[hypercheese21]

I recently read in "modified" magazine that replacing a radiator can add a bit of HP 2 your car and they did it with a new lancer evo. and showed the test difference and said it added about 20 hp. is there any truth to this or is it all rumor? pls help! heres a link to one from the RPM store AWR Competition Radiator for Mazda 6 s (3.0L) - Revolution Performance Motorsports!

 

[Used03M6s]

I recently read in "modified" magazine that replacing a radiator can add a bit of HP 2 your car and they did it with a new lancer evo. and showed the test difference and said it added about 20 hp. is there any truth to this or is it all rumor? pls help! heres a link to one from the RPM store AWR Competition Radiator for Mazda 6 s (3.0L) - Revolution Performance Motorsports!

Anything is possible but to be honest i wouldnt expect to see much from replacing the radiator on a N/A car, turbo cars tend to run much hotter and thus better cooling = more HP, but in a N/A car your not running nearly as hot as a turbo so probably wouldnt see much if any gains.

If your motor is built and has a significant hp increase already you will get more benefit from it, but for the most part the radiator is jsut added protection to thermal damage when really getting into it.

 

[Drizzoh]

Anything is possible but to be honest i wouldnt expect to see much from replacing the radiator on a N/A car, turbo cars tend to run much hotter and thus better cooling = more HP, but in a N/A car your not running nearly as hot as a turbo so probably wouldnt see much if any gains.

If your motor is built and has a significant hp increase already you will get more benefit from it, but for the most part the radiator is jsut added protection to thermal damage when really getting into it.

This.

AWR Radiators are baller tho.

 

[tkemme]

This.

AWR Radiators are baller tho.

"baller tho"?????????:huh:

 

[jrsy91gmc]

I had an AWR radiator, and it did not make any power. I really don't see how a bigger rad could add power, unless your stocker was allowing the temps to get high enough that the computer starts pulling timing or something.

 

[ButtonPuncher]

Exactly.

Our stock radiator already has two powerful fans mounted to it too. Instead of spending big bucks on an aftermarket rad, you could just run a colder than stock thermostat. I ran a 180 degree t-stat in my Contour. I never dyno'd it, but the butt dyno said that it helped. After watching data logs, I noticed the PCM running more timing which makes sense. A cooler head reduces detonation.

You do need to reprogram the PCM or the colder t-stat won't really benefit you much. The stock PCM will still wait to 200-210 degrees before the fans rally kick in. The coolant will start circulating sooner with the colder t-stat but that only helps if you are moving.

BP

 

[jrsy91gmc]

Or run a cheap aftermarket fan controller. With a couple splices into the fan wiring, you can manually control the fans AND maintain functionality of the stock module at the same time.

 

[ButtonPuncher]

Huh, I didn't know that there were aftermarket fan controllers that worked with PWM fans. I've gotta check that out!

>>EDIT<<

I'm not seeing anything that will intercept the stock fan controller's signal and allow you to modify it. I've found a bunch of standalone PWM controllers.

Do you know of any specific units?

>>EDIT<<

 

[jrsy91gmc]

You're not actually intercepting the FCM's signal... you're basically bypassing the FCM altogether. I did a write-up for 6Tech many moons ago, but that's been gone a long time... don't know if the archives are still around or not. I don't own a 6 anymore, but I'll try to re-hash from memory best as I can. Please bear with me... I'm an ME, not an EE I will refer to the stock fan control module as "FCM".

The power and ground for each fan motor passes through the FCM. The (+) wire is hot at all times (the fan motors always have full battery voltage)... the FCM controls the fans' operation through the grounds. If you splice into the (-) wire between the motor and FCM and connect that to a chassis ground, the fan motor will receive 12V (or 14.X volts if the car is running) and the fan will run at 100% speed. The FCM still works as designed, but you can use this auxiliary connection to power the fan whenever you want.

I suppose you could put some resistance in this line and throttle the fan's speed back, as long as your resistor was capable of handling the wattage. I think the fans drew roughly 15A each at full power, but I'm not positive.

I used a cheap Hayden fan controller (with the probe that sticks into the radiator fins) because I already had one... the controller just switched that auxiliary ground on/off. You could also use a toggle switch and relay, if you're not interested in any automatic function. I only connected one fan motor because both fans at 100% power was overkill, but you could also wire them independently (one on a controller, one on a manual switch).

I imagine you could use one of those PWM controllers you're talking about and actually have variable speed control. I've never tried it, but it seems like it would work the same way.

Hopefully that makes sense. If not I'll try again...

 

[e4w]

nice, but as sensitive as our cars are, i'm surprised it wont throw a CEL with the coolant temp being slightly lower.

 

[djquik1]

nice, but as sensitive as our cars are, i'm surprised it wont throw a CEL with the coolant temp being slightly lower.

It won't....I had a 160 degree thermostat installed on my car with a fan controller as well. I kept the cylinder head temps down to avoid the ECU pulling the timing back and the car ran better overall.

I never ran the AWR radiator and unless you are tracking the car, I doubt you would see any benefit for using other than being Baller like DrizzOh said.

 

[jrsy91gmc]

It's not even worth buying to be "baller" unless you just like telling people you have one, as it's pretty much invisible once it's installed. It also adds a little weight to the the nose of the car, and it's a little harder to get everything back together because the AWR rad is thicker than the stocker.

I bought mine from another member who'd never installed it and needed cash, but I wouldn't spend the $$ unless I was sure my stock rad wasn't cutting it...

 

[fullyarmed101]

It's not even worth buying to be "baller" unless you just like telling people you have one, as it's pretty much invisible once it's installed. It also adds a little weight to the the nose of the car, and it's a little harder to get everything back together because the AWR rad is thicker than the stocker.

I bought mine from another member who'd never installed it and needed cash, but I wouldn't spend the $$ unless I was sure my stock rad wasn't cutting it...

+1...

 

[Front 1ine]

It also adds a little weight to the the nose of the car.

Which isn't a bad thing...just sayin. The main reason I haven't got a CF hood is b/c I don't want to lose too much weight from our front end. FWD car + no weight in the front = no traction.

 

[Used03M6s]

Which isn't a bad thing...just sayin. The main reason I haven't got a CF hood is b/c I don't want to lose too much weight from our front end. FWD car + no weight in the front = no traction.

the weight you would save by putting on a CF hood would not be enough for you to lose traction on your front wheels unless you were pushing some insane amount of HP. and even then by reducing the weight up front you are getting closer to the coveted 50/50 weight distribution which would improve both straight line and lateral g performance.

 

[fullyarmed101]

the weight you would save by putting on a CF hood would not be enough for you to lose traction on your front wheels unless you were pushing some insane amount of HP. and even then by reducing the weight up front you are getting closer to the coveted 50/50 weight distribution which would improve both straight line and lateral g performance.

+1...

 

[Front 1ine]

the weight you would save by putting on a CF hood would not be enough for you to lose traction on your front wheels unless you were pushing some insane amount of HP. and even then by reducing the weight up front you are getting closer to the coveted 50/50 weight distribution which would improve both straight line and lateral g performance.

1) I was just sayin...every little bit helps.

2) But if I had to do something to go closer to 50/50 I would just move my battery to the back right side of my trunk. (to counter the driver)

 

[karlt10]

Huh, I didn't know that there were aftermarket fan controllers that worked with PWM fans. I've gotta check that out!

>>EDIT<<

I'm not seeing anything that will intercept the stock fan controller's signal and allow you to modify it. I've found a bunch of standalone PWM controllers.

Do you know of any specific units?

>>EDIT<<

This is the unit I've been looking pretty seriously at:

SPAL USA
http://www.spalusa.com/pdf/FAN-PWM_SPEC.PDF#view=FitH

It can read the OEM ECU temp signal and control the fan, or fans, whichever you choose

If you can find someone with the old one, it can be picked-up a bit cheaper:
http://www.spal-usa.com/fans/automated/tech_sheets/FAN-PWM.pdf

 

[karlt10]

Typical - I dragged my a$$ and SPAL quit making the controller. Couldn’t find one anywhere….

Lucked-out that someone listed a brand new one –along with 2 used ones- on Ebay, and today I managed to win all of them for $125. Can’t wait to get it installed…..