HOT engine bay temp Options

[match220]

engine basics
gen3 3sgte swap, stock injectors and turbo, FMIC and took out one cooling fan (I rigged the other one to stay on all the time now).

first long drive gauge readings
I drove my car around today to give it a good running test on the newly built engine with the aftermarket ecu after driving a bunch of short test drives over the last couple weeks. I drove 30 minutes at night at 60 mph then got back home. While driving, the intake air temp was around 50C (122F), engine running temp was between 90C (194F) and 92C(197F), average a/f ratio was 13.5 under load and 14.5 not under load at cruising speed (still haven't refined my tune but this is close enough for a test drive). Daytime running temp was around 94C/95C.

My temperatures weren't too excessive, the running temp was a little hotter than I would expect, but it's not too hot to be unsafe. Then again I've heard the 3sgte's run hot anyway. BUT my header panel on the passenger side was barely too hot to touch when I got home, driver side was still cool. The passenger side is the side without the cooling fan (again the driver side of the radiator has the rad fan that i have always on). Would running without the rad fan make the passenger side of the header panel that hot even though the driver side has a fan? That is the only thing I can determine will make it that hot. Also I need to get rid of this 95 stock celica bumper and get something that flows outside air better and find a thin fan or something.

On the bright side though..the custom enclosure that I made for my air filter (that sits where my battery used to) stayed incredibly cool! Even when I opened my hood I could feel a difference of about 20 degrees between the engine bay and the air filter enclosure.

I'm flushing my radiator tomorrow since I put it on the car when I bought it 8 years ago, it needs a good flush. I'm also looking into maybe a c-one bumper and an oil cooling kit. I don't want the gt-four hood because of the huge vent in the top since I don't have a top mount i/c, but I may consider it.

My questions are...
Have you guys had a hot header panel before? Headlight plastics were cool, not hot. Header panel was the only thing and was just barely too hot to touch, not crazy hot though.
What are your average running temperatures on the 3sgte? I know it's known to run hot, but I've never heard anyone mention temps.
Have you noticed a drop in engine temperate when running a different bumper/hood that allows more flow?

This post has been edited by match220: Apr 2, 2013 - 6:04 AM