Thinking about getting rid of my FTRA
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TECH Fanatic
Joined: Nov 2001
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From: High Point North Carolina
Thinking about getting rid of my FTRA I have a tranny cooler and the Fast Toys Ram Air blocking my radiotor. Even with the 160 t-stat the car gets up to 225 degrees according to my ATao, not good. I'm thinking of ripping it off. Should I just take off the lower plate thats blocking the radiator? Does the FTRA 'really' make a difference on a 350+ hp car?
On The Tree
Joined: Nov 2001
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Re: Thinking about getting rid of my FTRA Have you done the fan mod along with the 160 stat?! As you prolly know without the fans coming on earlier the 160 isn't gonna do much. Just a thought.
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by Kenny H:
<strong>I have a tranny cooler and the Fast Toys Ram Air blocking my radiotor. Even with the 160 t-stat the car gets up to 225 degrees according to my ATao, not good. I'm thinking of ripping it off. Should I just take off the lower plate thats blocking the radiator? Does the FTRA 'really' make a difference on a 350+ hp car?</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by Kenny H:
<strong>I have a tranny cooler and the Fast Toys Ram Air blocking my radiotor. Even with the 160 t-stat the car gets up to 225 degrees according to my ATao, not good. I'm thinking of ripping it off. Should I just take off the lower plate thats blocking the radiator? Does the FTRA 'really' make a difference on a 350+ hp car?</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">
Re: Thinking about getting rid of my FTRA I was experiencing the same. I since took off the lower portion of the ram air and installed a fan switch that runs both fans high. Much cooler. With the HPP3 and LS1Edit you can tell the computer when to have the fans come on.
On The Tree
Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 132
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From: Atlanta
Re: Thinking about getting rid of my FTRA Man thats hot. In city traffic, my car peaks out around 200 with AC on max in 95+ weather. I have done the thermostat mod and have set the HPP to turn the cooling fans on at 180. I would really do the fan mod before tearing out the FTRA. Also move the tranny cooler to a horizontal position behind the fog light. There are some pics here http://fear.net/~dope/camaro/tranny_cooler The FTRA really keeps the IAT down. One hot day I removed the front seal and the IAT stayed at least 10F above ambient while cruising.
Re: Thinking about getting rid of my FTRA First off, there is nothing wrong with 225 degrees. The second fan is not even set to come on until close to that temperature and with the stock 195 thermostat this means that the car is originally designed to run that hot. You only need to worry if it starts approaching something more like 250 degrees which is an indication of actual overheating.
Also, it does no good in hot weather to put in a lower thermostat if the second cooling fan will still not come on until its factory setting of around 215 degrees - do you have your fans set to come on earlier?
Even with a 160 stat and 175 fan settings mine gets up well over 200 degrees in very hot weather (110 degrees) and it does not bother me at all. It used to get very close to this hot in the summer even before the FTRA.
As far as whether the FTRA is a worthwile mod - the answer is yes. Testing I did showed about a .1 second and 1 mph increase in the quarter over the factory SS induction hood (I would expect even more on your car).
If this does not convince you, I would just remove the lower plate so you can put it back on when the weather cools down in a couple months.
<img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="gr_stretch.gif" /> Steve
Also, it does no good in hot weather to put in a lower thermostat if the second cooling fan will still not come on until its factory setting of around 215 degrees - do you have your fans set to come on earlier?
Even with a 160 stat and 175 fan settings mine gets up well over 200 degrees in very hot weather (110 degrees) and it does not bother me at all. It used to get very close to this hot in the summer even before the FTRA.
As far as whether the FTRA is a worthwile mod - the answer is yes. Testing I did showed about a .1 second and 1 mph increase in the quarter over the factory SS induction hood (I would expect even more on your car).
If this does not convince you, I would just remove the lower plate so you can put it back on when the weather cools down in a couple months.
<img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="gr_stretch.gif" /> Steve
