I cut the fake plastic fog light grills completely out for functional reasons - but I have to admit, I like the look a whole lot better without them.

 

How did you cut them?

 

Pretty easy. Used a 3.5" hole saw which got most of it. Then I used a sanding wheel on the end of a dremel tool to get the rest. With the sanding wheel, it's easy to get the hang of it before you get over to an edge and practice your new-found skill!

 

That has been recommended to me by very reliable sources.Its on my to do list.
Oh ya ,I think it looks great too.A nice aggressive /serious look.

 

Just a quick update on Track Cooling issues - and our oil cooler project.

The good news is that we have all discovered the cure for the track over-heating problems and I am really quite convinced of this. Mind you, I would like to tell you that it is our oil cooler - but it is simplier and quite a bit less expensive!!

Drum roll..... the cure to overheating on the track is to remove your front grill. Yes, the entire front grill. It is really quite easy to do while at the track. We have 4 LS's here at the track (MMP) and a couple of bosses. (Please don't think I'm being snooty by calling out the LS's - as the only reason I do so is that the LS have a detailed water temp gauge so it is quite a bit easier to see and compare.) Temps today were around 90 ambient and the elevation is 4500' so both are taxing on the car's cooling system. When the cars were driven by PROFESSIONAL drivers on MMP, they would see water temps in EXCESS of 240 and occasionally as high as 250 in 1.5-2.0 laps. (We are running the full track which is pretty high speed and slightly more than 5 miles in length.) The cars were pretty much unuseable in this weather when pushed hard. By removing the entire front grill, water temps were peaking at a 240 at an absolute max and mostly were at 230 as a max. Removing the front grill was good for about 15 degrees of extra cooling. Again, these were professional drivers pushing the cars very, very hard and we found it impossible to see over 240 with most temps hovering at 230 max - and, of course, no limp mode!

The over-heating problem, in my opinion, is now a non-issue.

As for our oil cooler - I said that I would be transparent with the results. The results were NOT good, overall. We still firmly believe that oil temps can and should be improved but once we removed the grills from the cars, the cooling capacity of the OEM system was improved so much that it made our oil cooler ineffective by comparison. Although in a 4 lap all out session with two Professional drivers at the wheel and chasing each other, our Cool Tech car had water temps about 7-10 degrees below the "OEM" LS, but our oil temps were 40 degrees or more HIGHER than the OEM car. Simply stated, the Cool Tech car had un-burdened the cooling system from dealing with the hot oil (hence the lower water temps) but our cooler was not doing as effective of a job as the OEM cooler.

We are a little disappointed but more than anything, we want to sell a product that works, and works well. We already know changes that we want to make and we look forward to another test session with an altered design very soon.

In summary: I think we have solid evidence that any propensity for overheating can be eliminated by removing the entire grill for the track - and simply putting it back on when you leave. Give us another 30 days or so and we hope to have positive testing on further improvements from a slightly revised oil cooler/remote filter design.

 

Wow, great info, and easy solution. Thanks for the honesty and integrity in your results!

 

Man! Thanks for the great info and being a stand up guy with your results. ( Not saying you weren't a stand up guy before. It's just nice to see that level of honesty. Good karma!)

Have you thought about using the Tiger Racing hood for additinal cooling?
I know some guys might not want to use the open hood design exposing the engine to the elements, but combined with the 'no grille' front, there might be even more consistant cooling avavilable.

Also, did you determine if your cooling mod, ( the completely opened front fogs on the LS), was sufficient?

 

I think that the hood may be a very good idea. For cooling, FLOW is everything. Not only do you need the frontal area exposed to ingest the air - but, as or more importantly, you need a place for the air to exit. Otherwise, it is like taking a cup and facing the open end to the air. As such, I think the hood would be an idea worth trying.

The qustion about the complete foglight cut-outs... NO, this was not sufficient. Coolant temps were slightly improved but the BIG difference came when removing the entire grill. We've got another track day today, and I'm heading over now. I'll have more results and findings to report later!

 

Thanks for the reply.
It's good to know that it's a simple, cost effective fix.
Still looking forward to your redesigned oil cooler results as well.

 

This kinda surprised me. You didn't really lay out the system (rightfully so), but any ideas what the issue is? Undersized cooler (didn't look like it), undersized lines? Not enough flow (undersized lines, 90* connectors)?

Good job though... and keep the updates coming!

 

I ordered a GT grille surround and a bar-type grille so I can pull the stocker but put in the alternate grille and still have some rock protection for the various coolers. Total cost like $220 from RockAuto and American Muscle.





(Ignore the lower grille bit)

 

I like this idea or use the Roush billet grill.

http://store.roushperformance.com/detail.aspx?ID=1268

 

It'd be interesting to figure out and do a comparision with the stock boss front grille, the 'complete fog delete' grille and the front grille removed to determine how much frontal area is being blocked.

 

Love the Roush grille but it is more complicated to install, and the cost is about double after you get the new grille shell as well.

I plan to swap this in/out for track events only; however, if you plan to leave the high-flow grille in-place permanently, the Roush would be my pick.

 

Kendall,
Do you have one of your Bosses set up as a control (bone stock grill, etc.)? It would be nice to be sure that it is overheating at your location, ambient temp, etc. (as we would expect it too).

 

Yep that makes sense. I think the Roush, Saleen, Ford or other bar type grill will provide more and a cleaner air flow then the modified Boss grille. That's the direction I'll go if I need more cooling.

 

Could not agree more, I am impressed with your work but more your honesty and integrity

Good point since you have the means.

 

Ok guys....here's the update. I ran today with the new 302S radiator and my fogs completely opened up. The car was actually running pretty hot in the first couple of sessions - hotter than normal. I was pushing 250 ECT at 80* ambient. Couldn't figure out why I was running so hot. I got down and looked at the lower half of the condenser and the fins were in really rough shape. Large areas of it appeared to be almost completely blocked. I figured it had to be an airflow issue. I've seen the reports of pulling the grill so that is what I did. It was unbelievable - the ECTs dropped 15-20* and the highest I ever saw after that was 235* and the ambient was up to 86*. For the most part I was running 220-230 and I was pushing the car hard. Clearly opening up the grill is the solution. I will be looking to open up the grill even more before my next trip to BIR on 9/9. I am going to be ordering an air condenser fin comb to clean up the condenser and get airflow restored. The best part of the day was that I think for all intents and purposes I have found the solution to our cooling issue, but more importantly...
Pretty cool cooling mod


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I ran about half of my laps in the 130's with a low lap time of 138.92

 

 

THEES KAR EES MONSTER!!!