have you lived in Phoenix? I did for five years and there's no way I could leave the AC off. I'd seriously look at an upgraded radiator, they're not that expensive compared to an STI scoop and splitter, I'm sure the radiator would be far more effective. Second the notion of wrapping as much as possible. And I run the Redline water wetter. For a small investment it works well. BANSUVS is right about using more water than antifreeze. I feel your pain, Phoenix makes Hawaii feel cool.

San

 

get an IC water spray kit and just lay it on when the cars been sitting out for awhile and give it a shot whenever you're stopped for awhile, it'll really help with the sluggishness

 

Another thought for lowering internal engine temps (at least while driving) is an oil cooler. subydude had one for about $200.

 

Thanks for all of your help, this is by far the most useful and informative forum I've ever spent time on -- I mean that sincerely.

I've decided to go with this plan:

replica larger hood scoop, splitter, gasket
intercooler spray kit
drain radiator, refill with 70% water and water wetter
wrap or use mesh on exhaust system pipes
"green" air filter (more cool air can't hurt)

that's for THIS year, because I already spent my car $$ on wheels/tires/springs

NEXT year:

Upgrade intercooler
Uppipe, coated (cast iron?)
better turbo heat shield? (I love speedmonkey's "chimney" design, but I'm not handy with a dremel)
Borla Hush catback (yes, I know it is not a cooling mod! )

Anyone point me to a good install tutorial for the intercooler spray kit? I want the switch to be in the "dead" slot on the left-hand side of the steering wheel, next to the foglights switch.

 

Sorry to reply twice in a row, I promise I'm not post wh0ring :-)

Sigma, where would you find one for $25? Most I have seen are $125 or more. Do you mean making one from Home Depot parts?

BTW, have any of you visited this site?



http://www.spdusa.com/

This guy is a real curmudgeon -- he sneers at a lot of common upgrades, such as larger intercoolers, FMIC, oil coolers, 3" exhaust and non-Prodrive ECUs. Yet he seems to know what he is talking about, and backs up his claims with a LOT of evidence. Interesting reading! After reading his site, I've decided to keep my stock downpipe and not do the intercooler swap, and stay 1,000 miles away from a manual boost controller.

 

This could also be some fun
http://www.fastwrx.com/nterinchil.html

 

If I were you I would completely flush your cooling system of the coolent inside of it now and replace it with water and a bottle of water wetter because of its rust inhibiting charastics. Regular coolents usually used in cars arent totally eficent but they don't freeze .. somthing I need here in Denver .. but in phoenix it never freezes .. swap it, unless you plan on traveling north.

 

Well, then I have to mount the bottle in my back window, drop the car 2 inches, get 19" wheels with chrome spinners, run some neon around the underbody, install a Playstation 2 in the dash and add a POWERED BY SUBARU banner across the top of my windshield...

 

llol, you forgot the 5" fartcan and altezzas

personally I like the idea of a blast-my-ic-with-c02 button. but I also enjoy the occasional stop light drags (except in the summer when its 110 degrees and I get my *** handed to me by anything NA with more than 150hp)

 

Sorry to bump my own thread, I'm still putting together my mod list!

A new radiator is out of my price range -- do any of you have experience with changing the radiator thermostat and going to a high-pressure radiator cap? Both are VERY cheap mods, and the "pro" arguments on the product listings are interesting...

I'm definitely doing the water/water wetter mixture this weekend, and the IC spray kit by March (when it starts to get hot, believe it or not) as well as the bigger hood scoop and radiator shroud. Anyone ever upgraded their AC compressor? Maybe I need to go to a lightweight pulley on that thing

 

water wetter helped my car...

i would pick up a zerosports cool temp thermostat....

but the radiator cap doesn't really do much but increase the pressure the the cap can withstand.

 

sorry to get off topic but suby dude has to be insane with that othe Sti oil cooler kit.

Check out this kit from godspeed
http://www.godspeedinc.com/

450 and looks pretty damn close to the STi kit

You might want to check out the godspeed radiator which is only 475.

LOL, i'm a dumbass replied to a thread over a year old