Project S2000: Part 23. Testing Air Temps Through Coolers and Vents
Khiem Dinh is an engineer for Honeywell Turbo Technologies at the time of this writing. All statements and opinions expressed by Khiem Dinh are solely those of Khiem Dinh and not reflective of Honeywell Turbo Technologies.
The first round of track tested upgrades was the Koyo radiator to keep coolant temperatures in check. After that track day, I was uncomfortable with how high the oil temperatures were getting on track, so I added an Earl’s Performance Temp-A-Cure oil cooler. If you recall, I installed it in an unconventional location, behind the radiator. I had a theory on the air temperatures going through the heat exchangers but had not actually measured them. So, I finally got off my butt and installed some thermocouples to measure air temperatures after they passed through the radiator and oil cooler.
Here’s the oil cooler sitting snug against the rear of the radiator. This picture is from when I first installed the oil cooler.
Thermocouple #1 measured ambient air temperature in the front bumper opening. Thermocouple #2 was taped to the back of the fan mounted to the oil cooler. Thermocouple #3 was taped to the backside of the driver’s side radiator fan to measure the air temperature coming off the radiator. Thermocouple #4 was taped to the surface of the radiator in front of the air box snorkel. Hmm…. My air filter is a wee bit dirty. The foam strips I attached to the frame in front of the radiator is well squished; so it appears to be sealing well with the hood and directing more air over to the air box snorkel while avoiding picking up heat off the radiator. Of course, this is for when the stock/street hood is installed. I suppose it helps push more air through the radiator when my vented/ducted track hood is installed.
Here is a close-up of the thermocouples installed. Ideally, I would have placed a thermocouple between the radiator and oil cooler, but I did a really good job of putting the oil cooler right up against the backside of the radiator.
The hood vents served as holes for routing for the thermocouple wires into the car. I did my testing at night so as to avoid too many weird looks. I used painters tape to keep the wires from flopping around. It’s not exactly NASCAR rated 200mph tape, but worked well enough as 70mph tape.
