i knew i was full of water (heater worked at idle) i got on it only a couple times, 1-2-3-4 gear 50-60% throttle (still spinning in 4th lol). that was all that i got on it the whole trip, when i pulled into the garage, my overflow was again boiling over.
both these times my stock temp gauge did not move off of normal!!!! i drive constantly with the heater on high and fan turned all the way up just as a signal to help me know when i am out of water. i pulled my thermostat a few weeks ago just to make it easier to fill the car up with water. i now drive with 2 gallon jugs of water, lol.

in other words, my situation is pretty bad. i need to get a couple other cars out of my shop to begin the tear down on mine.

 

so do you think your head gaskit is blown or are you just spewing out all of your water because of head lift and just having to refill it?

 

Gman, thats pretty hot for 10psi...pretty hot in general. Is this after a LONG continuous pass? Most people I know go WOT for about 10 seconds tops, then let off. But I think you tend to go WOT for longer periods of time.

OverZ, man, if you were spewing coolant at cruise, than you either have a major leak somwhere, or you head gasket was totally toast.

And you are correct. The stock temp gauge does not even budge until 230F, on the 350Z.

 

Yeah I go WOT through 6th gear and try to top it out as long as there is road. After each run like that I do let it cool down though. Are you telling me I can't do this? If so I am moving on to another car.....THIS SUCKS!

So true. You don't know how chitty the stock temp gauge is until you get an after market gauge.

 

I have looked into installing an electric high flow water pump, and bypassing the stock pump entirely. This will likely help keep your temps down. The only issue is that your front timing cover has to come off, and all your accessories, so its a fair amount of labor.

I am also checking into to higher capacity fans, since you guys got me wondering about that too.

 

ya, i think it is toast also. but kind of the reason i started to think the cooling passages in the block may not be large enough. there really is not much water passage designed into our blocks at all. i think when my motor comes apart i am going to thermal coat the piston top and chamber and exhaust runner. that will help some heat transfer to the block and heads.

 

While we are on the topic of headlift/gasket issues, thought I would share...

I pulled my motor yesterday... my driver side turbo is toast..wiggles like a SOB...and I had yet another hole in the silicone hose that comes off the passenger side turbo (have to move it away from the exhaust manifold!...and I'll pull my heads off tomorrow to see what my gaskets look like, keep you all posted

TODD

 

How bout a nice 62-1 Hifi/Stage V setup for you

 

Todd, I wish I had pics to show you how I got a very nice heat wrap on that hose coupler to prevent burning thru on my car. After installing both the clamps and pipe that goes in that coupler, I have this sleeve of heat wrap (used for headers typically) that I slide over the pipe, coupler, and clamps, all the way down until its bunched up on the compressor housing. This sleeve can expand and contract in diameter, sorta like "chinese-finger-cuffs" and that is how I can snugly wrap all that stuff. I secure it with stainless saftey wire after its all in there perfectly.

As for the turbos, maybe we can get a slight group discount on the forced performance 20g upgrade?

 

Hopefully this is true. This thread has come far since it was initially started. At everyones advice, I did go with the sleeves. As far as oveheating goes, I'm wondering if, with all the things I've purchased so far, my car will be okay for around 600 rwhp. Here's a list of all the stuff that I can think of off the top of my head (some of the stuff may not play a role to dissipate heat or help with the headlift issue):

Wiseco Forged Pistons 8.8:1 CR (.020 over with ceramic coating on skirts and tops)
Eagle Forged Rods
ARP Rod Bolts
ARP Head and Main Studs
Cometic Head Gaskets
Darton Sleeves
Block oil passages cleaned
Block redecked
Block Bored and Honed using a Torque Plate
Crank balanced
Crank journals polished
New Rod and Main bearings
JWT S1 Upgraded Cams
JWT Heavy Duty Valve Springs
Heads oil passages cleaned
Heads redecked
Ported exhaust and intake runners
5 angle valve job
Valve Stem Heights set
Cold Clearance set
New Valve stem seals
New OEM Nissan Oil Pump

ATS triple carbon clutch, ATS carbon LSD with LSD oil, DSS level 2 1/2 axles, Greddy Radiator Breather Tank, 750cc injectors, Utec, Koyo Radiator, Samco hoses, Greddy oil catch tank, AAM oil pan spacer with AAM return lines, Crawford Plenum (currently debating on which 3 inch exhaust and dumps).

As far as heat and the headlift issue, I'm thinking that the ceremic coating on the pistons, Darton Sleeves, ARP head studs, Cometic head gaskets, the koyo radiator, AAM oil pan spacer with return lines, crawford plenum should assist the car with the dissipation of heat/keep heads on the block? I'm also thinking that the 3 inch exhaust with dumps is going to be a necessity to also assist in dissipating the heat. At this point, what else can be done for precaution so I can run 600 rwhp? Try to find upgraded fans, Nismo thermostat?

 

Yancy who is building your motor?

that's a whole lot of cash you're about to drop.

 

Yeah, I know but it was either this or go buy a 2006 Z06 for like $80,000 then start modding that. I can't stand to have a car like someone else and there are a lot of vettes and Z06's here in Michigan. I got the long block from Kyle at Import Parts Pro (used to be part owner of SGP). It shipped yesterday. All the other stuff I got from a local shop called the Tuning Factory (used to be called Godspeed) and from Forged Internals. The tuning factory hooked me up a pretty good deal on the ATS stuff The only thing that I haven't got yet is the 3 inch exhaust and dumps.

I think you have more into your G than I have into my Z though As long as it makes me happy, that's all that matters. Looking forward to the weekend cruises/races, shows, etc.

 

Yancy I think you have most everything covered, but definatley get the nismo low temp thermostat

Funny you say this. Here is a little excerpt from a back and forth email I had this morning with a friend.

 

Yep, I'm the exact same way. We all know that we're never going to see a 1 to 1 return on the money that we put into our cars, but life is too short not to have something fun like this. When I was young, I always wanted to mod a car like this and now that I can, I'm going to enjoy it each time I look at it, drive it, wax it, or see people snap their necks looking at it as they drive past, or hear the blow off valve, or stare at the stop techs as they drive alongside me, or watch me pull on a new viper. It's all good as long as it makes me happy

 

yes, it truely is a sickness i know i will never get away from. i have even tried, lol. i have lost girlfriends because of it, spent my last dollar on cars in the past, and still can never get enough. come to think of it, i can't believe they don't have a auto-anon, lol. oh well, i wouldn't go anyways, i am not ready to quit, hahhaa. i'm still in full denial!!

 

Im having to do some pretty radical stuff on my car in preperation for what i want to do with it and to help with this coolant, headlift issue.

Hopefully some people will start tearing down there motors so we can see if the gaskets are really failing or not. Otherwise it seems like everyone is just guessing.

 

For cooling you might consider a couple of additional steps:

1.A Setrab oil cooler. (Stillen). Adds to the oil capacity as a "heat sink" in addition to providing heat exchange.

2. Thermal barrier coatings on the manifolds and turbo housings(inside and out) such as turbo X and on the intake pipes such as CermaKrome. Thermal disbursal coating on the intercooler return pipe and on the lower oil pan. Reduces under bonnet temps from the barrier coatings, increases heat exchange from the lower pan which of course is not water jacketed.

3. Redline water wetter in the water or water/coolant mix (improves surface area contact of the water to the aluminum radiator for more efficient heat exchange).

4. Oil pan spacer (JWT). Increases oil capacity.

5. Amsoil bypass filter system (BMK-13). Removes all particulates in the oil of greater than 1 micron diameter. Our standard high flow filter only removes particulates of greater than THIRTY microns. Particulates are the big enemy in attracting,and retaining, heat. And heat is our big enemy in a high hp engine as high hp always generates high heat.

6. Vented hood to express underbonnet heat. I use a VIS cf hood with the nose scoop at the center of the forward high pressure zone, which helps to create a vacuum or suction of the warm air through the six exhaust slits.

I am still on new motor shakedown, but after four decent track days on the new set up I can report to you that the car on 12 pounds of boost and running it hard for 25-30 minute sessions does not go over 90-92 degree Centigrade water temp. That includes Laguna Seca, Cal Speedway,and WillowSprings. Plus the car is producing the same hpand torque returns of the identical engine......but with 1.5 lbs less boost to attain it. Perhaps some of that is the result of the idiosyncracies of engines.....but I rather doubt all of it is. I suspect that some of the side effect or benefit to attempting to manage heat is that the turbos are spooling up faster and scavenging exhaust better, and the intake charges are cooler, all contributing to more power. There is also an isothermal plenum spacer on the car that its counterpart does not have.

None of this is related to head gasket leakage or lift, but to heat management. I am a big believer in attempting to keep longevity in the front of the brain when doing mods for performance, and this does control how much power to dial up, and make for perhaps more aggressive approaches to dealing with heat than normally discussed. But turbos are HEAT MONSTERS, and there is no way around that. So far, the car is running very cool. It remains to be seen whether there will be longevity.

 

Brief periods of high boost on the track, usually wont cause the coolant spikes that Gman is seeing. See, Gman is a unique fellow, and repeatedly makes blast through all 6 gears and tries to top out his car.

On a typical road coarse, you are full throttle for just a few seconds, and then maybe 10-15 seconds down the straights...tops

 

The heads are lifting and eventually they trash the head gasket. Upgrade your cooling system and increase clamping force.

The only method that I know works to date are 1/2" head studs torque down to 110 ftlbs.

Also, my Darton MID kit ran much hotter than my block with Weston Liners, (Darton makes these to Weston's specs). Below are a few pics of one of my blocks with the liners. These liners are no joke, and guys are running them with over 1400hp! In theory the MID kit 'possibly' could handle more power, but the blocks are splitting in half before any failures have occurred with either MID or Liners. Darton is pushing the MID kit, but even their rep at SEMA agreed that for every day driving the Liners offer better cooling.






Here's a pic of my MID block - - in person it's even more obvious that the liners allow more coolant flow around the cylinders than the MID kit.