Skylarking
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I’d drop by a dealer that has an HSV VF GTS LSA in stock, new or used doesn’t matter as you won’t be buying it. Then spend a little time looking at the cooling solution designed into the vehicle, paying particular attention to radiator size, fan size, radiator cowling, trans cooler size, etc as compared to your home grown beast. Then you’d get an idea of how it is correctly engineered.
I’d think there would be much more cooling capacity designed into the GTS LSA than a LS3. 130 odd kw extra power needs lots of fuel which creates lots of heat when burnt. And you need to be able to get rid of it some how
Once you understand the differences between the VF/GTS cooling solution, then have another discussion with Harrop. Ask them about the heat issue and whether they think it’s normal for your keys to get so hot when placed on the centre console and the car to flag an overheating issue...
Such heat problems are not normal in my view so Harrop stuffed up and they should fix it at their cost (it’s their liability).
how is the intercooler situated in front of the radiator ? i had to change mine and play around with it as it didnt allow good airflow thru to the radiator and engine fans were still coming on even upto 80kph driving, overheating was never an issue but the fans shouldnt have to come on if ur over 60kph if airflow has proper flow even with stock radiator, make sure u are actually getting hot as the ect sensors can play up also make sure u are using the L98 ect as some later ls3 may be different, i have seen ls3 heat up pretty quick but all fine once at operating temps, if cats are beside the trans they will be heating it up in that area more and heating up the floor either more insulation or get the headers and cat pipes ceramic coated to help, also if u have trans cooler u then have trans, intercooler, a/c before the radiator so flow at that point can be reduced alot
id recommend race coatings ive had a few items done and exhaust sections done and work is really good https://www.racecoatings.com.au u should be able to go to engineering mode and see what the actual engine temp is ? with the intercooler if its sitting in front with a decent gap and side gaps then it will disrupt flow, the cooling in these and very poor to begin with imo im doing some major changes to mine just to make it betterintercooler is definitely in front of radiator, at present is the stock radiator and the intercooler installed with built engine
After further looking into it the cats are playing a part in the excessive heat transfer to centre console and area but this is not a constant and until the car operating temp is shown above half on dash display it remains as you would expect which is with no noticeable heat coming from the area as soon as it is over half the heat transfer is extreme and noticeable very quickly, the ceramic coating to help in general is not something I had done or was offered as an idea but will now ask about, Will this be a big job and can you recommend somewhere that does this ?
Do you have a wideband installed?
I would definitely have one installed with all those mods.
If the engine is running to lean , it could cause the EGT to increase heating up everything.
^ very high EGT can melt the catalytic converters ceramic honeycomb, or even pistons
@LS3_VE, has the cooling system been correctly bled so no air is within the system? No cooling system leaks?
But seem to find conflicting opinion on what rad to use and what combination of pump,rad & thermostat)