After much saving, planning and preparing I have came down to my final worry about boosting my 92 SC 5 Speed. Heat. I live in Yuma Arizona, a very arid and hot climate. Right now, Its probably around 95 out and its 12:44AM. Today during the middle of the day it was 121.. Is it a good idea to boost in a place where its so freaking hot outside? I have upgraded to a Fluydine Radiator, and was thinking of what else I could do to boost my ride. I don't drive around a whole lot, and there is no traffic here (Small town) so I'm not worried about letting my car bake at a stop light. Has anyone went NA-T under this kind of climate, please let me know and possibly what you did to beat the heat!! Thanks!

 

just be careful and wary of knock...

on a turbo car, hot and dry isn't necessarily bad, but when intake temps get up there, you can get pre-ignition... even intercooled cars may have issues, as there just isn't as much different in temperature to shed off heat...

 

We actually get such an issue up here at altitude. Guys at my track are always complaining about such issues, especially SRT-4 Neon owners.

 

hot is going to make your intake temps soar. I would be very careful and concerned. YOu certainly do not want to be driving hard with outside temps at 95 110 etc. If the external temps are high that is going to cause your underhood temps to soar, which will create increased likelihood of detonation, heat soak and general overheating conditions.


With that said I am sure you can do things to help, pull additional timing, run high octane fuel biggger intercooler etc.

 

My car got heat soaked the other day for the first time it was at least 95 deg with heat index near 100. I had it idling for a while when I took off it drove like crap. As much as I hate the cold I rather drive when the temps are under 60 deg.

 

See, you guys are talking about 95 degrees, its 95 at midnight, almost never drops below 90 at night at all, mid day its 120.. I don't think it will be safe to boost the car in this City :S

 

Youll be fine as long as you have a properly functioning cooling system. Youre not going to be romping on your car constantly so youll be fine.

Just make sure youre cooling is up to par. Ie keep the fan shroud, keep the belt driven fan. Inspect and replace as necessary, water pump, thermostat, radiator hoses, inspect all secondary coolant hoses. Get a and oil and water cooled turbo, get a temperature gauge, as often oem gauges can be innacurate. Doing this will be more then adequate for cooling issues. If youre going to road course the car, or do extensive racing, Id advice on you getting an oil cooler. Also get a Decent sized and quality FMIC.

Here in arizona our local club is experimenting with tunning and running E85 ethanol on some of our turbo nissans, on originally 91 octane rated motors (sr20det for example.) The main reason is because its cheaper then race gas, and offers very similar octane ratings, thus being a safer fuel to run. Modifications needed, is much bigger injectors, (whatever you were planning on running double it.) And ethanol rated fuel lines, and fuel pump, engine management and tuning for it.

In my turbo nissan, I didnt have any significant issues with heat soak, and I live in equally hot Phoenix. I broke the car, racing in a cooler new mexico, racing it at a road course, when one of my old coolant lines bursted.

 

Sounds like you need either water/alcohol sprayer or CryO2 Sprayers on your intercoolers.

 

if intake temps get out of hand, it doesn't take too long to burn a hole in a piston...

it's not so much about cooling system as it is combustion cylinder temps...

30 degree higher than normal ambient air, coupled with an intercooler thats dealing with 30 degree higher than normal temps can equal much higher air temps entering the combustion chamber...

though the ECU should compensate due to temperature by pulling timing, on many modified cars, we have gone beyond the ECU's ability to save the motor...

a knock sensor would be the ultimate guide to whether you are on the verge of blowing something up or not...

 

Well I decided to try out a niffty little mod but I'll need to upgrade my alt. if I want to keep it going. I put in 2 Auto transmission fans on the fronts of the wheel wells to suck in air. When they are on, the engine compartment actually becomes tolerable to be around while looking under the hood of the lexus. They will block the IC piping so I'll have to figure something out. To work and back, the roads are all 50 mph so I don't really gotta worry about 35 streets which tend to back up and stuff. Does anyone know if the Co2 setups actually make a decent difference?

 

Co2 set up is the coolest!
You will see the ice around Co2 piping. However, it would be not be suitable for your daily driving because you have to fill up the Co2 bottles. It adds up.

I think it would be more beneficial for you to get either SNOW water injection for the intake manifold (expensive) or water sprayer for the IC.

I have seen people buying the STI IC sprayer assy from Junky yard, get the bigger radiator overflow bottle ($10-$15) and spray their intercooler with it once a while keeping in cool! I think this is the cheapest option.

By the way, do you have CF vented hood?
That would be more desirable than fans pulling air in the bay.

CF hood would probably reduce 1 second on 0 to 60.
I had no idea how heavy the SC hood is.
I almost broke my back lifting it for the first time without hood shocks.

 

water injection and CO2 are not really suitable for daily driver applicaitons, becvause your problem is not just about cooling the charge for a 1/4 mile run or an occasional blast on the freeway. If your underhood temps are too high you are going to have to worry about more than just knocking under acceleration. YOu have to be concerned about the radiator boiling over and the engine overheating while just cruising. That Turbo throws off a lot of heat even while you are not boosting. I have seen more than one car that simply cannot keep the coolant temps low enough in 95 degree heat and 40mph or even higher driving.

 

I agree.

I do not think there is a soultion if you are unable to keep the low temp with Heat sheld wrap for Turbo, after market radiator, vented hood, and intercooler spray.


May be, get the side mount interncooler clearing the front or get a night shift leaving late @ night and coming home early morning...

 

For starters, right now my temp gauge never goes above half, I'm running a fluydine radiator and its awesome. I'm in the Marines so I work from 7:30 till' 5PM, so I'm working through most of the hot times, so I'll be driving in around 95's at night. Luckily, this blistering heat is only around for a few months, during the cooler seasons its a steady 75-80 during the evenings.. I care alot about my car so there won't be much expense spared. I figure, during the hot *** times of the year I just need to lessen my miles, and during the winter and whatnot its perfect for driving

 

That would work too!