4 those that doubt the SR's reliability, OR, why oregon sux

[Yoshi]

Greetings and Salutations everyone,
As some of you know, I road tripped it down to socal this past week to celebrate my 1 year wedding anniversary (yay!). I took my 240 so I could have it tuned up at Car Tune, where the install was done.

So from Pullman, WA to Riverside, CA is about 1350 miles. I made the drive over 3 days on the way down (got too late of a start the 1st day cuz of work), and 2 days back. Now as far as cooling, my car doesn't have the best setup... i have the stock SR radiator, stock fan and shroud in place, and my GReddy V-SPL FMIC hogging the small stock breathing hole in the factory bumper (91, no pignose holes). Averaging about 70 mph (because oregon sux, but I'll get to that later, avg. prolly 85 in cali), with the AC blasting (on the way back anyhow, another fun story). I have no overheating probs. Bear in mind, this is in upwards of 116 degree temperatures, through some twisty mountain passes with steep inclines.

Now, what i'd like to hear is an END to people badmouthing the SR when it comes to cooling. I made my trip in about the worst conditions possible and it ran like a champ. I can already hear some of you saying that the strain of going up and down mountain passes isn't comperable to a hard run autoX event, but hey! IF you're running autoX with a stock radiator, you should be smacked in the first place. This should also be a showing of the reliability of the SR. 2700 miles and not so much as a hiccup... some people say that SR's can't go long distances, I say shinanigans, I crossed the country... TWICE.

:bash: Oh, and here's why Oregon sux: :bash:
- crappy 55mph speed limits!
- state troopers that will ticket you for going 58 in a 55 (got the guy in front of me, whew!)
- no rest areas if you leave the 5... wtf?!
- Forest fires! argh! (ie, closed down highways/freeways for hours)
- 90 mile detours for a 20 mile closed section of highway... around a lake
- people who have never seen an asian person before and STARE (not briefly, I mean the whole time I was eating my double western bacon cheeseburger)
- WORST DRIVERS EVER! OMG! like the guy who decided to go around the traffic of the detour on a 2 lane highway by going onto the shoulder, catching a wheel in the ditch and rolling, closing the detour for an hour! :bash:
- DEER! Friggin deer. grrr. I almost bagged a 6pt buck with my intercooler :/
- They make 240 drivers look bad! If it was anyone on here, u should be ashamed of yourself... driving 35 in a 55, weaving all over the shoulder and centerline... braking upon seeing EVERY oncoming car and upcoming turn (you're only going 35 DAMMIT!) holding up lots of cars who are scared to pass you because you can't even stay in one lane... and driving a nice grey s13 SE! What a waste!!! :bash:
/end rant

Cliff notes:
- SR stock cooling EXCELLENT! Stop spreading rumors that a huge aluminum radiator is a must!
- Oregon sux!

[Dousan_PG]

HAHAHA yep! that's oregon
everytime im up there im DYING for driving so slow, and i find norcal bad enough haha

but oregon is beautiful..
they love to ticket CA drivers too, because you wont be back to fight it. ;) just be careful! i drive 5mph slower in oregon..takes FOREVER to get thru the state..ugh.

edit: and people who say their cars overheat w/ the stock setup cant tune their own cars. why? the engine is STOCK, it comes that way in japan and many stay stock setup for YEARS. japan isnt cold or mild temps all over, it has HOT areas too. if you REQUIRE a electric fan and a huge rad for a stock or basically stock setup, you have other problems beyond that.../rant

yoshi: rock the clutch fan and shroud! WOOT! :)

[HaLo]

I've had overheating problems, but only in lapping events. it overheats after 15 minutes on KA rad with electric fan... I also have a FMIC... My guess is that with better aeration, the car shouldn' overheat. Hell, it doesn't overheat at Auto-X events, only track events.

[Steeles]

hahaha great story yoshi! yeah i hate those rumors about needing a big aluminum rad. I've had my SR just over a year now... stock KA radiator and 1 14" electric fan and never a problem sat in 90+ degree gridlocked Atl traffic... no problem.... drove from NC to New Orleans to KC missouri back to NC in a week and NO PROBLEMS. stupid rumors.

[Gzero]

Well come back drown to oregon there are some badass roads here. It might suck but mountain roads gallore.

[Fibercus]

140K mile used KA radiator on my S14 SR, never hits the middle of the temp gauge, stays below it. Even in 1 hour bumper to bumper traffic 95+temp

I have an SR radiator, but once i saw how thin it was i fugured id keep the KA one lol

[HaLo]

I never had any problems with traffic and street driving... Only at track for 15 minutes sessions of 6k+ rpms... ;)

[Fibercus]

Originally posted by HaLo
I never had any problems with traffic and street driving... Only at track for 15 minutes sessions of 6k+ rpms... ;)

"I've had overheating problems, but only in lapping events. it overheats after 15 minutes on KA rad with electric fan... I also have a FMIC... "

Theres ya problem right there lol :)

[DRFT]

Good story yoshi!

Thats to all the non believers

[HaLo]

I know... I'll get some more airflow to the rad and a better rad this winter.... normal driving and Auto-x doesn't make it overheat. :)

[Yoshi]

Originally posted by Gzero
Well come back drown to oregon there are some badass roads here. It might suck but mountain roads gallore.

That's True, I'll give you that. On the rare occasions that I could actually get on it a lil, there were some fun twisties, but we have that in WA too ;)

I almost forgot to tell you the #1 reason I hate Oregon...
- YOU CAN'T PUMP YOUR OWN GAS!!!
this is the dumbest thing I have ever seen. Especially since every time I stop, I have to tell the guy to wait til my turbo timer turns the car off. Which ALWAYS brings the question, "what's a turbo timer?". GRRR! How is it that in EVERY gas station I was at, not ONE attendant knew jack about cars... how does that happen? 2 of the guys also wanted to steal my change... like I pay for $14 of gas, give the guy a $20, and he never comes back! WTF?! it's not a restaurant! he did a job that took 2 mins and I didn't want him to do in the first place! And he expects to keep a $6 tip for almost putting in 87 craptane gas?!

I stand with my original statement, Oregon sux.

[deviousKA]

hey cool yoshi went through pullman, thats close to where i live :w00t: . yeah oregon is messed up with the speed limits, and you cant pump your own gas?? weird. your lucky to leave this area without clipping a deer, idaho is much worse. The local roads are the best, it makes up for the lack of autox or any kind of local track events

[azn_romeox]

Yeah oregon sucks. Apparently Oregon people arnt' qualified to fill there own gas :aw: :rolleyes: This is byfar the dumbest thing I've heard. There school system sux too. I heard they ran out of money and just shut down all there schools for a while. Weak!

[deviousKA]

whoa that school comment kinda hits oregon below the belt dont you think. its not that is sucks it has very low funding because state is poor, just like idaho which now has 4 day school week instead of 5 for k-12

[Jsquared]

re: SR reliability

Through brain-deadness and dumbness, I've put my SR through a couple (brief) incidents of abuse and it still runs like a champ (although there is an occasional intermittent power drop off, because my original-from-Japan-in-1992 O2 sensor needs replacing :D). when we first installed the engine, you know how you're supposed to be nice to it? i was so excited (second weekend of crazy work, 47 hours straight working on it... my first big project), when we got on the freeway (5am, and we in such a hurry we didn't even put the hood back on haha) i pegged the speedo (after letting it warm up, of course). so much for "breaking it in". it's been overreved twice (both times around or under 8k though), once at autoX and first couple days of daily-driving (rain + open diff = oops). that was ~1.5 months ago. after i installed my S-AFC, i must have accidently set something funny b/c when i got on the dyno (4 hard-driving days after the install, earliest appointment) it's AFR was 13.9 at 5500rpm :eek: fixed that in a hurry :D it runs fine. no, it runs GREAT, despite my occasional idiocy. and it's not a car that is babied, i drive the snot out of it, because that's why i bought it :D

and i've never ever had any cooling issues. i'm running a slightly-slanted Volvo-sourced front mount on stock 174,000-mile KA radiator with stock SR clutch fan and the bottom half of the stock KA shroud (gonna trim the top half soon like the Yashio car :) ).

[Fibercus]

SR Survived the Vegas trip. 115 Degree / Uphill / AC On / Not a hiccup

I know its not so informative, but damn am I proud of my install :D

[808Supra]

yah the KA ratiator is fine for normal driving, and some spirited driving.....but once you try doing short course drifting, after a 5-10min laps you are up in the red faster than anything.

[nrcooled]

Originally posted by Fibercus
"I've had overheating problems, but only in lapping events. it overheats after 15 minutes on KA rad with electric fan... I also have a FMIC... "

Theres ya problem right there lol :)

I was having serious overheating issues (only after I put the FMIC) With the SMIC I could do anything I wanted to the car. Now with the Koyo and speed holes I can again do anything I want to the car.

14lbs in 95degree heat...no prob! 100+mph up I95 for 2 1/2 hrs in 90 degree weather...why not!

The stocker that I had just wasn't up to the VA heat and humidity not to mention the one fan that I had didn't nearly pull enough air.

My current cooling setup:

-140 degree thermostat
-Koyo Radiator
-two 12" fans
-two speed holes in the bumper (cut before I got the Koyo)

http://members.cox.net/nrcooled20/DSCF0025.JPG
http://members.cox.net/nrcooled20/DSCF0131.JPG

[bigjasoni]

This whole thread is getting pretty amusing. From the opposite approach on feelings towards oregon, everything you have described sounds like everything north of Eugene. Down here in southern Oregon the state funding problems actually got rid of a lot of the troopers. As far as the schools, I am a teacher at a private high school. If you ever realy want to get peeved at the system, just look at all the public schools that look like stinking Universities. Roseburg, Grants Pass, even some of the smaller 4A schools like Canby. Then salaries like $40,000- $70,000 for 9 months of work... no wonder we're screwed up. Sometimes I wish I could pump my own gas, but then again just two months ago it was 9 degrees outside, and the attendant came up to my 240 dressed like a eskimo. Then again this past summer I remember sitting in my cold car as the outside air temperature reached 110. Let the gas kids have their fun in the elements, Ill watch from inside; just find a station that you can trust, and next time we vote for a new governor, remember the hole the last two liberals got us in.

[S13SilviaGirl]

good job on reviving a dead thread

[nightwalker]

hahaha, I love it when noobs bring an old thred to life

[Matt_240]

and it's his first post too. greeaaat.

btw..there are some good things about oregon. tax free!!

[mellojoe]

jeebuz. old thread.

But, wait. Are you saying school teachers get paid $40k to $70k? Thats not bad. Out here, if you make $35k as a teacher you are doing great. I wish I could tell people to look for $60k teaching. That would be very hopeful. But, no, you hve to beg and plead and claw your way to $35k.

Its sad. Very sad.

Teachers should get paid a SH!T load more for the stuff they have to do.[/end rant]

And no, teaching is NOT just 9 months out of the year. [/ok really end rant]

[old_s13]

Unless you guys have aftermarket coolant temperature gauges, your readings mean nothing. The factory temp gauge is pretty crappy.

So, if I want to take things into account I am not going to trust this thread.. I am going to go by specs.. such as ambient temp outside, amount of boost, speeds travelled, and temp of coolant with aftermarket gauge.

Personally, I think the SR runs hot. This is at stock boost with the koyo radiator and shrouded dual electric fans.

- Mike

[NISMO_drift]

well i'm glad i read this thread. i'm about to drive 1400 miles from eastern virgina to central Oklahoma. and back in a couple weeks. i'm runnin KA radiator and a 14" electric fan. we'll see how it holds up.....

[Siizzzoooo]

lol damn this is old

mine is pretty stock as well, stock ic, stock KA radiator, electric fans

gets pretty hott after drifting, and sometimes if i just let it sit there running

no airflow is the root of all evil

[TachyonS14]

Nice, I live in Riverside. May I asked where you guys went?

[Yoshi]

OMG guys, I wrote this a loooong time ago :P hahaha

Mike: I DO have an external water temp gauge, it got much hotter going up the grapevine, but that was about it, no where near dangerous levels. I was pretty happy :)

TachyonS14: My parents live in Corona, my wife and I went out to visit, as well as drop by Car Tune and some other fun happy car stores in socal

[Muzzy]

hey..have any of your guys ever made a cooling panel like ARC to flow more air through the rad and not escape through the top. i did its works so well. its only 80 right now here but i only have the clutch fan left, stock rad and thick Red Dog Motorsports FMIC. it never gets hot. im sure the panel helps a lot. i'll post a pic later