As I said previously, I don't unfortunately have any photos of the center radiator and associated ductwork . Next time the front bumper's off I'll gladly resurrect this thread and post some pics.....

 

Did you cut a hole in the top of the bumper cover for the vent? If so, can you post a picture of it from outside the car?

 

3rd helps. Helped me on the street and track in the Texas heat. 40th have it standard. As do gt3. Saying it is useless is just bad info. If anything is useless, it's the sunroof.

Wrt ducting, I vented my side rads to the rotors a la GT3 duct work. Great idea there to cool brakes.

-td

 

What does "helped me" mean?

I know from simple physics that more radiator area makes little difference if there's no air moving through it, and I know from empirical experience that the standard radiators do a fine job once the car is moving.

Common sense says that where an engine gets heat soaked from extended operation at high rpms (and thus speed, presuming lots of available airflow), more radiator is better. That explains the GT3, based on the intended use of that car. As for the 40th, well, that whole car was a marketing exercise, so let's set that aside.

So, again, tell me what "helped me" means?

 

It takes more time to heat soak 3 radiators and extra plumbing than 2 plus there is more fluid, which takes more engergy to heat. So the 3rd radiator will help in any situation. However, the amount of help that it provides to a n/a car that not being pushed hard will be minimal.

 

Philooo:
Your down in Miami which means (to me) hot and humid...so might make a lot of sense........ If you are still thinking about this upgrade, you might want to contact Chris at LC Motorsports, last I recall, he had a third rad kit (NIB?)and was looking to sell it....maybe for a price better than Suncoasts normally great pricing. GL.

 

"helped me" = reduced operating temperature. Not rocket science or even complex physics. If you have more surface area to cool the fluid, it, well, cools the fluid. My car was a serious track rat. Temps decreased in use after the 3rd rad. I think I posted about this back in 2007 or 2008 or 2009.
-td

 

40th AE DO NOT in fact have the 3rd radiator from factory lets stop spreading that myth
If you look at a 40th AE and although it has x51 engine you will see it has turbo front end and yet no 3rd radiator. Why? Because Porsche decided the extra air flow through the larger openings and slightly different radiators were good enough and the 3rd radiator was not installed.

 

Thanks for stopping by td !!

 

Philoo, IMHO, its just not needed for what your doing. If you must spend $600, buy something your car really needs.

 

In Colorado at High Plains Raceway the 3rd Radiator was required to run my '99 C4 hard at over 85 degrees air temp.

I was having trouble with heat and would have to back off a gear with the heater on FULL blast to keep temps under control with normalk DE sessions of about 25 minutes. I "lived" with it for 2 summers, then finally got tired of backing off during sessions or skipping hot-summer track days. I did an Aero Kit and decided to go for the 3r Rad at the same time that past summer.

Previous to the 3rd Rad, I had cleaned the radiators and them flushed and inspected with no sludge, debris, etc. I took it to a couple shops and both recommended the 3rd Rad a few times as the best solution.

I went after heat problem with full force and added the 3rd Rad, hi-fan speed mod and the lower temp T-stat. The heat problems are now GONE!
One day this summer the temp was over 95 degrees and the car ran perfectly "cool" for 30 min sessions.

It is very important to get all of the duct work in place to make sure the air flows as designed.
I have seen this issue on other 996's and GT3's without proper ducting. lots of "unexplained" heating problems, until someone noticed the simple lack of proper ducts (to the center Rad).

 

Required for regular track use IMO. I don't think high temps caused my cracked head but it sure didn't help.

 

keep in mind people

the OP is getting an Aero kit installed and NOT having cooling issues

asked if these thing are useless - which we now can all agree they are not useless

he should get more airflow out of an Aero front clip - so he's probably going to be better off than he was before.

$600 = 2-3 track days

 

Should we assume you knew to turn off, disable, the A/C compressor...?

 

I don't doubt that one bit, because there's airflow. This is why people like Pelican and Carnewal are specific about advertising this as being for track use and hard driving.

I'm just saying that doesn't translate into a meaningful difference for someone sitting in slow urban traffic. The third rad doesn't add much fluid capacity to the cooling system, and it's hampered by the same location issues as the other two are. Thus, a great track upgrade, but nearly "useless" for helping cool the engine in a typical street driven car.

But it does look awesome. I've bought upgrades for less good reasons than that