Not commenting on whether you have to or not, but I figured given the cost of the rad (I have an FM oversized), it was wise to remove it. Since you already have to remove the two hoses anyway, removing the rad is just removing the top two rad mount bolts, and lifting the rad out of the lower cradles. Takes like 4 minutes.

Yup, take just a couple minutes and gives you that much more room to maneuver. If you don't, you'll likely wish you had.

djp - Are you saying you're going to remove the turbo to pull the engine? I can only think of a couple reasons to remove the turbo. 1- If like Sav and Hustler you have a super-easy-to-remove V-band turbine, or 2- If your turbo is huge and/or located where you'd need to remove it.

Edit - here's a pic of my car from the member gallery. Notice I pulled the hood and rad, but left a lot of things on the engine.

https://www.miataturbo.net/gallery/f...1/4/img004.jpg

Thanks guys, Sounds like a smart idea to remove the rad.

Kotomile. I'm leaving the turbo on the engine. Just removing all of the piping.

Bumping this thread because I'm about to the point of hooking up the cherrypicker and wonder if you have to remove the whole ppf or just unbolt the trans from it? If you have to remove the ppf, there is some trick associated with one of the metal bushings back by the diff. What is this trick again?

You can unbolt the PPF from the trans and just move it clear so the assembly can be lifted out. Just push to the side until it's clear and it should drop out of the way enough. YMMV

The trick with the rear end is to dislodge the sleeve that holds it in once the bolts are gone. Thread one bolt in a few threads and put the jack underneath it, and lift the car by the bolt. If it goes well the sleeve will pop free.

kotomile, thanks a bunch.