In traffic my motor gets to 201-202 and then the fan will kick back on and it will go down to 180-190. While driving in hot weather it stays at 180-190.

 

For the record, I am using some cheap *** ebay 2-core Honda radiator I bought about 4 years ago, I don't think there is even a "brand" for it. I figured I'd give it a shot and for $30 why not as a proof of concept as there really wasn't too many half widths out when I bought it.

I also don't have the typical half width setup as I have it located on the passengers side so I can do a forward facing turbo inlet on a conventional turbo placement setup. I have the stock turbo heat shield on and I have a stock T-Stat and a 1.2bar radiator cap. I am using a SPAL 11" HP Pusher fan mounted where the A/C fan use to be and I have it wired up through the stock PWM control module so I can use the ECU to control fan speed. The current demand of the SPAL is likely very similar to the stock fan based on motor resistance (less then 0.5 ohm). It would also be possible to fit a 12" SPAL in there, but I already had the 11".






I believe most of my intial trouble was just the stock ECU fan control. The lowest ECT value for fan control in the stock tables is 84C (184F). Stock the main fan doesn't turn on at all until 88C (190F) and it doesn't turn the fan on 100% until 103C (217). With the stock settings, my car was up around 215F at all times. I set everything from 86C (186F) to 100%. This kept ECT to less then 200 except for WOT where it would jump to around 210F and stay there well into 5th gear. This caused fan speed to hunt like crazy though at idle and is pretty annoying, so I plan on using the tables as intended to phase in the fan to 100%, but at a lower temperature range.


I looked through the stock ECU main fan control section to see if there would be any issues with dropping the coolant temp control axis values. I did find a control bit flag set at 78C (172F) that could cause a problem and may need adjustment. However, I do believe the stock ECT axis can be dropped to 76C on the low end and turn on fans by 78C without any issue. This would mean the fans can turn on about 12 degrees sooner without much trouble.


I think this setup puts just about everything in favor of over heating and the $30 radiator seems to work fairly well. While 210F isn't where I want it, it's nothing I am concerned about as temps are stable and not increasing beyond that point. I will however likely change the radiator to a better core and go up to a 12" SPAL by next summer.

*Note* Also, there appears to be code capable of turning on the fan 100% at WOT regardless of the main fan control table, but it is disabled from the factory. One quick change and it should work.

 

Holy crap... I'd more chalk up your temps to the fact that your radiator is in the complete opposite position in regards to the forward facing kits.

I dunno about the rest of you guys, but if I had only the half cut I wouldn't want my only cooling to be that close to the turbo being that hot, not to mention blocking clean airflow.

 

very good info coming out this is really great!

 

i will be contacting ETS and BR to discuss there respective kits individually and find out which one will suit me best!

 

How did this turn from AC condensor into a Radiator thread?
So, did anyone have a functioning AC setup on half-size condensor?

 

It didn't turn into a radiator thread. It was over the concern of putting an A/C condenser in front of a half width radiator and causing coolant temp problems. One step further, it talked about airflow from the fans, which is where you are going to have an issue with the condenser. It's still very much about getting an A/C condenser to work with a half width. You have to realize, there is likely going to be more then just getting a condenser and slapping it in there.

 

alot of good info hear.. im a big fan of the front face turbo but not for a dd.. scared of sumthing bad happening lol

 

I thought about getting everything made to get this to fit in my car. I live in Vegas. Its been 115 outside driving down the road and sitting in traffic... I wish I had a/c at times, now I just dont care. If I can do it so can you Having a hot condenser in front of the radiator, is gonna heat things up for sure.

 

i test fitted a lil civic condenser and seems to fit in pretty snug .... should be hard at all to fabricated the new line.
i will have a pusher and puller fan and shroud the puller fan. which will def. help with any type of heat soak at low speeds.

 

03white, I am going to type my ideas and they are no insult to you, just typing out loud. I know you are smart enough to realize all this.

First the radiator mounted in front of the turbo picks up the heat from the turbo kit, second having the fan mounted in front reduces the flow of air going down the road again not ideal. The ebay radiator I have no experience with but based on the other half widths I know there is a difference in the cores so I can only assume for $30 the ebay core is not ideal.

Now the way you have your set up done is how Tom P's was done and it used a mega-dollar C&R half with dual pass and that car wouldn't get over 145-150 degrees on the highway and that's the truth.

 

No offense taken at all. Honestly I like the thread as it gave me an idea of what others have seen with half widths. Like I said, I pretty much assumed I would have issues. I wasn't sure where the issues were going to come from though, airflow or core construction. At this point, it is a little of both.

But I figured I'd give it a shot as for the price, I wasn't too concerned about it not working. For $30, I'd say it is actually within acceptable limits. 200F-210F really isn't that hot, most cars run that hot or hotter just to improve emissions and efficiency. The only concern to me is that it reduces the tolerance for over heating in a performance application and that is why I will spend some effort on getting the temps down.


Funny thing, I got a quote on the C&R core that was used for that setup. $130 and it's next on my list. I obviously don't plan on using $100 a pop dry breaks though.

 

$130 for a CR? I don't have dry breaks on mine either, they were a HUGE PITA to work with actually. I just have -10 maile AN's and still think I was charged $650-700.....

 

I'm considering running a fabworX Front facing VBand 6262 kit that retains AC. Not sure if its beneficial. Esp for a car that will be a DD (Well I won't drive it daily but I want to have that option).

http://www.asaperformanceparts.com/f...acing-kit.html

 

I don't see how that's going to work with the stock A/C system and I don't see mention of any parts to convert over the A/C?