Project BlueSky – Supercharged BRZ Part 3 – Keeping it Cool

Now that we have seen the full extent of the exhaust system on Project BlueSky, it’s time to move back into the engine bay and explore in a little more detail the new FA20 engine as well as the upgraded cooling system (or at least the planned upgrade)

Let us first take a look at the stock engine bay of the Subaru BRZ/Toyota FRS. There are several interesting aspects to this engine bay but most notably is the amount of space given for mods. We believe Subaru/Toyota designed this engine bay specifically with the tuner in mind. They purposely went away with plastic coverings in order to allow easy access to the engine. Gone are the millions of annoying breakable tabs that hold engine covers that hide everything.  As a tuning shop, this is something we rejoice and thank Subaru/Toyota greatly for.

Now from another angle

Those with a keen eye will notice that the oil filter is now inside the engine bay rather than in the typical underside location for a Subaru boxer motor.  Perhaps taking a page from some German manufacturers, setting the filter in the bay is smart because oil changes is the most frequent type of service any car will see. Rather than having to crawl under the car to get the messy filter off, simply pop the hood, unscrew, replace and you’re done. Because the oil drain plug  can be reached by your arm and a wrench, oil changes now do not require the car to be jacked up! Unless your car is lowered.

If you still haven’t spotted the oil filter, you will see it in the photo below, right beside the AC pump on the right hand side of the photo. This photo shows what serpentine belt layout is like.  Unlike previous EJ series Subaru motors the FA20 uses a Chain instead of a belt for the crank/cam and then a single serpentine belt for the accessories.  There’s also notably no power steering pump as the rack is electric.

Let’s go over the cooling system upgrade we performed.  We went with the Skunk2 Ultra Radiator. With any forced induction upgrade or add-on, it is important to upgrade cooling; both water and oil. Boosted applications run extremely hot so being able to control or normalize temps is very critical. As the BRZ/FRS was not a FI car to begin with it makes it that much more important to keep temps cool.  The factory radiator, while adequate for a stock car, is probably the thinnest radiator we’ve ever seen and is probably one of the weakest points of the car from a reliability standpoint. Besides the obvious cooling upgraded capabilities over stock, the Skunk2 utliizes stock mounting positions, creating a direct fit install(see notes below) Moreover, the Skunk2 Ultra Rad has a built in oil cooler so you get more stable oil temps on track. The price is also very reasonable for the amount of bang you’re getting. Below you can see the rad to rad comparison.

Radiator in place in the car

At this point we thought we were golden, however we then ran into a big snag.  In talking with Skunk2/Kraftwerks we were told this combination of supercharger and radiator would work.  This ended up being far from the case due to the design of the radiator and A/C condenser.  The condenser is bolted to the radiator and as such any change in thickness to the radiator is translated by the condenser being pushed out.  Once we went to install the front mount intercooler for the Kraftwerks kit we found there was a huge clearance issue.  Basically the condenser was hitting the intercooler core and would eventually wear a hole through the aluminum.  We spent a lot of time trying to get enough clearance for this to work and in the end there was no simple and functional way for this to work.  If your car is N/A or doesn’t use a front mount intercooler for its kit this radiator would be a great upgrade.  In our case we have exchanged the radiator for the Alpha series unit from Skunk2 and we will document that install after.