Shooter; both I and my mechanic agree with your assessment. We're going to reduce the width of the pipe to the size of heatercore one. I'll keep you posted about results.

I'm aware of that and I'm fairly certain that fixing it will solve my problem. The larger waterneck will not mount to the back of the block as it is now. There is a bolt, a water line, and the egr line in the way when the large neck routed to the coldside. I also have to figure out a way to mount the temperature sensor. I'll try to get a picture next time I have the coilpacks and the cas out.

There are several front wheel drive cars running the same engine and other threads in the past have had info and pics showing which ones have water necks that work well in our application. Good luck.

Shooter and Rob, here's a weird issue I'm facing: I've been taking it easy with the engine (only 350 miles since the rebuild) but today I decided to try some different settings and calibrations in my AEM and did some short boosted runs. I was mainly checking for AFRs but I started to see my coolant temps shot up. I decided to stop and went back home. About 10 minutes later my wife asked me to go buy some bread; it's less than 3 miles away from home so I took my car. As soon as I left my home the coolant temps showed 210 degrees on the gauge. They never went lower on my way to the shop. I stopped and was there less than 2 minutes. I started the car up and began to drive back home; in the meantime, coolant temps kept going up until they got to 250 degrees on my gauge very close to my home. I turned the car off and went to eat. About 20 minutes later I went down to the car and opened the hood. I took the radiator cap off and there was no missing coolant.

Is it possible that my water pump took a crap? If so, how can I confirm this?

Should I incorporate the heater core line to my design?

I get the sense that the water pump is being overwhelmed by so much water flowing through it.

I just ordered a Flex-a-lite fan kit; any other suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

My guess is that your pre-tstat hose is too big and allowing to much cooling to route right back to the engine when the tstat is open. If you necked down to a heater core size hose, or smaller to retain a closed tstat loop, you probably be ok. But right now I think half your coolant is going right back into the engine and bypassing the radiator. At least that's the way it looks from your photos- it's too easy for the coolant to go back to the engine vs. into the rad... make sense?

It makes sense.

Could I just put a valve below the tstat to stop the coolant from going backwards?

I haven't used the car again. I talked to my mechanic and the plan is to follow shooter's advice and restrict the flow of coolant going back to the engine before the tsat too.

That is what I was predicting might happen. Just restrict the flow in the hose we talked about and you will be fine. No worries. Your engine is just getting hot water right now instead of cool water back into it. It is an easy fix. I would still think about adding one of these big sockets to that big line like we discussed and putting a camp around the outside to keep it from moving.
http://www.wolfgangint.com/_images/parts/T1105272.jpg
It is slightly ghetto, but it keeps all of that plumbing you already have just the way it is now. And no one will know it is in the hose but you and your mechanic. Good luck.
http://www.greatplainsas.com/36sock04.jpeg

I think a 32mm may fit better, I like the idea though, haha.

That's a great solution. I even have sockets I'm not using! ;)

You're right about the guetto part but also, who's going to see if from the inside? :giggle:

Thanks guys.

That's exactly how I feel about it.;) If it works well and doesn't look bad, then there is no problem doing it.

oo this one is free for me : ) i have a 1974 bmw 2002 parts car and a 1975 bmw 2002 project street car.

ps the mustang unit will work in the same fashion and is prolly cheaper.

I run my coolant return line above the exhaust manifold and have no problem with air pockets in my system. We're not talking about water running through a trough here. We have pressurized coolant exiting the rear of the head and flowing through a 1.25" pipe. It's obviously enough volume of coolant to push any air in the pipe forward into the radiator. Air CAN flow down in a stream of downward flowing liquid. Ever bleed your brakes?

http://www.miatamx5.com/gt2560r/done_04.jpg

http://www.miatamx5.com/99swap2/99swap2-77.jpg

And finally; success! :yippee:

It did turn out that the fan relay had also taken a crap but; we made an aluminum piece, made a 3/8" hole in it and inserted it in the pipe, put in a new relay, and the car is running at 180* constant. I've been driving it for 2 consecutive days and the highest I've seen the temps go up is to 195* but only after making a few pulls. The temp stays constant at 180* in stop and go traffic.

The only cooling issue left is the a/c condenser. It blocks too much flow of air to the radiator and when I turn the a/c on temps climb to 205*. We'll see how the flex-a-lite fan kit performs in this regard when it gets here.

Thanks to all who contributed.

Special thanks to Rob and Shooter! You guys rock! :bigtu:

Sometimes the aftermarket fans work better, and sometimes they are worse. You never know until you try them. Unless, of course, someone else has already tried them.

I've got a friend who's using them in his Honda. At least they'll cover more radiator area. And oh btw, the fan you see in my car is an aftermarket one bought on ebay too.

Many thanks for everything shooter!

Digging up an old thread here. There's more than enough of them that I don't need to start a new one :).

Hasn't anyone considered using the 'cursed water plug' on the back of the head? Move the ISC line from the intake manifold to the back of the head and there will always be flow through the head AND there will be flow across the thermostat. Seems easy and effective.
On a 1.8 there is a similar fitting that is used for the oil cooler. Should be plenty flow. I'm running like this for about 3000 miles with no adverse results.
Thoughts?

https://www.miataturbo.net/forum/att...07095-head.jpg

What do you think about this:

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/h...ow-reroute.jpg
http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/h...ck/reroute.png


or just doing like Braineack?
http://solomiata.com/images/RobEbersol-coolantpath2.jpg



-> sorry , I wanted to post this one into the "Peter Pan Coolant Reroute" sorry

I think I like the first one, it gets SOME warmer water into the rad. But it will slow down flow through the motor, you don't want to cook the head while waiting for the motor to warm up?

Also, who keeps the throttle heater. What's the point? Nice hot air to offset the gains from the intercooler?

good call for the tb warmer, anyway, all the custom intake manifold doesn't have prestone plugs

whats the point?? metal dilatation ?

I think the idea is to warm up the air so it runs better when cold - less smog.