Around the radiator IC piping issues
 

Okay, what are they? I've seen pictures, but I haven't really gotten under there yet to take measurements. No way am I going under, not enough clearance in a pothole city as there is. Any meaningful limitations on pipe size? Where's the best route? Etc.

Cheers, Jon

ok......ummm , you need to take measurements, remove the front bumper, measure the ic you'll be using, measure length fro throttle body down about 2 to 3 inches past the bottom of the radiator, you need to get under the hood to accomplish this.....duh jp , and It all depends on what size ic piping you are using and how the ic is laidout

Stripes kit uses 2.5" on both sides. Just two 90* bends welded together. There is plenty of room to run them.

Here's mine:

http://www.rev2red.com/images/cars/piping.jpg

use a smaller rad and go around it ;)

I'm not dumping my brand new Koyo... :eek5:

Cheers, Jon

I chopped up a brand new Koyo when I did it. I wouldn't recommend it. Go over the radiator if you can.
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Jon - If you did go with a narrow rad, I bet you could "dump" your Koyo and have cash left over after buying a more narrow rad. You just need to pick something up that's not Miata specific and then the price drops.
WOT - What's wrong with your setup? Looks like it would work well. Looks like a pro race car jobber IMO.

Jon,

I have no problems with the under pipes in pothole city. :)

The whole thing just seems like such a huge hassle unless you pay $1000. I got the new rad to make sure I'm cool on my many desert drives and mountain climbs--I like the idea of extra water though I must admit if I did cut it down, that would probably be a very nice solution to running pipes.

Jon

Drew, stop over and let me take a look, or vice versa. :)

If you did go narrow, you could get a narrow radiator with greater capacity than your koyo for less dough. It's just a matter of "hanging" it. Like this.

That is a sweet setup, but to be honest, it's way more time and effort than I want to spend--the same factor that has me waffling about adding an IC...

I'd like hear exactly what the fitment issues are for routing pipes around the stock rad if anyone can quantify that...

Cheers, Jon

I had overheating issues due to the 27X10X3 intercooler allowing almost no flow to the rad. If I did it all over again I would either lower the rad and go over, or utilize an air to water setup. I don't think the gain was worth the headache doing it the way I did. I think I would even settle for the traditional long piping route and utilizing Water Injection so that I could make an easy 300 whp on pump gas.

Take another look at my piping in post #3

There pipes are nowhere near hugging the radiator. I could flare them further to the farest extent and hit the bumper cover if need be. There is plently of room to route pipes around the radiator.

Since I'm using a smaller intercooler (11x12x3 core) direct airflow to the radiator is still achieved. As well as a small scoop to scavenge air from under.


Wideopentuning, did you utilize the smaller inlet to the intercooler for a bov?

I wouldn't ditch the IC. Braineack definitely has the simple solution IMO- and that's plenty of IC.

WOT - were you overheating at speed? or traffic? i went with a double 1" row and that seems to have solved my traffic overheating with a 16" fan. But my IC is nowhere near as big as yours. - rob

The flange for the Tial Bov was one that was supplied with the valve. I just ground it flat instead of it being fishmouthed for a pipe. It worked great in that location.

My car would overheat at speed as well as idling on warmer days. I just had no flow to the rad. I built some ducting but never got to test it out as I ended up parting out the car. I did realize when I was taking it apart for the part out that the coolant in the rad was like almost straight coolant....no water.
That wasn't helping for sure.