Coolant Reroute for 1.6. Will this work? Has it been done? probably...
 

Hey All.

This is beating a dead pony, but has anyone done a coolant reroute on a 1.6 like this? It's practically free...... All you need is a 3/8npt tap, 37/64 bit and a barbed fitting.

This is a pic of a festiva guy using a miata intake manifold.. Made this connection because I'm a miata guy building a fetus:
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1363760538


Essentially you just tap/drill the intake manifold where the coolant barb is on most FWD Mazda's intake manifold, the rest is self explanatory (i think).

This seems like the easy idea, no spacer less money and only drilling/tapping you might do is for the green ecu temp sensor.

Maybe it's the cheap scotch, but I'm not seeing the self-explanatory part.

The fundamental problem which the concept of the coolant reroute in general attempts to address is that in the RWD configuration of the B engine, the thermostat is located at the front of the head. The consequence of this is that when the thermostat is open, a large percentage of the coolant flows from the water pump, straight up around the #1 cylinder, and than exits the front of the head without having passed through the rest of the engine.

The typical solution to this is to close off the outlet on the front of the head and re-locate the thermostat (and radiator feed) to the back of the head. This forces 100% of the coolant* to flow through the entire engine, front to back and bottom to top, 100% of the time. The result is a more even temperature across the engine as a whole, and an increase in overall cooling capacity. So, where exactly is that hose of yours going?

I dont know about 1.6's but the coolant for the TB/oilcooler comes from the back of the head, even in stock form. Coolant could flow from the front coolant neck to the water pump inlet through the 8mm bleed hose if you left it plumbed that way though.

If that is the case on 1.6's that it comes from the front, maybe it would be a good idea to cap that off and use the dreaded water plug to feed coolant to the throttle body so you dont have to worry about the dreaded water plug failing.

wtf? I'm assuming this would be for the heater core?

Last I checked my radiator inlet isn't 1/2"...

Please post pics of said Fetus you're building, is it male or female?

On a serious note: please explain what in the world you're trying to show us that's "self explanatory" because I think you lost us all from post 1. Are you basically routing it out from the rear right side (rather than back of head) while feeding front left?

You see that bottom 5/8 hose in that picture? It has coolant in it. I think thats the only self explanatory part. Even with my massive brainulizing power I cannot be certain where it goes.

Yeah, see edit.

Wait,

Is OP Hyper? :giggle:

In for another "holy grail" thread.

This appears to be a good location for the heater core, do this with a kia water neck and you could eliminate the need for the $100 coolant spacer.

routing it might be a pita.

OOOOOOHHHHHHH. Maybe that's what he's talking about. Although it still doesn't leave room for the coolant sensor, which you could do a spacerless reroute drill/tap sorta thing with, but then the $100 spacer isn't seemingly like such a big expense.

OHH, ok ok so you'd still do the rear thermostat, but not need the spacer.

Makes much more sense.


*EDIT: Dang you curly lol

I like this guys setup best if you have the ability to weld aluminum.
http://users.telenet.be/miata/englis...nt_reroute.htm

except i said that in post #4, but you guys didnt react until post #9?! fuck you all.

So it would be possible to change the thermostat without having to pull/tilt the engine.

:crx::vash2:

No idea on the OP's situation but I've been contemplating Leafy's idea for awhile. I've got a 1.6 due to class rules and have been thinking about running the dreaded water plug back to WP inlet, and then using the kia or a protege/escort neck on the back for both the thermostat and the temp sensor. I haven't got it all thought out yet, but it's been in the back of my mind for awhile now.

I run a hose from the dreaded water plug to the nipple on the IM that used to feed the TB/Air valve.

Sorry i had you all lost there, you guys need more festiva in your life! Any fwd/awd Mazda I've worked on routes the coolant that way.

That hose goes to one side of the heater core in case some of you still dont know. This still should be easier to do then trying to install a spacer with limited room. (IMHO)

The green plug can either be drilled/tapped/threaded into the fitting somehow, or drilled/tapped using some space on the head before the thermostat.

This way, the coolant reroute would be very very close to how any FWD mazda has it.

I suppose it's better than a remotely-mounted thermostat (eg: M-Tuned) but you're still not getting much in the way of active coolant circulation around the thermostat. In the FWD configuration (at least on the 323GTX), the heater core feed was taken from the actual back of the head, from a port directly adjacent to the thermostat housing.

It's critical when moving the thermostat to ensure that an adequate circulation of water is provided around its base even when it is closed. If this is not done, and it's allowed to sit in a pool of relatively stagnant water, then its operation will lag behind actual engine temperature.