33 replies to this topic

[SCCA_Racer]

I am looking for option to stay cool and specifically cool shirt type products. One option I have seen is to purchase a pre-made unit at a little over $400, so I am looking for input on what people use and why they like the unit they chose. Second I am curious if any of you have built your own system from the cooler and pump to making a shirt.
Lastly has anyone considered we are putting plastic inside our fire suits?
Post your brand experiences and DIY projects or PM me.

Thank you,

Joshua Fine

[Tom Hampton]

Josh. I'm just finishing building my cool shirt. And, in working up a detailed blog post with complete parts list from mcmaster carr.

It's a Takeoff from the usual diy system with a couple of tweaks. Give me a week to finish it up.

[Charlie Hayes]

Brian Ghidinelli has a DIY on what you need for a system. I just finished mine up and will be testing it at Thunderhill next month.

So far I am in:

$34 for a 19qt box
$49 for a pump at west marine
$20 for the dry break fittings
$40 in lines/fittings
$275 for the carbon-x shirt

I bought a lot of extra line so I can play with where to mount it. Yes I could have bought a regular one for the same price but I have the nicer shirt now and its made very stout and strong. Plus its better knowing you made it.

[SCCA_Racer]

Tom, McMasterCarr is my friend too as that was where I was browsing their fittings and hoses. Can't wait for the write up!!!

Charlie, You are going to be right where I am going to be hence the post as I am not looking forward to T-Hill next month, but only because of the possible heat.

I figure I will have order either DIY parts or an entire ready to go setup by July 8th to give me two weeks for shipping and installation.

[Johnny D]

http://teamfourracin...ool-down-south/
http://www.walmart.c...ci_sku=11071268
http://www.cooler-st...chQueryId=44434

I bought the carbon x shirt but this one worth looking at.
http://www.986inc.co...ults.asp?Cat=21
J~

[Greg Kimble]

We did the cooler unit based off of the teamfour link above and purchased the FAST shirt. We made minor adjustments in that I put the inlet and outlet fittings on the cooler on the back of the box instead of the top, works great, if you have questions or want more info PM me.

Greg

[Tom Hampton]

Yes, mine is based in Brian, and teamfour... which in turn were based on zach steincamp. As soon as I get off this 16 hour workday schedule...

[Alberto]

I'm working on a DIY version as well.

I have a cool shirt that I bought a couple of years ago for a LeMons race that I will be using.

Plenty of DIY links floating around. Here are a few more:
http://www.improvedt...hp?t-23690.html
http://picasaweb.goo...YCoolSuitCooler
http://www.trackhq.c...3260/#post49276
http://www.gt40s.com...m-ron-earp.html

[Brian Ghidinelli]

Brian Ghidinelli has a DIY on what you need for a system. I just finished mine up and will be testing it at Thunderhill next month.

I bought a lot of extra line so I can play with where to mount it. Yes I could have bought a regular one for the same price but I have the nicer shirt now and its made very stout and strong. Plus its better knowing you made it.

I can take no credit for the content on my site - as it says, it's strictly a re-post of Zack Steinkamp's excellent write-up. He took his site offline so I captured it for posterity. All I did was contribute a couple of McMaster-Carr part numbers if you want to plug in a FAST shirt.

I took the same approach as Charlie - spent the same as a regular system but I have the Carbon-X shirt (from the excellent folks at SafeRacer.com!) which I feel more safe with. The shirt is hard to do well yourself; I'd recommend buying a pre-made one.

I've been using my home-built cooler for about 2 seasons now... I've noticed that the lines coming out the back of the cooler could use a little reinforcement... if I could do it again, I think I would make it so I could screw a piece of larger diamaeter PVC over it so that the plastic line couldn't kink right at the fitting (as you take it out of the car for example to dump it). It did, however, survive a session on track without being strapped in place and it still works, so I count that as being pretty good.

[David L]

I just purchased a setup used for medical purposes it is made by DONJOY, it came with a cooler and pump unit all in one as well as insulated hoses. My particular version also came with a couple of pads that that can be placed on your body/shirt. One other good thing is the hoses have the same connection as the fast shirts. Oh yeah I paid 46 dollars for the complete ready to go system. If you search cold therapy on ebay you will find a ton of systems at these prices.

[Dave Metz]

I just purchased a setup used for medical purposes it is made by DONJOY, it came with a cooler and pump unit all in one as well as insulated hoses. My particular version also came with a couple of pads that that can be placed on your body/shirt. One other good thing is the hoses have the same connection as the fast shirts. Oh yeah I paid 46 dollars for the complete ready to go system. If you search cold therapy on ebay you will find a ton of systems at these prices.

Where was your post when I built mine a month ago???? That is a pretty sweet deal. How did you convert the pump to 12V, or did you change it?

[David L]

The ac adapter just converts 110 ac to 8 volts dc so i just cut the adapter off and wired it into the car, dont know if it will effect the pump long run. I found this on some bmw forum i think and the same question was asked with the reply being 3 years and no problems.

[Ken Wilkinson]

I have a couple of friends who have used the same "medical device" (medical insurance covered one of them) and they say the only problem with them is capacity...anything much longer than 25 minutes the cooling starts to decline. Using a big block of ice is helpful.

[steveracer]

You can get bilge pumps from the local marine supply for ~ $30.00, they work great.

[Jonathan Ng]

http://teamfourracing.com/2009/07/26/cool-shirt-project-its-cool-down-south/
http://www.walmart.c...ci_sku=11071268
http://www.cooler-st...chQueryId=44434

I bought the carbon x shirt but this one worth looking at.
http://www.986inc.co...ults.asp?Cat=21
J~

I saw the 986 shirt and it looked pretty cool, unfortunately it looks like it is a higher temp poly, so I opted for the CarbonX as well.

[SCCA_Racer]

What about the F.A.S.T. cooling shirt and cooler? It seems to be the cheapest. Any ideas why?
Also, has anyone run into problems of lines getting restricted by their H&N restraint?

[Muda]

Also a "Cold Therapy" box user. $50 on eBay. Recycle others equipment.
Just cut the line and run on 12v. Pump runs a little faster. 4th season.
Plug compatible and the hose is long enough from a trunk mount.
I put a second bag in after lunch on a two class, hot day.

Bought a FAST shirt last year. Hoses leaked on the first outing.
Returned to the factory and they fixed it for free.
Now the shirt shrunk so one of the tubes pushed out about three inches.
Another racers shirt is the same. Both still work fine but...

My Cool Suit shirt has no problems.

[Alberto]

Does anyone know which fittings to use if using a CoolShirt from CoolShirt.net? I believe they are different from the FAST shirts and fittings.

Thanks.

[Tom Hampton]

Does anyone know which fittings to use if using a CoolShirt from CoolShirt.net? I believe they are different from the FAST shirts and fittings.

Thanks.

I can't be sure because I don't have one, but looking at the pictures it looks exactly like this one:

http://www.mcmaster....5923k31/=d4r6bh

[David L]

Just used my "cold therapy" system this weekend for the first time. Pluged right into my new FAST shirt and ran great. I will never run another race without it. I was skeptical of its cooling capacity but the 1 fill of ice and water lasted the whole day (morning qualify, afternoon race).