Actually the shroud seperates the intercooler cavity from the radiator cavity. The shroud attaches at the bottom of the intercoler and the top of the radiator. The hot exit air from the intercooler is guided up the shroud and exits through the vented ACP hood. A custom sheetmetal scoop under the radiator cavity seals the fan shroud to the radiator and directs outside ambient air up into the radiator cavity. The intercooler and radiator cavities are seperate and the shroud that seperates them has a thermal coating to prevent the intercoolers hot exit air from heating the inflow to the radiator.

Its alot of work to change over to this system, but if you want maximum cooling and reliability for road racing or hot weather performance its the way to go.

 

Also having fought these issues myself for a number of years I can attest to alot of the info that was already stated. Each system is somewhat inuque though. For example, JBsblown as stated has removed his A/C system entirely which clears up the path to the radiator and helps airflow. I don't know if Highrpm has his A/C in place but as stated he did cut his frame and re-box it to clear blockage and create an alternate airflow path. BTW, If I'm not mistaken he also recently sold his system to get another system (non-FI) that doesn't have heating issues but I may have him confused with another member.

Myself, I have also done ALOT of heat coated sheet metal work as well as a complete re-design of the airpath and intercooler system. To date the heat issues are almost totally gone with the A/C on during extended hard runs on 100+ days. I still have to add an oil cooler for the bumper to bumper heated oil recovery time though. Again, there are a number of basic issues that come into play (speed, A/C setting, OSA temp, constant rpm range, etc). Vary any of those parameters and the situation changes.

To clear up a few things;
1. The fans only come into play below 45 MPH so depending on what speed you're having heat issues they may not even be part of the problem.
2. Separating the condenser from the radiator is very important (plan on 1" minimum).
3. Sealing the radiator cavity shroud airtight is paramount (both in front and behind the radiator). You don't want ANY air to excape except thru the radiator fans.
4. You MUST keep the radiator and condenser clean. It may not look dirty but pebbels and debris gets into the fins and hinders cooling dramatically on a marginal system.
5. An air extractor hood will help.
6. Straighten up your radiator.
7. Get the intercooler out of the radiator cavity or in mine and Highrpm's case relocate it and re-manage the airflow properly.
8. Put an oil cooler on the motor and keep it separate from the radiator as well as in a different area.
9. Getting your intake air from the radiator cavity isn't helping you make power unless it's shrouded separately to prevent hot air intake from radiator/intercooler/motor. Also, get the air cleaner out from in front of the radiator.

HTH

 

i feel pretty comfortable that this should do it!

 

I recently posted a link which addresses many of your problems. (Bob at EPP was a big).

I have a similar set up and run 15-16 lbs of boost and road race (WEEKLY). I feel like I have the dubious honor of receiving a PHD recently on this subject. Here's what I have found in getting my own car working right and staying cool(much of which has been elequently stated previously):

1. Get an 100% alky kit(ECS is great). An absolute must.
2. You must get a separate oil cooler. Having the Oil cooler inside your Dewitts radiator (as I assume is the case) is great for the street and the "kiss of death on the track". If your radiator has a built in oil cooler, as I suspect, you should consider getting one that has no oil cooler in it, to increase cooling capacity (Ron Davis, or similar Dewitts).
3. Next I would carefully shroud the radiator so that no air escapes around the typical openings provided in the procharger stock shroud. I used foil tape to accomplish on mine.
4. As for your intercoolers, I don't know if you have the current dual side mounts, as I do or the front mount. As said in earlier posts, you don't want your intercooler mounted directly in front of your radiator resticting air flow. If they are side mounted try removing the plastic inserts which cover the vents on either side of your lic plate cover. That will help get more air to your intercoolers and radiator.
5. As for getting even more air to your radiator and removing heat from the engine bay, I have both a tiger shark front and an ACP air extractor hood. Those are upgrades that you may want to consider if the above stuff doesn't do the track. The stock C5 front end is ok for normal use, but all the equip and hoses from your Procharger unit severely restricts the "under breather" air flow from underneath.

Good luck. Feel free to PM me with any addl questions.

As I said in my thread below, I was running 210 coolant temps, and oil temps under 240 today (92 degrees and humid) after very aggressive 20 minutes sessions. That works for me.


http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show....php?t=1789231

 

You guys have some good suggestions.. I am going to need to try some of your suggestions if I plan to drive my car around in the hot Florida heat with our nasty humidity.

 

You can check out Tom's C5 and all the modifications we did here.
http://www.exoticperformanceplus.com...Car.php?car=40 Bob

 

I still have the F1R in place....after about 14 months (almost 5000 miles) of consistent use...its working perfectly....not one problem. After the complete redesign I was expecting some debugging and minor problems ...none surfaced. This system is so efficient that one recent run by the coast the coolant temps were 142 with an ambient temp of 65. This was steady running at 70mph, not hard driving.

Anyone considering this setup...do it..... its really the way to go for optimum cooling.

 

Guys:
Thanks for the responces! I havent been able to sit down and write a responce because of some heavy duty work issues, so I'll do that now...

Do you all concur with this? If this is true, I probably wasted my money on that DeWitts fan shroud with faster fans. If its true, then the new fans probably dont cause any problems, but still dont provide any help when at the track. Hrrmph...

Thermostats. There were a couple people that mentioned using a 180 degree thermostat. I cant see why this would be better if when I'm on the track Im always above 200 degrees? I've considered using the stock thermostat during the winter, and the 160 during the summer, but why would a 180 be best in any case?

Snitz: Your right, you are the doctor of FI / Roadracing. I've read your posts and will need to go back through them again. A couple things...

1. The DeWitts radiator I have is just for coolant only... no oil (I almost made that mistake but did get some good advice before buying)
2. I think I've done a very good job with boxing off the radiator on all sides (I'll need to post some pics to see if you agree or not)
3. My intercooler is a front mount, and with my new DRM/LGM brake duct kit, I'm reluctant to go to the twin intercoolers and loose that brake cooling. That brake duct kit really works well!!! Trade offs...
4. Meth. I've heard of some tracks not allowing meth on their road courses... have you encountered this?

Wow... there are some great pics in here and ideas... if you guys havent checked this out... do so. Tom is one lucky dude!

Thanks again all... very good food for thought!

Steve

 

just a quick question guys, has anyone tried using a diffrent AC rad to the stock one??? i hear form some of the mid engined guys that Prosche units are very small but very effective! just thought if you could put it out the way somewhere it might help the air flow to the rad.

also has anyone tried leaning the rad forward rahter than back? i know this would be a BIG headache and would tkae some enginering, but its what race cars and alot of sports cars do when they have very little forntal area.

just a coupld of thoughts

Chris.

 

I'm only at 621/647 at the moment, but i have no heat issues at all in Miami...daily driver, bumper to bumper...the worst of all worlds.

OEM rad, fans, etc......common sense goes a long way, but i think I've said that before...

 

Your numbers are growing, have you been playing with your chemistry set again

 

Nope...same numbers as per my last dyno visit..and not on a dynoqueen either....

 

I plan on doing this but not until I'm forced to keep her in the garage due to rain. In the meantime I'm trying to get a better grasp of a few things...

1). As HIGHRPM is doing, if you separate front fed TS air for the IC and use bottom fed air for the radiator, is the bottom fed air enough to keep water temps cool under EXTREME 30 min. session on a road course. Running hard in the streets aren't an issue with my current setup but is very different when talking about track use. I'm thinking what's front-fed is taken away to the pressure created for bottom feeding. My next track day I will run a session with the bottom sealed and see how that affects temps.

2). Xtream1's results are very impressive and I think he's introducing heated IC air to the radiator.

3). If the above is the case, the oil coolers would vent their hot air to the inner fenders and the radiator would then be laid forward. Still need to figure exactly how to get that vent in there while retaining the ducts to my brake rotors.

Arnel

 

just had another idea, has anyone tried an intercooler setup like what APS use on the C6?? they allow some cold air to get to the rad while still providing good cooling of the boost! ok your still blocking off some of the rad but its got to be better than a conventional setup. is there any reason this couldn't work for the C5???

here are some pics of their setup. http://www.airpowersystems.com/corvette/c6.htm

thanks Chris.

 

 

By the looks of their ad I would be surprised if that system DIDN'T have cooling issues at a number of different scenarios.

 

could you expand on that please????

a conventional fornt mount normally covers the whole length of the rad, these units will allow some 'fresh' air to get through to the rad.

thanks Chris.

 

Sure, coventional front mounts DO have issues (do a search as there are numerous cars that people are actually driving hard in hot climates that have been battling cooling for quite some time now). After chasing these issues myself for a number of years and almost finally solving them I can say with some certainty that have an idea of what it takes.

Almost anything in front of the radiator and condensor will adversly affect cooling on these cars. Yes, there are some exceptions such as separating with ducting for proper air management etc but in general stay away from that area.

This particular kit for example not only has the intercoolers in front of the radiator(which will let SOME air thru) but also has the intercooler tanks blocking the airpath (which don't pass air).

I'm positive that there are some APS proponants that will disagree with my opinion but let's see actual roadtrack track results in 100*+ weather. Not to mention bumper to bumper traffic with A/C set at 72* and ambient at 110*+ for an extended period of time which is where the restriction and extra A/C loads will tax the cooling system.

 

thanks for that xtream1. i just saw what they where doing and thought i was a neat idea to leave a gap in the middle rather than blocking it all off with intercooler. i have seen Nelson racing engines use a similar setup but im not so sure of their reasons.

just throwing ideas around mate.

thanks Chris.