Recently put on a Vortech S-Trim V1 on the car with a 31x12x3 front mount inter cooler. So its blocking a major portion of air that was hitting the radiator. Before the s-trim the car would run 210 all day long no matter how hard i beat on it. Even in the Florida heat. Now with the s-trim it get to 220 just driving around town and not beating on it. Thus not making the car very enjoyable nor reliable. The blower sits right on top of the upper radiator hose. Both of which get extremely hot.

Car has a new 98 radiator.
New 03 fan on a relay / manual switch
Electric Water Pump seeing 12.5V
185 thermostat with 1/8" hole drilled through it.
Maybe 8" cowl in the rear of the hood
50/50 premixed coolant w/ 2 bottles of Water Wetter

What are my options on making the car run cooler?
Change thermostat? Drill larger hole/s?
Larger radiator? Which would minimize clearance b/t the blower and fan.
Another fan in front of the radiator?
Wrap the upper radiator hose in heat shield?
Cut larger cowl in the rear of the hood?

I realize Ill probably have to do all of the above to make any difference. But what else is there to be done? Something less expensive yet still effective?

If I cant get this car to run cooler in the FL heat when I beat on it, it might as well sit in the garage all summer before I blow it up.

 

Here is a shot of how I have the fmic mounted.


And with the front bumper on.

 

Drop t-stat to a 160? Cheap enough to try
You say 50/50 coolant/water wetter? Shoudlnt that be distilled water and water wetter?
Probrably need a better than stock radiator

 

our 95 blown gt vert auto did the same thing, i cut the plunger off the t stat so it was only the flat piece left. it helped alot !!!!!!!!

here is a pics b4 we put meth and moved battery .
hope this helps!

 

So basicly running W/O a thermostat?

 

A 160* thermo is on the way from UPR. Im also gonna get an air dam to redirect the air up over the radiator.

W/o the plunger in the t-stat i wouldnt think the coolant would cool through the radiator b/c its moving to fast.

And if I swap the radiator I would still have the same issue of not having enough air flow over it. It would just be more fluid displacement not getting cooled efficiently. I may run more water than 50/50 when i change the t-stat and see how that helps.

 

A thermostat serves 2 purposes. 1 is to bring motor to a certain operating temp and 2 to be a restriction in the cooling system so it has time to pass and cool in the radiator

with the plunger out he still has a restiction to slow the water in the radiatior. I always run the lowest temp in a performance application

 

I was going to mention the air dam. Do SN95 cars come with one stock like the Foxes? I've never really noticed. I know that taking it off on the Fox is a big no no and things will heat up. Definitely get as much air moving under the hood as possible. Cut out the back of that cowl hood. Also, get a 3 row aluminum radiator. I've always had good luck with Northern. That's what's in my turbo car and it clicks along at 188-190 all day long even though you could grill steaks under the hood. Of course, the Mark VIII fan and DC Controls fan controler help. Be careful going to a lower temp thermostat. Too often that will allow the water to run through your radiator too fast and it isn't in contact with the cooling fins long enough to cool down before it goes back into the engine for another dose of heat.

 

Possible? maybe. But I think its cheaper to try a t-stat than to buy a radiator

 

I think I'm going to replace my 180* t-stat this weekend after the show.