engine cooling
This purple-flamed ’71 El Camino is but one of a number of outstanding street rods and street machines residing in movie executive Jim Brubaker’s impressive muscle car collection in Universal City, California. And believe us, it is really nice!
Even though we all dream of blasting through the desert at 130-MPH like Robby Gordon, most of our 4×4 adventures take place at a much more reasonable pace. Unfortunately for our engines crawling along a boulder strewn dry river bed or climbing a goat trail through a mountain pass does not always allow enough airflow to keep our engines cool with a belt driven mechanical fan. Belt driven fans are designed to keep your engine cool when traveling down a street or highway not while crushing boulders at 3-MPH and 1,500-RPM. So what can we do to keep our rigs from boiling over this summer? Follow along with us as we install a pair of 11-inch electronic cooling fans along with a programmable fan controller both from SPAL USA.
We all know and love the Honda/Acura B-series motors and for good reason. They have been and continue to be the mainstay of the sport compact performance market. Sure, the new K-series motors are making headway with more and more performance pieces and they look to succeed the B-series once the supply of used motors becomes available in the quantities (and pricing) currently enjoyed by the B-series. But for now, Civic, CRX and Integra engine swappers, not to mention the horde of those originally so equipped, have made the B16A, B18A/B, B18C and B18C5 the performance Honda motors of choice.
When it comes to performance, the devil really is in the details. Ever wonder why one engine makes more power than another, when both are seemingly identical? The answer to this very common performance question lies in the attention to detail. Basic performance elements such as engine tuning, spark timing curves, and, yes, even oil selection all come into play when you attempt to extract the maximum amount of power from your existing combination.Â