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Pud237 · 07-05-2008

Originally Posted by Chris155

The air con rad may well be very light but the air con pump weighs a fair bit and is sited well ahead of the front axle. I reckon you will feel a small improvement in handling should you choose to remove it, in particular, better turn in.

Do you know if the water pump is a metal impellor type?

Cooling can be improved in other ways. You're probably running the stock heat exchanger off a 2.5 engine. 3.0 166's and GTA's run a sperate oil cooler. The difference is the heat exchanger is exactly that. The engine oil is cooled by the engine coolant circut. This puts extra load on the coolant.

Its not an easy job to fit a GTA oil cooler set up. Subframe off as a very minimum and quite possibly an engine out job. There are some ancilliary components that will need relocating too.

Another option and its one I would favour, would be to do what Trackstar has done with his track car. Fit an extra high flow electric pump between the stat and the radiator on the bottom hose.

Water pump is the metal impellor type. If an extra electric pump was fitted in line, would this improve the efficiency of the current cooling system? I would have thought the factor limiting cooling was effective surface area of the radiator, but you're right in drawing my attention to coolant flow. Is there any basic things you can do to ensure the coolant stays optimum?

Cooling is definitely an issue, an oil cooler would be preferable but as you say fitting the GTA set up wouldn't be easy. What about using a take-off plate from the filter area and mounting an aftermarket oil radiator and filter somewhere else?

07-05-2008	#10 (Post Link)
Pud237 AO Platinum Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: North Yorkshire Posts: 12,241 Member car: '99 Mondeo 1.8 TD (temp)	Re: 156 V6 air con removal Originally Posted by Chris155 The air con rad may well be very light but the air con pump weighs a fair bit and is sited well ahead of the front axle. I reckon you will feel a small improvement in handling should you choose to remove it, in particular, better turn in. Do you know if the water pump is a metal impellor type? Cooling can be improved in other ways. You're probably running the stock heat exchanger off a 2.5 engine. 3.0 166's and GTA's run a sperate oil cooler. The difference is the heat exchanger is exactly that. The engine oil is cooled by the engine coolant circut. This puts extra load on the coolant. Its not an easy job to fit a GTA oil cooler set up. Subframe off as a very minimum and quite possibly an engine out job. There are some ancilliary components that will need relocating too. Another option and its one I would favour, would be to do what Trackstar has done with his track car. Fit an extra high flow electric pump between the stat and the radiator on the bottom hose. Water pump is the metal impellor type. If an extra electric pump was fitted in line, would this improve the efficiency of the current cooling system? I would have thought the factor limiting cooling was effective surface area of the radiator, but you're right in drawing my attention to coolant flow. Is there any basic things you can do to ensure the coolant stays optimum? Cooling is definitely an issue, an oil cooler would be preferable but as you say fitting the GTA set up wouldn't be easy. What about using a take-off plate from the filter area and mounting an aftermarket oil radiator and filter somewhere else? Back on the road: Alfa 156 3.0 24v V6, Silver with red leather, Q2 diff, 17" GTA Teledials, headlights & inlet manifold, AutoDelta carbon intake, SuperSprint exhaust, Dastek Unichip & FK coilovers - my 245bhp beast! Gone but not forgotten: Alfa 156 2.4 JTD Veloce, Vela Blu, Angel 'mad map' & BMC CDA, Ferodo DS2500s - the fastest tractor in town! AO 'Bratpacker' No 5.