[The Black Mongoose]

Well, with a big heat snail pumping hot air into his engine, making his oil toasty, and more heat going into the engine just from the additional a/f being burned, i think he would like a margin of error up top in case he makes a real hard run,

yea man I hear ya, does that waterless system work better as far as cooling, or is the only benefit that there's no water. I know its a pita to do the swap but maybe the juice is worth the squeeze

 

[Sacrifice]

You have to consider you have a lower boiling point with less coolant and more water, as well.

water boiling point is 212*F, 50/50 boiling point is about 223*F. the cars run at about 212, so with 10% antifreeze ill still be above that, granted not by much. I've had good success with the 70/30, maybe ill just keep it at that, ill have to do some research

The boiling point raises under pressure. Boiling point raises 2-3 degrees per lb of pressure. So 18psi cap would raise it up to 266ish

 

[Kfxguy]

What temp tstat are you running? Doesn’t matter when fans come in if water isn’t moving. Also even with a lower temp stat you’ll eventually be back at terminal temp but may buy you some time to get on the highway.
With moving the trans rad I think you’ll still realize that you need more volume to get a lower terminal temp. First I’ve heard of the mish not fitting right after a trim of the lower rubbers.

running a stock tstat. The trans fittings would not screw in because the hole was too small inside the fitting on the radiator. I saw this with my own eyes, I was gonna drill it for him but he decided not to drill on a new radiator.

 

[ocgoat]

I have the fans coming on around 175. both. high speed kicks in around 178-180


Does that fan setup work better than the stock fans? You ever used one?

Yes, it came with the Procharger Kit. I monitored coolant temp in traffic and even in the summer they would bring coolant temp down while stopped. I never ran my procharger setup with stock fans, but I assume there's a reason Procharger included it.

 

[Kfxguy]

What temp thermostat are you running?

Puller fans are more efficient than pusher fans. But adding pushers to the front should help move more air over the stacked up heat exchangers you have.

You have the trans cooler in the radiator and an additional trans cooler in front of the radiator, right? How do you have it routed? Through the radiator and then through the auxiliary one?

Stock thermo.


trans cooler in radiator, additional cheap cooler in front the condenser. You know the pracket the steering cooler mounts to? thats where its mounted. really not the most efficient way of doing it.

the top trans line is rerouted to the additional cooler.

 

[Kfxguy]

Yes, it came with the Procharger Kit. I monitored coolant temp in traffic and even in the summer they would bring coolant temp down while stopped. I never ran my procharger setup with stock fans, but I assume there's a reason Procharger included it.

i'll call them and ask. thx.

 

[Kfxguy]

I wanted mine to run a little cooler so I changed the the antifreeze mixture. don't get me wrong the engine still heats up but runs a little cooler in the FL heat and was the cheaper to do before changing fans, t-stats, diverters blah blah blah. I went from 50/50 to 70/30 water/ antifreeze with some purple ice. I would do 100% water but I wanted to keep the lubricants from the antifreeze, which I think are in the purple ice but I wasn't sure at the time. and obviously I used the orange stuff.

plus I did a complete flush and there was some crud that came out so I'm sure that also helped a bit.

I don't know what temps get like in the winter in LA, but in fl the last thing I need to worry about is freezing. I actually need to do a flush and a refill, its been more than 2 yrs. maybe what ill do next time is do a 70/30 mix in a 1gal jug and test it and then do a 90/10 mix and test it. as long as it protects to like 10*F-20*F ill be more than safe, I don't need to worry about those -0*F temps

i may flush it and start over. I know my mix is probably more concentrated towards anti freeze. Every time i opened the system (cam...heads, heads and cam again....) i added a gallon of straight dex cool. That may be an issue there. What if I put it on the lift at work today (I pretty much drive it every day) and drain the whole radiator and just add water back? That would be a cheap/easy experiment.


I just ran out to the car and tested it. Gotta redo it because coolant was still hot from when I got to work. But it protects to 0f right now.

 

[Vemon]

i agree with aluminum core radiator option. Stock radiators are garbage on any newer cars these days with plastic tanks. I went through 5 different stock style radiators on my CTSV and all were sub par and leaked from somewhere. Ended up costing me a block because I didn't have enough antifreeze in engine during cold weather due to just adding water (cracked block above cylinder walls in the cooling jackets). I went with an Alradco radiator on the V and it was awesome, lowered temps by about 20 degrees sitting in traffic. Just built this 04 GTO and got a Coldcase unit from GTOG8TA.com and it was not a perfect fit but I'll say the fit is acceptable. Its a hell of a lot bigger than the stock POS and it works, that's the most important thing! LS's are notoriously hot running engines and if mods are added that increase power and heat generation then the stock radiators need to be upgraded. I feel your pain on spending $$ on something that doesn't fit well but in the end it will be worth it so you don't have to worry about those engine temps climbing and obsessing over your water temp gauge instead of enjoying your ride.

 

[Kfxguy]

WELL. Alternator died. Again. Good ole oreilly alternator. LOL. I'm currently trying to work this situation out. Getting a refund from oreilly, and getting one from autozone. Did your heart sink? Dont fret, they started carrying factory delco parts so I'm getting a delco unit. Definitely not an autozone reman. lol


was sitting in the drive through, toggling through the hidden menu, when i passed the voltage and saw 11.5v real quick...I went back. Then I thought it was a fluke because the check alternator light didnt come on, so i grabbed a fluke and checked the voltage . 11.7v at the battery.



went to a car show last night. Light blipped a couple times. check alternator came on briefly and then the light blipped once on the way to work. Thought it was just playing. Evidently it wasnt.

 

[Kfxguy]

these aren't bad ideas.

i'm not sure i like setups that sandwich a bunch of heat exchangers together.

since you have a turbo, you might want to consider doing a separate oil cooler as well, if you haven't already.

routing all the lines would suck. i think one of the problem with oil lines is that with longer lines, you end up not having as much pressure and have additional points of failure. just because of that, you may want to find spaces for them in front.

there isn't much real estate up in the front bumper, unfortunately.

I was thinking about an oil cooler in the turbo feed line.

 

[ocgoat]

WELL. Alternator died. Again. Good ole oreilly alternator. LOL. I'm currently trying to work this situation out. Getting a refund from oreilly, and getting one from autozone. Did your heart sink? Dont fret, they started carrying factory delco parts so I'm getting a delco unit. Definitely not an autozone reman. lol


was sitting in the drive through, toggling through the hidden menu, when i passed the voltage and saw 11.5v real quick...I went back. Then I thought it was a fluke because the check alternator light didnt come on, so i grabbed a fluke and checked the voltage . 11.7v at the battery.



went to a car show last night. Light blipped a couple times. check alternator came on briefly and then the light blipped once on the way to work. Thought it was just playing. Evidently it wasnt.

Got an AC Delco from Rock Auto. 190 plus shipping, no issues.

 

[Kfxguy]

Got an AC Delco from Rock Auto. 190 plus shipping, no issues.

I got an ac delco one yesterday. Put it on yesterday at work. I had driven it and the oreilly one failed me for the second time, while I was at lunch. Hopefully this one is better.

 

[Kfxguy]

Update. First mod is done. Well it’s not a mod actually. But I thought it was worth mentioning.

Put the car on the lift at work today. Flushed old coolant out. Had a bunch of crap in it. I drained and filled it about five times. I put a cooling system cleaner in and flushed it out. Then I put half a gallon of straight dexcool, a bottle of redline and the rest is water. Didn’t have distilled water. Beat me up. Lol. I don’t buy into that. Anyways.it was two degrees hotter outside today on the way home (93f vs 91f) and the highest I saw was 213 and that was a brief time after I had gouged on it a few times. Average was 204-208....instead of 217. So I’m making progress. It would go down to 203 at a redlight. Then after accelerating and convertor slip, be 204,206 or 208. I need to get a better trans cooler now and maybe relocate. If you guys want I’ll keep posted each thing and the temp difference I see. Maybe help someone down the road.

 

[Nothubertjfarnsworth]

i'm sure using distilled helps prevent mineral deposits in the cooling system from forming.

any barrier between the coolant and the surfaces inside the cooling system could interfere with heat transfer.

you look like you are concerned with "every little bit helps" with your cooling issue, so it's something to consider.

 

[Kfxguy]

i'm sure using distilled helps prevent mineral deposits in the cooling system from forming.

any barrier between the coolant and the surfaces inside the cooling system could interfere with heat transfer.

you look like you are concerned with "every little bit helps" with your cooling issue, so it's something to consider.

Yea you are right. I have to drain it and do it over agin anyways. I found out that half gallon of coolant i use was a mix. I was going to switch over to honda coolant because i have unlimited amounts free but i wasnt sure I got all the coolant out. So i'll do it again and flush it better this time.,

 

[Glynn]

What about getting hot air out of the engine bay with a new hood?

 

[Kfxguy]

What about getting hot air out of the engine bay with a new hood?

What kind of hood you have in mind?

 

[LS2-GTO]

All I meant was if the temperature goes up at speed you have a low pressure area at the radiator. Possibly removing the radiator shroud or diverting air different than it is now from underneath might help. Might, could, should, maybe etc...

Hood extractors can allow more air to get to the radiator but if everything is right - rad cap, thermostat, proper level of coolant, no air in the system, pump works, no leaks - should you be having a temperature problem?

 

[LS3goatee]

I kinda went overkill but I have a heat extractor in my hood, thermostat with fans to tuned, Ron Davis radiator, oil cooler, dual pass heat exchanger, and OTR (cooler IATs). I'm in PHX, so every bit of cooling helps out here with 100+ degrees approaching as summer begins.

 

[Kfxguy]

i think my first plan of attack is to put a better trans cooler. Trying to decide which one and where I am mounting it. My concern is to keep it out the airflow goin to the radiator.

basically I have it stacked like this:

intercooler
trans cooler
condenser
radiator

probably not the best arrangement.