Brammo Atom 2 Cooling Systems

[revvhappy]

I recently purchased a 2006 Atom (Ecotec) and have done 2 track days with it. It has an upgraded supercharger and runs E85, the last roller dyno session revealed 315hp and 290lb-ft. The car is silly fun on track with street tires, and magical with big Hoosiers. Due to excessive fuel consumption and difficulty finding E85 in some places, I'm going to have it tuned for 93 octane gasoline.

After reading Cobalt SS, Saturn Red Line, and other Kit Car forums there seem to be some upgrades that help cooling on track, add reliability, or add ease of maintenance. I'm hoping that someone can steer me in a good direction as I attempt to combine projects:

Project 1: Remote oil filter and cooler. There are 2 options here: a. Replace the oil filter/cap with an aftermarket unit that includes ports for AN fittings, or b. replace the oil cooler with a plate that includes ports for AN fittings. I would like to remove the small engine-mounted oil cooler because it's a possible failure point for both oil and coolant, so option "b" seems more relevant. Is there a product that replaces the oil filter in the OE position if I use the plate over the oil cooler ports and a remote filter?

Project 2: Lower Intake Air Temp. The Harrop Supercharger already has a dual pass end plate. I've read that other people who track their Atoms get reasonable IATs with the stock horizontally-mounted "oil cooler/fan" and a large coolant reservoir (after making sure that the pump was wired properly to spin the correct direction). I would like to use the current engine coolant tank as an "Option B" reservoir for supercharger cooling. I need guidance on what to do with all of the engine coolant hoses that run to the engine-mounted oil cooler and the coolant tank that I want to repurpose. I realize that I'll have to re-route/add some hoses to make this work.

Project 3: Engine temperature. Add a high quality oil cooler that will be plumbed in with the remote filter system. Modify the thermostat for better flow.

[revvhappy]

After extensive reading and chatting with DDM Works I'll:

1. Add a remote oil filter and cooler by replacing the OE oil filter cap/filter with an aluminum unit with two AN fittings. I'll remove the OE oil cooler, pull the internal tube, and block the two ports with NPT plugs. A remote cooler and filter will be plumbed to the new DDM filter adapter.

2. Add a second large coolant tank for the supercharger (Option B). I'll replace the OE water neck with a billet neck that eliminates the heater and oil cooler ports. Two 1/8" NPT ports will accommodate the temp sensor and a bleed line to the new coolant tank.

I'll document the process in a new thread.

[revvhappy]

To avoid clutter I've decided to continue my journey in this thread:

Work has begun:

A pile of parts were removed: OE oil filter cap and filter, OE oil cooler, OE thermostat housing, and OE supercharger coolant fill. This cleaned up the left side of the engine and removed some unnecessary hoses.

OE parts.jpeg (171.89 KiB) Viewed 3886 times

Tidy driver side.jpeg (172.24 KiB) Viewed 3886 times

A CBM oil filter replacement cap is used to route oil to a remote filter and remote cooler. Rather than tapping and plugging the OE oil cooler ports I chose to use an OTTP block off plate with threaded plugs. The OE oil pressure sensor port is already tapped into the OTTP part.

Oil Cap and Cooler plate.jpeg (180.36 KiB) Viewed 3886 times

If you have an LSJ it's imperative to remove the sleeve that routes oil to the OE oil cooler (rear port), or you WILL have oiling issues that destroy your engine. The sleeve is pressed in with an o-ring and take a bit of force to remove. I found a forum that suggested using a 1/4npt tap on the sleeve, then I welded a length of threaded rod to a 1/4npt pipe and threaded it in. A hammer and vise grips created a cheap "slide hammer" and a few solid hits removed the sleeve easily.

Oil sleeve.jpeg (206.16 KiB) Viewed 3886 times

Oil sleeve removal.jpeg (117.77 KiB) Viewed 3886 times

The OE thermostat housing is a tangle of unnecessary hoses, so I replaced it with a CBM coolant neck. I live in Georgia and do not need a thermostat, so it was a no-brainer. Before and after:

OE Thermostat Housing.jpeg (182.37 KiB) Viewed 3886 times

CBM coolant housing.jpeg (152.94 KiB) Viewed 3886 times

A ZZP high output supercharger coolant pump and new hoses are installed - pic to be added.

Coming soon: Installing the remote oil cooler and filter, and AN10 hoses.

[revvhappy]

​Progress:

1. The supercharger coolant pump was replaced with a higher flow unit. Some of the Redline Ions, Cobalt SS, and Atom 2s that used the LSJ engine had the pump wired backwards (so it flowed backwards) - not the most efficient cooling in that orientation. I tried my best to get a larger fluid container mounted but ran into packaging issues, there's just not a lot of room under the rear cowl. Ended up extending the hoses to get the OE fill in a more accessible place. It used to be behind that triangle in the firewall.
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High output SC pump.jpeg (145.76 KiB) Viewed 3311 times

Relocate SC fill.jpeg (144.01 KiB) Viewed 3311 times

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2. Remote oil filter adapter and remote oil cooler. Others have mounted aftermarket parts using Rivnuts or welded tabs onto the frame. I used a few Rivnuts, but used 1/8" thick tube (cut in half lengthwise to fit snugly against the frame), to add strength and allow tabs to be welded on without modifying the chassis. The oil cooler mount is held to the chassis with clamps and one Rivnut, and the Oil Filter adapter uses 2 Rivnuts.

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Remote filter mount.jpeg (130.2 KiB) Viewed 3311 times

Cooler and 2nd hose.jpeg (161.31 KiB) Viewed 3311 times

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Only three short AN hoses will be necessary to plumb everything: engine to cooler, cooler to remote filter, and filter engine. Two of the hoses are now in place. I understand that it's better to have the filter before the cooler, but space limitations made this difficult.

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2nd hose.jpeg (190.15 KiB) Viewed 3311 times

[FrankRizzo]

Hey, you should also check the "thimbles" on the front suspension. They're a known weak point on the AA2's. ESPECIALLY if you're running slicks! My previous (2006 AA2) got upgraded to the AA3 A-Arms after one failed at Road Atlanta.

[revvhappy]

Thank you for the information about the thimbles. RA is one of my home tracks and I can't imagine having a thimble fail at a few places on that track!! Did you get AA3 A-arms from TMI?

I'm hoping that the new "Palatov" rear uprights will begin production soon also, I hear that the OE ones are another failure point when running slicks.

[revvhappy]

​Today I fabricated the third AN 10 oil line and got it installed, along with an oil filter. I'll definitely change my oil more often now that I don't have to take half the car apart to reach the filter.

Filter and cooler.jpeg (148.82 KiB) Viewed 3173 times

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3 AN lines.jpeg (166.33 KiB) Viewed 3173 times

The new coolant neck has a 1.5" outlet that points straight out the rear of the car. It probably makes sense in a Saturn or Cobalt, but requires a 180 degree coolant line for the Atom, then I have to reduce it to 1.25" to connect to the Ariel system. The OE thermostat housing that I removed included a 3/4" port for coolant return from the reservoir, so now I will be plumbing an inline "y" fitting to get the coolant back into the system. This shows the 180 1.5" tube.

Coolant U.jpeg (183.84 KiB) Viewed 3173 times

[FrankRizzo]

Thank you for the information about the thimbles. RA is one of my home tracks and I can't imagine having a thimble fail at a few places on that track!! Did you get AA3 A-arms from TMI?

I'm hoping that the new "Palatov" rear uprights will begin production soon also, I hear that the OE ones are another failure point when running slicks.

I didn't own the car at the time of the failure, but it is my understanding that Brian DID get them from TMI. If you're getting the new Palatov-inspired uprights, you should probably get the package deal and get the improved bellcranks as well. Those ARE ready I hear.

[FrankRizzo]

I managed to find pictures that Brian sent me after it happened.

What happened

image2.jpeg (468.86 KiB) Viewed 3090 times

The aftermath

image.jpeg (384.92 KiB) Viewed 3090 times

[revvhappy]

Wow, that's a lot of damage from a small-part failure, and I can imagine the sense of dread that the driver felt when it let go at Road Atlanta! It seems like there is not enough spindle threaded into the a-arm. I turned mine in quite a bit when adding front camber, and will look into higher quality parts.

New Palatov uprights are now available from Jason, so I'll get those on the car soon.

Yesterday was "first start" day for all of the upgrades. The good news is that oil pressure is good and there aren't any oil leaks. The bad news is that the aftercooler pump didn't seem to be working, and there is a small, slow drip of coolant coming from somewhere. After checking the fuses and relays it appears that the aftercooler pump relay was loose and it's now working! The new position of the small reservoir makes it easy to check, and it's the highest point in the system so it purges air easily.

[FrankRizzo]

Yeah, the drive hit the wall under the bridge scraping the Patron sign and netting him a $2800 bill to fix that sign.

[revvhappy]

Paying for the sign on a concrete wall is adding insult to injury! I can't think of a scarier place on that track to lose steering than Turn 12.

I can't tell for sure yet, but it seems that the "inlet" hose bung has backed out of the dual-pass plate about 3/4" and is loose! Also, the CBM coolant neck uses a different thread size temperature sensor and it's impossible to find a single-wire sensor with the Bosch plug.

[revvhappy]

New stainless exhaust system. Now I can have it tuned for E30 and maybe a 2nd tune for 93 octane. Some local tracks have strict sound limits so I added the Burns muffler.

[revvhappy]

Track Day shakedown at Barber Motorsports Park. The car ran well and there were no leaks! Lap 3 in the video is my FTD - 6 seconds faster than I ever went around the track in my endurance car.