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Why arent NA radiators enough to cool the turbo engine?
Posted: Sat Aug 27, 2005 2:25 am
by douglas vincent
Is it because of the heat the turbo creates? Because it can't be because of the boost, as i never had any problems boosting with the supercharger.
Just curious.
Posted: Sat Aug 27, 2005 4:06 am
by IronMonkeyL255
I think it may be because the turbo is water-cooleed, and thus puts more heat into the system.
That is just a guess, though.
Posted: Sat Aug 27, 2005 4:47 am
by Legacy777
This seems to be the big topic lately.
Yes you do have added cooling load from the turbo, but I can't see it being so much that the n/a radiator can't keep up.
Boosting will obviously produce more heat.
I think also the ej22t block is made via a medium density cast aluminum. It is a denser aluminum, and doesn't disperse heat as quickly compared to the n/a blocks.
Those things are the only things that I can see that are "added" heat loads on the system. Once I get my motor in I should be able to tell you if the cooling is enough.
Hardy has mentioned he has come close to overheating in the past few months. So he seems to be having an issue.
I'd be curious to know how old the radiator is, what percentage of antifreeze & water he's running, and what sort of boost levels he's running.
Posted: Sat Aug 27, 2005 6:37 am
by evolutionmovement
I'd also be curious as my cooling system is fresh and very efficient. I wonder how it would deal with a turbo.
Steve
Posted: Sat Aug 27, 2005 7:53 am
by douglas vincent
I didnt think about the coolent line from the turbo (cause I don't have one!). But I bet you could add a smaller inline radiator to suppliment the existing radiator to make up for the larger turbo radiator.
Posted: Sat Aug 27, 2005 3:52 pm
by IronMonkeyL255
Just get a decent-sized tranny cooler for that........
Posted: Sat Aug 27, 2005 7:03 pm
by Imprezive
What if you put a turbo radiator into a N/A? would it cool it better then?
Posted: Sat Aug 27, 2005 11:41 pm
by mhrallyteam
I've been using my good old NA radiator with my turbo setup, never had any problems, but it is much cooler here than down south
Posted: Sun Aug 28, 2005 1:01 am
by Project_Legacy
ive been having some cooling problems with my N/A radiator on my ej20g/ej22t hybrid also. i was told by matt monson that i should probably get a turbo radiator. this motor runs HOT!
its weird though. sometimes it runs fine even on warmer days. but like, 2 nights ago, AT night so its cooler, i was driving and it starting getting hot. i was like wtf. i drove today in the warm daytime and it seemed fine. stayed below half. maybe i have a malfunctioning thermostat?
Posted: Sun Aug 28, 2005 5:59 am
by mhrallyteam
What did you guys do with the radiator cap. The good way to go is to remove the thermostat part of the rad cap and put a good thermostat on the remote coolant tank. I guess you all know that anyway
even when abused on hot days, 30 celcius and +, i never ever had any problem. I am running a STI cap.
Posted: Sun Aug 28, 2005 7:17 am
by Legacy777
Imprezive wrote:What if you put a turbo radiator into a N/A? would it cool it better then?
Won't fit. It's taller, so the radiator core supports have to be altered for it to fit.
Posted: Sun Aug 28, 2005 7:18 am
by Legacy777
mhrallyteam wrote:What did you guys do with the radiator cap. The good way to go is to remove the thermostat part of the rad cap and put a good thermostat on the remote coolant tank. I guess you all know that anyway
even when abused on hot days, 30 celcius and +, i never ever had any problem. I am running a STI cap.
Yeah that's probably what I'm going to do, get an sti rad cap for the main radiator, and then use the normal one for the resevoir tank.
Posted: Sun Aug 28, 2005 7:38 am
by entirelyturbo
Legacy777 wrote:Won't fit. It's taller, so the radiator core supports have to be altered for it to fit.
Great. So you swappers are gonna hafta chop up your radiator supports huh?
Posted: Sun Aug 28, 2005 7:41 am
by Legacy777
subyluvr2212 wrote:Legacy777 wrote:Won't fit. It's taller, so the radiator core supports have to be altered for it to fit.
Great. So you swappers are gonna hafta chop up your radiator supports huh?
That's what Hardy is doing.....I'm not going to do that.
I'm going to run it like it is, and see how things are. If I have issues, I'm going to look for a double core of the same height & width.
Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2005 10:00 am
by Natoe
Running my EJ22T on my impreza 1.8 ECU and the N/A radiator for 500 miles, it gets to operating temp very quick in comparison, but never waivers from exactly in the middle. it may like that i have the 1.8 ECU and water pipe on it. im running probably 60-70% antifreeze, and wastegate boost that creeps to 9 ish. i dont see it giving me cooling problems.
Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2005 9:05 pm
by tzedek
maybe it has something to do with the difference between open deck and closed deck

Posted: Tue Aug 30, 2005 12:33 am
by dzx
I've had the n/a radiator on my car for a while now and never had any problems.
Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2005 3:27 am
by ballitch
remember that antifreeze doesnt disperse heat better than water.....thats why you only use 25% antifreeze, 70% water and a bottle or two of that water wetter stuff that is red. try that, if you live in a colder climate, bump up the antifreeze a couple percentage points and call it done.
~Josh~
Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2005 3:35 am
by UuuPIT
With my 92 Legacy Turbo, can I replace the original rad with one from a wrx or sti?
Would I get any benefits?
Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2005 5:39 am
by Subtle
Koyo makes an aluminum high performance rad that
specifically fits the Legacy turbos.
It looks like it has about 30% more cooling capacity than
the stock turbo. Cost was $420 cdn.
Those with the 4eat will have to add a tranny cooler.
Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2005 9:16 pm
by bmxpunk
Wow I am running my 22t with my stock 1.8 radiator. I ran 50/50 coolant mixture with redline water wetter. My car according to the guage, runs cooler thatn my 1.8 did. even pegged going up the mountain in the middle of a hot day. I think the water wetter really helps.
Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2005 3:44 pm
by sammydafish
mhrallyteam wrote:What did you guys do with the radiator cap. The good way to go is to remove the thermostat part of the rad cap and put a good thermostat on the remote coolant tank. I guess you all know that anyway
even when abused on hot days, 30 celcius and +, i never ever had any problem. I am running a STI cap.
If this hasn't been done, this is probably the problem you gusy are having. If it still doesn't help, maybe your radiator just isn't in good shape.
I'm running a Toyota turbo on my NA EJ22. It's water cooled with Air/Air IC though. I've got to be making as much or more power than a stock legacy turbo. I run the living piss out of it and it never gets hot one bit, even when the motor is crazy hot, the needle never goes up and the thing has never boiled over. I've got no oil cooler either.