Kaitlin007

Hi Tadge,

I am trying to go straight to the source, because this poor girl is tired of the ridiculous array of cooling options and conflicting advice out there and just wants the car to run like hell in hot weather without overheating (yes, I know this is a big ask, but your marketing department DID say the car was "track capable" and I managed to make my Camaros run in California in 105 degree heat quite happily, so I think the Corvette should be able to survive at LEAST 85 degrees in Denver with appropriate modifications).

I have a 2016 stock C7 Z06, automatic that I like driving fast on road courses. Above about 80 degrees ambient with moderate track driving, manual mode, track mode, sport 2 or race, the car tells me the engine is overheating after 10-15 minutes and I have to idle the engine. I sort of managed the problem last year by short shifting, but obviously I am not as fast as I can be when I have to do this, so I added a Dewitt radiator, heat exchanger, and prospeed oil cooler system this winter. It ran fine in Colorado and Utah in the spring at 65-70 degrees, but then we hit 82 degrees ambient last Sunday at Utah motorsports campus, and ding ding ding, there it goes. Air intake temps of 89-91 degrees, coolant temp up to 262 degrees, and oil temp on my OBD system read 298.4 degrees at the point of engine cut out.

So the oil cooler was insufficient. What the hell do I do next? I guess I buy a ZR1 bumper next to make more holes in the front of the car for airflow? WHY didn't you do this in the first place??? Another oil cooler on the other side of the car? Different fan speed settings? PLEASE HELP. I love THIS car and want THIS one to go fast and run cool.

I am sure there are a billion threads on cooling here, but I don't know the forum well enough to search and keep coming up with conflicting info, so I am trying to just get a straight answer from the guy who should know what to do about it please.

jvp

We won't be sending Tadge any further C7/Z06 "cooling" questions (or, really, any further C7 questions). As you say, there are a "billion threads" here on the forum. Please use the search function.

Kaitlin007

Yeah, the "cooling mega thread" appears to be a discussion of how Porsche's look like bugs. Thanks anyway. But LG system looks like it could be good!

Bill Dearborn

Also take a look at G Speed's (Lou's son) version. The two are very similar but G speed offers different ways of doing things including not cutting the front bumper. However, I would recommend extensive talks with both shops to make sure they understand your operating conditions and how you drive the car so they can recommend their best solution. With both parties having a clear understanding of what is happening and what the proposed solution will do a better result may happen no matter which shop you choose.

Bill

Pacembellum

I FEEL for your situation man, that sucks.

G speed or LG are the best PROVEN solutions. I know a guy on Facebook Adrian Berryhill in the z06 vette owners group is designing a cooling setup using an aftermarket copy of the zr1 bumper, it looks amazing. He has one on his z06 already.

but it hasn’t been tested or proven like G speed has. I’d sell all your current cooling upgrades and work with G SPEED or LG to do a system. You don’t need the upgraded center radiator since you already did that so it will save you about $800 or so I think.

edit: your dewitt heat exchanger is not helping at all, probably just blocking the radiator even more than stock id sell that too.

you have to open up airflow to main radiator by getting rid of the supercharger heat exchanger in front of it and moving that to the sides or laying it down in front like g speed has done.

they have lots of different ways to go about doing this you don’t need to get their stage 2 or stage 0, for example.

edit v. 2– LOL of course tadge doesn’t want to address why his ultimate track corvette can’t take the heat. They were too cheap to put a proper bumper on the z06 or a proper supercharger since they hit that 650/650 number in a air conditioned test facility on test grade 93 octane and said “this is good enough for the new balance crowd”. Plus we can save a ton on design and parts by not changing any radiators or airflow.

mnl119

You're probably way past this, but have you tried dropping the anti-freeze concentration and possibly using water wetter?

Kaitlin007

I've tried every simple solution already, we're into the throwing money at the problem with massive hardware changes until it goes away stage! I spoke to Gspeed last year and went through all the options, stage 0, stage 2, etc and I think that quote ended up being like $16 grand all in. Called and emailed them this week to see what was up and got no response. Trying LG's system because a) they answered the phone and all my (many) questions and b) yes, I am now convinced that the blockage of the radiator must be addressed. Already have a buyer for the heat exchanger, anyone want a slightly used prospeed oil cooler system? It doesn't fit with the LG system. I think it probably does work, just not at my altitudes with thin air.

Can't wait to see my husband's response to cutting holes in the front of the car. I wanted a zr1 bumper to go with the LG system, but they say I need different ducting in that case and I don't have the time to figure it out before the next event. Maybe he won't notice.

mnl119

Yeah, corvettes are not a hobby for the weak of wallet.

C7ZO6

i think you wanna say General Motors and there engineering team should be ashamed. For not properly testing a vehicle before it was sold.

to OP, yes your best option is ZR1 bumper, it actually looks damn good.

X25

Exactly!! GSpeed kit is a bit overkill, and a big part of it is them trying to handle the oil temps extensively. OEM oil cooler works quite well when coolant temps are in check, and eliminating it requires adding quite a bit of cooling just for oil, complicating the system, making it heavier right at the nose of the car, and a lot more expensive.

I've tried so many things on my '19 Z06/Z07 as well, and removal of the center intercooler was a massive help to the radiator. These superchargers heat soak, and start puking out very hot air during track duty, which is solely cooled by the intercooler. Imagine your radiator getting nothing but 150 degrees F air past the intercooler; it would be akin to driving your car under 150 degree desert! Anyway, removing the center intercooler lets your radiator work. It also allows upgraded radiators finally make an impact, too.

Here are my notes from my build thread:
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...post1600624781

Solving this problem is a mere $3.3K away (LG kit)

pcguy2u

Are the C7ZR1's also experiencing heatsoak? Maybe the answer is to change models; a lot of heartache in that story...

Nick

SladeX

From a purely physics standpoint, why not a 2650 sc with underdrive on the pulley? You can spin it slower to keep cfm similar to stock sc levels. This would reduce the boost pressure. PV = nRT or rather PV/nR = T. Where pressure and volume are on 1 side and temperature is on the other, reduction of pressure or volume would lead to lower T (temperature) of the intake charge. Since we are trying to keep the same CFM rate, the pressure is the only reduction which will yield some cooling. This means that less air energy is shed into the intercooler system and may go below a rate at which your current cooling can handle.

Later when wanting to do a max effort build for hero runs, it will have the bigger sc so you are good to go.

mnl119

Or a worse explanation... they did enough testing, figured out that on a hot track day that these cars would overheat and just went ahead with sales anyway since most buyers will never track the car.

SladeX

This sounds like the more plausible explanation. The 2017+ cars and the ZR1 showed that GM can engineer some extra cost solutions to eliminate most of it (the ZR1 seeing its power boost AND additional cooling)

Before the ZR1, I was thinking that the missing fog lights in the corners would have been better served as additional cooling radiators. Then I met some early Z06 adopters who couldn't even figure out the memory seats. The majority of the local vette owners I know, do NOT track their cars, the most is spirited driving and on/off ramps.

samwint77

K tech also makes a cooling system that looks pretty good. Its pricy though. Maybe try laying the HX down like the 17's and up. Also open up the intake a bit could help so there's not as much of a pressure increase which creates heat. There's allot of solutions out there, just gotta see which fit your needs.

Ludicrous_Speed

Has anyone tried adding a driver side cheek cooler piped into the secondary radiator circuit and a passenger side cheek cooler piped into the heat exchanger circuit with a either pair of cheek ducts or the ZR1 bumer and fender grates? It seems like a solution that would be very easy to run the plumbing for and wouldn't break the bank. The hardest part would probably be figuring out how to size and mount the coolers.

GSpeed

We have many options, so many options people think we only make an expensive kit.

Check out our stage Zero, literally the best bang for the buck on the market, and the car doesnt change aesthetically.

https://gspeed.myshopify.com/product...ooling-package

Let us know if we can help. We are the only cooling system vendor to publish extensive (not pdr) data, good or bad, and our workflow through the solution.

Call us if we can help!

FRChilln

Check and clean up the body ground under the hood just down from the passenger side fuse box. My fan wasn’t kicking on correctly because I didn’t have a solid ground.

BrunoTheMellow

Yes. @X25 tried this for coolant. Not enough improvement for the effort.


If you're going the cheek cooler route. Just go with a proven system:
Gspeed
LG.
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X25

Indeed, it helped, but was not enough to make a reliably cool system, at least at my local track. I still have all the parts if you want to try it yourself : ) Here's my how-to:
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...post1600266308