Sealing gaps around radiator

[EcoCivic]

Now that I think about it, I wonder if Honda may have designed the radiator support to have gaps on the sides for a reason such as to allow fresh air into the engine compartment to cool the transmission or oil pan. I'm not worried about it since I have nice engine and transmission oil coolers and my temps are always good, I watch coolant temp on my Scangauge and I have gauges for transmission and oil temp, I'm just curious. I think it's more likely that the gaps are just there since this is a mass produced economy car and not an F1 car, but something to think about.

[Piotrsko]

I think perhaps you are attaching too much to what appears to be sloppy engineering of a osfa mount.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by EcoCivic

I wonder if Honda may have designed the radiator support to have gaps on the sides for a reason such as to allow fresh air into the engine compartment to cool the transmission or oil pan. I'm not worried about it since I have nice engine and transmission oil coolers and my temps are always good, I watch coolant temp on my Scangauge and I have gauges for transmission and oil temp, I'm just curious.

It would depend on how the air flows through the engine bay, but I wouldn't hold my breath for it to lead to any improve on transmission and oil pan cooling. Unless the transmission case and oil sump had fins like the air-cooled engines.

[EcoCivic]

Originally Posted by cRiPpLe_rOoStEr

It would depend on how the air flows through the engine bay, but I wouldn't hold my breath for it to lead to any improve on transmission and oil pan cooling. Unless the transmission case and oil sump had fins like the air-cooled engines.

Neither has fins. I was just wondering if Honda may have intentionally left gaps on the side for a reason, but I don't think the gaps were intentional and I don't think they do anything positive. I didn't notice any increase in trans temp, oil temp, or intake air temp since I sealed them off, but like I said I have nice coolers for my engine and transmission oil and I put my air filter in its own heat shield box to keep heat off of it so I wouldn't expect to see any differences in any of these areas. Not sure how any of these areas would have been affected in stock form.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by EcoCivic

I was just wondering if Honda may have intentionally left gaps on the side for a reason

Presumably the cost of filling those gaps

[EcoCivic]

I finally mostly finished my radiator ducting and reinstalled the bumper cover. What I did is I cut sheets of plastic out of an old storage bin I had and cut them to fit tightly between the radiator support, bumper bar, and bumper cover, which was actually a huge pain since it needed to be cut pretty precisely to fit tightly enough to stay in place without being so tight it bends or breaks, but I got it done. I still need to use some Gorilla tape to seal the little gaps and some expanding foam to fill in the ends of the hollow bumper support bar so air can’t escape through there. I also need to get a piece of foam to seal the top of the upper grill to the top of the radiator so air doesn’t go over the radiator. This solution certainly isn’t sophisticated, but it should be effective. I feel pretty confident that I now have a more effective cooling system that creates less drag than it otherwise would have. I’m also moving my trans cooler to the back so it isn’t blocking and preheating the airflow to the condenser and the radiator.

[EcoCivic]

I have an update. Since I sealed those gaps off and put those plastic plates on the sides of the radiator against the bumper cover, I noticed that bugs and other debris now seem to get forced deeper into the fins of the AC condenser, which would seem to indicate that the air speed through the radiators has increased. In stock form, bugs would barely get stuck to the condenser's fins and would usually fall off from barely touching it or rinsing it off with a garden hose. However, since I performed these modifications, bugs now seem to get forced between the fins much deeper and needs to be picked out rather than just brushed or rinsed off. Not scientific, but it does indicate that my modifications seem to have increased airflow through the AC condenser and the radiator.

The other thing I noticed is that the car seems to feel more stable at higher speeds now. It always drove well at high speeds, but it just feels a little bit more stable and predictable at speeds of above around 70 MPH than it did before. I don't know enough about aerodynamics to why this is, but I'll take it

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by EcoCivic

I have an update. Since I sealed those gaps off and put those plastic plates on the sides of the radiator against the bumper cover, I noticed that bugs and other debris now seem to get forced deeper into the fins of the AC condenser, which would seem to indicate that the air speed through the radiators has increased. In stock form, bugs would barely get stuck to the condenser's fins and would usually fall off from barely touching it or rinsing it off with a garden hose. However, since I performed these modifications, bugs now seem to get forced between the fins much deeper and needs to be picked out rather than just brushed or rinsed off. Not scientific, but it does indicate that my modifications seem to have increased airflow through the AC condenser and the radiator.

Would a bug screen around the radiator and AC condenser be out of question?

[EcoCivic]

Originally Posted by cRiPpLe_rOoStEr

Would a bug screen around the radiator and AC condenser be out of question?

Probably. I like the idea though, some type of screen may help prevent my AC condenser from being punctured by debris a second time. The problem I see with that is the screen would block quite a bit of airflow since it would need to be pretty fine to be effective.

The other problem is that the screen would still need to be cleaned periodically just like the condenser does, so it wouldn't really solve the problem. I think my best bet is to just live with it and clean the condenser every month or so as I usually do, it only takes a few minutes to clean it off

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by EcoCivic

Probably. I like the idea though, some type of screen may help prevent my AC condenser from being punctured by debris a second time. The problem I see with that is the screen would block quite a bit of airflow since it would need to be pretty fine to be effective.

It's still likely worth to try. As you mentioned an increased air speed around the radiator and condenser, most likely it wouldn't do much harm.

The other problem is that the screen would still need to be cleaned periodically just like the condenser does, so it wouldn't really solve the problem. I think my best bet is to just live with it and clean the condenser every month or so as I usually do, it only takes a few minutes to clean it off

Having an easily-detachable screen in order to clean it may be worth too.