Just wanted to chime in with our experience in building the only aftermarket cooling system module for the 370Z/G37.. Also some of the feedback of our customers who have installed the unit.
Our goal when developing our upgraded cooling system module (radiator + condenser) were the following:
- Drop-in fit, requiring no modifications to install.
- Increase the cooling system capacity by at least 100%
- Able to remove the condenser for race application.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sharif@Forged
Forced inductoin on the 350Z/370Z for track use is extremely challenging and expensive to pull off. The cooling capacity of the oil and coolant heat exchangers needs to increase by 4-5 times over factor levels in order to reach a steady state temp equilibrium at a safe level. It's a simple heat in/heat out equation, but adding that level of cooling capacity would be challenging on a street car. This isn't something that would fit neatly into a street car without significant fabrication, and removal of many front end components such as your AC.
On my 370Z Nismo which is still NA, I hit 270F oil temps even with an oil cooler, in just 5-6 laps at Road Atlanta on a hot day. With FI I wouldn't make it around 1 lap. The rate and level at which you overheat is directly related to lap times and how aggressive you are behind the wheel, YMMV.
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Performance Motorsport (NY) tracked their 370Z Nismo (NA) at a time attack event in New Jersey in August (humid/hot ~90 ambient temp) with our radiator installed, and went over 12 laps without the water temp getting over 228 degrees and the oil around 250.
Performance Race Solutions (FL) had very similar results when tracking their car during the summer in Florida.
The biggest issue we see with this vehicle set-up is the lack of
direct and cold airflow that the cooling system receives, especially in FI set-ups. The front grill is not very large and airflow is poor, combined with the lack of space/venting for the air to escape once it's passed through the radiator.
- FOR NA builds the airflow is more direct, but intake systems that sit in front of the radiator compete for cold air with some of them blocking the radiator and sucking in cold air before it can travel through the cooling system.
- For FI builds, the air has to go through a massive intercooler first. Also, sometimes additional coolers are placed before the cooling system as well.
- Even worse, when tracking/racing, if you are drafting behind someone, you will be getting very little airflow.
Our unit has about 130% more cooling capacity/efficiency than the stock unit when accounting for our thicker core and B-tube technology that is about 15% more efficient than the tubes Nissan uses for this vehicle.
Quote:
Originally Posted by christian370z
There are no issues with water/coolant temperature even while tracking the 370z. The oil is the only real core issue regarding fluid temperatures and a larger radiator won't make an appreciable difference to the oil temps.
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I'm going to have to disagree with this statement. I've heard many 370Z owners say this, and I don't know why.
If the radiator is cooling the water that is circulating around the engine block, and the oil is circulating within the engine, then bringing down the water temps will also directly bring down the oil temps. Because no person (that we know of) has installed our unit without any additional oil coolers, we don't know what the significance of our unit solely on the oil temps are. However, for the guys who have seriously tracked their cars, it has made a huge difference in bringing down their oil temps, but more importantly stabilizing them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by KillBill
The article is in October Modified called "Chasing Godzilla". It explains what was needed to track the twin turbo Z. They had to build a "Nascar style" cooling sytem. Seems if you want to track with the VQ engine, stick to bolt ons and weight reduction. Damn
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A "Nascar style" cooling system is typically 3-4 inches thicks and at least 3 rows of tubing. Making a unit this size was not possible because of the condenser portion that needed to be included and the support beam that runs vertically in front of the condenser. For guys who want to track their car, the ability to remove the condenser will increase the cooling efficiency of their vehicle, something we took into account when developing out unit.
If there is sufficient demand from the 370Z/G37 community, we could build a unit without a condenser that would be ~3-3.5 times more cooling capacity compared to the original while still installing without any modifications. If we could get at least 5 units pre-ordered, I could discuss a group-buy with one of the supporting vendors who distribute our product. Any interest?
- We also had the idea of putting additional plate-type oil coolers in both end tanks, but the market for this was undetermined.
Our advice, is that if you are planning on tracking your car or stepping up to an FI build, you definitely need some type of extra cooling capacity. Nissan really botched this design up with their single unit radiator/condenser. The thickness of the radiator core is a mere 15mm and it has no front surface area. For a high performance sports car, i wonder what they were thinking
