Cooling System Upgrade (Weak Points?)

[mynameisdaniel]

So with all the motorsport I've been doing and my radiator fluid due for replacement I'm looking at making minor upgrades to the cooling system.

I get quite a large variance in overflow level at track days, from slightly above the full line when cold to just below the hole in the top after a few hours (which splashes out). All of which gets sucked back in once the car cools down overnight. Car temperature needle has only ever moved about 2mm upwards above where it sits dead in the middle at one track day, went back down as soon as I noticed and backed off.

I don't think I need to do anything as extreme as running straight water or a new radiator, but I'm thinking of running higher pressure caps to raise the boiling temperature. I've only got the standard caps (1.1 and 0.9 bar?). Was thinking of going 1.3 on both. Are there any pipes or parts I should look at upgrading before doing this? Or problems with running the same caps on both?

[jp928]

As far as the needle only moving a little, thats a completely worthless 'gauge', hardly worth the name. Try fitting an OBD-II reader and see what your coolant is really doing. On mine, with the needle NEVER moving off just below horizontal, I have see coolant range from a typical minimum (cool day, steady cruising) of 83C to a max of 96C - hot day, stop start, AC on. If your needle is climbing at all, I would guess your temp is over 100C. Ultra-gauge landed is ~$100, or a Garmin GPS with an Ecoroute attachment will do it, amongst others.

You might try WaterWetter to improve heat transfer.

jp 08 gtb 6mt wagon.