When I swapped in my 99 motor I removed the heater core and did a coolant reroute too. Was never really fond of the factory thermostat housing so I had Tim @ Shore Motorsports redo the system for me with new aluminum piping and a pretty trick thermostat housing.

BEFORE


AFTER:






sorry for the blurry pics, hard to get the camera to focus with the reflection.

more pics here

 

you need a new radiator, the rest is beautiful...word

 

believe it or not that thing is only 2 yrs old. considering a bigger aluminum one even though I don't need all that cooling.

next on the list is redoing the intake as I still have the factory MSM plastic piping feeding the turbo. and a better BOV.

 

the first pic still has ur old intercooler.

 

Hmm. I'm gonna do something similar. hehe

Nice work

 

where did you get the thermo housing tim? My motor is nearing completion and I'm doing a reroute at the same time. That housing would be super slick.

 

Wow looks like a lot of work....so you completely remove the theromstat location, the heater core, and what about where the water exits the water pump....

 

originally water exits the water pump through the thermostat housing in the front of the head to the radiator. some water exits out the back of the head(5/8" line), through the heater core, just to recirculate through the block via the mixing manifold.

in this design the front thermostat is removed and plugged. all the water exits out the back of the head via a 1.6l thermostat housing top(1.25" line) directly to the radiator. no heated water goes back into the motor, only water from the radiator.

diagrams and details here http://www.miatamx5.com/coolantreroute/index.html

 

Man that's sweet !

 

It's originally a Meziere part that I machine further on my lathe. I can get them for you if you'd like. They are slick; they use standard V8 thermostats which you can get in hi-flow versions. I weld one end directly to the pipe coming from the back of the engine.

 

I dunno if that would work with my manifold but a cold side version of that might be a good idea.

 

I think I'm going to use this:




already tap twice for 1/2", so I can use a 1/2" to 3/8" fitting for the thermosensor, and you a slip on fitting on the other for the heater core.

It's already milled to accept a thermostat. Use a prefabbed block off plate for the oem outlet, and use that water neck on the back for the outlet.

 

I will be redoing my cold side reroute similiarly.

Nice Scott, who's is that? I made something similar on my coolant reroute, used the ports for the heater core and the coolant sensor. I thought about putting the thermostat in the back but the thermostat would hit the temp sensor. If I had thought about it more I would put the sensor in the lower hole and it'd probably clear.

Hmm maybe I will do that.





Fab'ed plate on the front:

 

Holley

http://underbid.com/action/display/i...ku/110720.html

trying to find something similar under $70. Otherwise I'd buy the Moss piece, but i like that I could just stick my thermostat in there and be done with it.

 

since the Moss motors part is only $15 I'm going to go that route and tap it myself, I just wanted to save myself the trouble cause I'm lazy.

I'd do something like this with the sensor so it doesn't hit:

 

How much?

 

Brian,

wouldn't two of these work with a spacer with a lip (moss) in between?

 

that would work, but I still need the lip machined into one of them. I'd rather just buy the remote housing ready to plug in. Other than my lash caps, its the last thing I need to be able to drop the motor in na.

 

See the reply to the PM you sent me on options, but I can sell the housing with 160, 180, or 195 high-flow thermostat and fancy o-ring like gasket for $80 + shipping. It's fancy billet aluminum with two halves that screw together.

 

when you block off the front t-stat housing, and have the heater core source come before the t-stat at the back of the head, do you reuse the mixing manifold to reintroduce the coolant from the heater core back into the system?