SN95 Under Hood Temps

90lxwhite

I'm kind of a She-Man

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#1

• Jul 1, 2014

• #1

Other than a cowl hood is any recommendations on how to reduce under hood temperatures? Since the addition of the vortech it's getting pretty hot in there. The coolant temps aren't extremely high but some higher than they used to be. Yesterday was a fairly hot day and it ran about half with a 180* t-stat on the stock gauge where it used to run about 1/4 with the stock t-stat.
I'm not trying to reduce IAT's just ambient heat I guess one would call it. What if I wrapped the head unit in some sort of heat blanket? Or is that a bad idea because I'd be "holding heat in" the head unit?

 

84Ttop

They make new pistons every day, so why worry?

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#2

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• #2

I wouldn't try to wrap the head unit, you may wind up trapping more heat than you would be saving yourself. When you start leaning on the compressor (headunit) it will undoubtedly make some heat.
Honestly other than a cowl hood I'm not sure there is much that you can do. I have always used a coolant additive such a water wetter and had decent results. That may help with the heat transfer of your coolant if you think it is running a little warmer now

 

Reactions: 85rkyboby

85rkyboby

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Jul 1, 2014

#3

• Jul 1, 2014

• #3

WATER WETTER

 

modulistic

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#4

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• #4

do you run headers? can you wrap them?

 

RacEoHolic330

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#5

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Are you solely basing this off the stock temp gauge? I would get an aftermarket gauge before you start worrying about your underhood temps.

 

mikestang63

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#6

• Jul 1, 2014

• #6

I would not recommend any water wetter or other additive to your cooling system. They are known to cause problems with gumming up radiators and such.

For additional cooling your options are

cowl hood
upgraded radiator
E Fan
upgraded water pump
ceramic coated headers
Intercooler

Know that with a power adder, you are going to add additional heat under the hood. It's a trade off.

 

90lxwhite

I'm kind of a She-Man

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#7

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• #7

RacEoHolic330 said:

Are you solely basing this off the stock temp gauge? I would get an aftermarket gauge before you start worrying about your underhood temps.

Click to expand...

Nah I'm basing it on the fact that even the hood prop is now hot as sh!t to the touch.

84Ttop said:

I wouldn't try to wrap the head unit, you may wind up trapping more heat than you would be saving yourself. When you start leaning on the compressor (headunit) it will undoubtedly make some heat.
Honestly other than a cowl hood I'm not sure there is much that you can do. I have always used a coolant additive such a water wetter and had decent results. That may help with the heat transfer of your coolant if you think it is running a little warmer now

Click to expand...

Water Wetter is legit?

 

Last edited: Jul 1, 2014

84Ttop

They make new pistons every day, so why worry?

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#8

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I've had good success with it personally and have yet to see ill effects in 10+ years of using it

 

90lxwhite

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#9

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84Ttop said:

I've had good success with it personally and have yet to see ill effects in 10+ years of using it

Click to expand...

Are you using it with water only or w coolant? I dunno man... There are some pretty scary reviews out there. http://m.corvetteforum.com/c6-corve...454-water-wetter-good-or-bad.html?styleid=140

 

84Ttop

They make new pistons every day, so why worry?

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#10

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I have always used it with straight water fwiw

 

Mustang5L5

That is…until I whipped out my Bissell

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#11

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Water wetter is just non-foaming soap.

 

84Ttop

They make new pistons every day, so why worry?

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#12

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Mustang5L5 said:

Water wetter is just non-foaming soap.

Click to expand...

So I'm guessing that it would make crappy bubble bath?

 

Mustang5L5

That is…until I whipped out my Bissell

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#13

• Jul 2, 2014

• #13

Well water wetter gets a bad rap these days but i haven't seen a solid scientific paper FOR or AGAINST it. It's basically non-foaming soap that reduces surface tension, but beyond that does it actually make a difference? Marketing says yes, actual testing is incolclusive.

As for corrosion claims, if you use distilled or deionized water, you will have corrosion as the mineral free water absorbs surrounding metals. I can show you lab equipment I have here made of stainless steel that gets corroded from using DI water. I would not put that in my engine block.

I neither support or oppose water wetter.....i support fixing the cooling system, not banddaiding it. (yes i realize that is not the topic of the OP's post)

 

RacEoHolic330

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#14

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• #14

I'll be using spring water and BMW coolant in my setup. My research points to that as the best option for a street duty vehicle with aluminum parts.

 

revhead347

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#15

• Jul 2, 2014

• #15

I used to use water wetter and stopped using it. It made absolutely no difference in the temperature. So far the only way I have found to keep the water temp down is to run a bigger radiator, and a bigger thermostat. I strongly recommend against wrapping the headers. I made this mistake myself one time, and the headers rusted out really quickly.

Kurt

 

90lxwhite

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#16

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SiIcone hoses a gimmick?

 

smkshw

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#17

• Jul 2, 2014

• #17

mikestang63 said:

I would not recommend any water wetter or other additive to your cooling system. They are known to cause problems with gumming up radiators and such.

For additional cooling your options are

cowl hood
upgraded radiator
E Fan
upgraded water pump
ceramic coated headers
Intercooler

Know that with a power adder, you are going to add additional heat under the hood. It's a trade off.

Click to expand...

i did all of those except the intercooler, temps on hot days are still 195-205 on my 331,never succeeded to get it down,i may try a dual fan set up