Hi guys, I am from the UK I have been browsing your forum for over a year now, I have an active interest in making my car as slippery and fuel efficient as possible on top of chasing HP numbers. I have recently performed an engine swap into my car: A 1996 Honda Prelude Type S, this is the lightest version of the Prelude range tiping the scales with a full tank and all fluids at 1330kg, since the swap it now weighs 1270kg. The weight saving is simply down to engine swap, air con delete & lightweight battery and a few brackets here and there.
I decided to do the engine swap as its different, its more economical (37mpg v 41mpg Extra Urban Imp), has a 6 speed box, is lighter, and has more room for mods in the future.
So here is a nice side profile of my car:
A photo of the new engine, this is quite old so there are a few things missing:
An image of the UltrGauge mounted in the Double Din unit:
So currently the engine bay is absolutely cooking, 60c intake temps and everything is just very very hot under the bonnet. I need to fit a cold air intake to prolong the life of the supercharger, overly hot intake air can reduce service life. So my plan was why not remove the source of heat altogether and move the radiator to the boot, I am thinking I can fit 2 smallish radiators either side of the number plate with a nice black inconspicous grill allowing the air to escape.
I do not have a huge amount of space so I don't think a duct would do much good & would be rather tight, so perhaps just utilise the low pressure side at the back of the car to draw air through. I think as long as I can get the car to cruise on the motorway without having the electrical drag of 2 radiator fans then it won't matter if the flow isn't sufficient at WOT and the fans come on to keep the engine in check. Apart from moving a bit of weight rearward I could also pretty much run a full grill block at the front allowing for some opening just to vent the engine bay, I am fairly confident the grill will help increase my motorway FE but I am not so confident if my rads at the back will be aiding or working against me?
Let me know if I am wrong but you would want the rads to draw from an high pressure area, using a diverging duct to the rad and vent it using a larger opening of a calculated size to an area of low pressure. I would be venting to a turbulant low pressure area but also picking up air from a turbulent but not as low pressure area with no ducting in,just on the exit. Would it be more beneficial if I vent the air at the centre of the rear bumper and move the number plate?
Please excuse my grammer as I am just thinking outloud at the mo and have written this really quickly!
Thanks for your help, Mudgey