improving cooling system

[Scanny]

i watched top gear a couple of weeks ago and jeremy put a bigger turbo on a mitsubishi starion. while it made the car faster, it caused major cooling problems and richard had a go about him not upgrading the cooling system

apart from vents which only assist removing heat retention rather than actually cooling the internals, how do you upgrade the cooling system?

[Nick Mann]

I guess the easiest is to add an oil cooler.

[Longbow77]

Bigger radiator to remove more heat, better conducting material e.g. aluminium, bonnet vent to improve airflow through rad etc. You can also fit an electric (controllable) water pump so that your coolant flow is not tied to rpm.

Removing aircon (i.e. the aircon rad) also improves airflow through the main radiator as there are less obstructions to flow.

[Colin Wiltshire]

Don't forget a bigger fmic

[Nick Mann]

A bigger intercooler helps lower the charge temperature. I'm not sure that lowers the temperature of the engine. I would guess that the bigger intercooler is more likely to impede the airflow to the radiator so hinder the cooling. Also, I'd imagine that lower charge temperatures often lead to a bigger bang in the cylinder, so the engine produces more heat too - although that would probably only be true at wide open throttle.

My understanding is that the coolant overheats because it is struggling to remove the temperature from the engine including the oil. If you can calm down the oil temperature then that should take some of the burden off the coolant. Coolant improvements must be pretty much what Windsor said above.