How to cure overheating...cheap!!

[tom91ita]

if the "new" motor had the same thing, i am thinking you have a bad radiator. it is not uncommon for the fins to rust away and not be connected to the core tubes anymore. push gently on the fins between the tubes that carry the water and see if they fall out.

[Greg Gauper]

Stock radiators can & do plug up over time and this will reduce the cooling efficiency.
Get an OEM replacement from Modine or Rock Auto.

FWIW I run a stock OEM radiator on my H-prod Civic with 11:1 compression and and spin it up to 7500 and I have no problems with coolant temps. In fact I have to run a T-stat as we found I would lose power if it ran too cold.

I run plain water + water wetter.

Make sure the head & block are flat & true.

Don't know if you are running one or not but ditch the Honda oil-to-water heat exchanger and run a remote oil cooler.

Are the dowel pins for the head in good shape? I use new ones everytime I pull the head. Cheap insurance.

[timo944]

Thanks everybody for the good advice. As I mentioned the budget is $50. This is because we were given a residual value of $250 for the car, so we can spend $250 fixing the problems we have. Although it's invisible to the judges we don;t feel inclined to cheat.

So we got the head fixed at NAPA. I think the bill was about $80. We bought an engine rebuild kit because the rings are shot, another $175, and our budget is now shot!!!

Plan it to clean out the radiator as good as possible. I have a good 944 radiator here and may try it. BTW Lemons rules say stricltly no coolant or water wetter.

I'll let y'all know how we make out - race is mid-Sept.

Thanks for your advice!

[tac911t]

Why not water wetter? I understand no coolant due to it being very slick and difficult to clean up from the track surface. I run water and water wetter, with the understanding that it is not slick if dumped on the track surface.

[mossaidis]

I have a very decent D series radiator (no rust or leaks) off my D16z6 (92 eg) that I would be willing to trade parts for you with. PM' me.

[timo944]

Why not water wetter? I understand no coolant due to it being very slick and difficult to clean up from the track surface. I run water and water wetter, with the understanding that it is not slick if dumped on the track surface.

They claim that WW is "slippery stuff." They also have some other issues but all in all it's a great series. Pretty well run and a blast to drive in a total POS and be doing well! At CMP last race we have about 90 cars on a 1.1 mile track!!! Mayhem!

[quadzjr]

Thanks everybody for the good advice. As I mentioned the budget is $50. This is because we were given a residual value of $250 for the car, so we can spend $250 fixing the problems we have. Although it's invisible to the judges we don;t feel inclined to cheat.

So we got the head fixed at NAPA. I think the bill was about $80. We bought an engine rebuild kit because the rings are shot, another $175, and our budget is now shot!!!

Plan it to clean out the radiator as good as possible. I have a good 944 radiator here and may try it. BTW Lemons rules say stricltly no coolant or water wetter.

I'll let y'all know how we make out - race is mid-Sept.

Thanks for your advice!

Since the CRX rad is already full length.. I would just take some Bleach and CLR.. then run teh einge with some blaeach and CLR and throughly flughs it out with water while running. Ghetto fix but has worked great in the past for me.