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Off road coolant reroute.

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Old 01-05-2009, 10:12 PM
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Default Off road coolant reroute.

So I have read the miles of threads on reroute and the concept is good. Whats the simplest and cheapest (Lemons Budget) reroute I can do, it needs no heat, no TB connection...Just cool the engine. I have the motor out of the car and head off.

Thanks Guys!
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Old 01-05-2009, 10:21 PM
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Kia Sephia water neck
1 90* hose with about 6" legs from auto parts store
1 s shaped hose
1 18" chrome plumging pipe from homedepot.

Then look up "Spacerless coolant reroute".
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Old 01-05-2009, 11:48 PM
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Originally Posted by IcantDo55
...I have the motor out of the car and head off.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa HA!
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Old 01-05-2009, 11:56 PM
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i need to post pics of mine. i went to pepboys and bought 2 "quickplugs" (brass plate on top and bottom, rubber in the middle, tighten nut to expand). put a bigger one in the front, and a small one where the tube under the exhuast mani went into the mixing block. took the thermostat and lid and bolted it to the back of the head, then took (2) 2 1/4" flex coolant hoses and ran them from the back of the head to the top of the rad. a small peice of metal pipe with my coolant sensor inside it connected the 2 hoses.
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Old 01-06-2009, 12:43 AM
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So why are there like 09384759878907687549847509867w845 x 23 * = x(y) [34][983475] different ways to do a coolant reroute?

Seems to me the general idea is to swap where the upper radiator hose and the rear heater hose go to the block and delete the TB water lines. What's so complicated about that?
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Old 01-06-2009, 12:17 PM
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Originally Posted by Doppelgänger
Seems to me the general idea is to swap where the upper radiator hose and the rear heater hose go to the block and delete the TB water lines. What's so complicated about that?
Merely doing that defeats the operation of the thermostat.

The complicated part is getting good coolant flow through the block without compromising warmup.
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Old 01-06-2009, 01:08 PM
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The fact that there are so many options (or theories, lol) is making it hard to decide what to do while I have the engine out of the car...
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Old 01-06-2009, 01:21 PM
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IMO, the "best" approach for a street driven car (the best compromise of cooling efficiency and temperature stability vs. simplicity, warmup and heater operation) is to do exactly what Mazda did with the 323:
1- Block the front thermostat outlet, and in the case of the 1.8, install a fitting in the blocking plate to supply water to the oil cooler.
2- Relocate the thermostat to the back of the head, and route its output to the upper radiator hose.
3- Leave the heater core return routed to the mixing manifold as stock, and take the feed for the heater core from a pre-thermostat outlet at the back of the head, with a restrictive orifice in series.

In other words:
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Old 01-06-2009, 01:37 PM
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In all reality (and I'm not trying to ask a stupid question even if it may appear that way, I'm just curious) is it necessary to do the reroute?
I did not have any cooling issues on my car and it's been turbo'd for a lot of miles without issue. It seems simple enough to do, I know it helps, but what happens if you don't? Besides apparently having higher coolant temps in the rear of the engine.
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Old 01-06-2009, 01:51 PM
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search "Peter Pan reroute" and read...
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Old 01-06-2009, 02:01 PM
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Kept up with that thread from the beginning. Does not answer my question.
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Old 01-06-2009, 02:12 PM
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Originally Posted by RotorNutFD3S
(...) is it necessary to do the reroute? (...) I know it helps, but what happens if you don't? Besides apparently having higher coolant temps in the rear of the engine.
Well, you named one already. It's been proven with instrumentation that in the stock design, the back of the engine runs considerably hotter than the front, owing to reduced coolant flow in the rear relative to the front. Is this going to cause problems? Not for most folks. If you're running right on the edge of detonation or overheating, then it might be the straw that breaks the camel's back.

Likewise, in warm climates the Miata is more likely to overheat generally than the 323, since when the thermostat is open, much of the coolant bypasses the engine entirely and heads out to the radiator. Doing this mod will tend to make the engine run cooler when moving at low speeds. As an example, my car never overheated when I lived in SoCal, but in North Carolina in August, it tended to creep up to 220°+.
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Old 01-06-2009, 02:27 PM
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Thanks Joe, that makes sense and confirms what I was assuming.
During the hottest days here in GA, with the stock OEM main fan only and the PWR radiator, I only saw 205*F max at cruise. Going into boosted runs of course changed all that.
Now that I'm rebuilding the car and it will have a larger IC and I'm adding A/C, this will probably be a good modification to add to the "to-do" list.
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Old 01-06-2009, 03:47 PM
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Originally Posted by levnubhin
Kia Sephia water neck
1 90* hose with about 6" legs from auto parts store
1 s shaped hose
1 18" chrome plumging pipe from homedepot.

Then look up "Spacerless coolant reroute".
Which particular year/engine of Kia Sephia does that water neck come from?
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Old 01-06-2009, 04:05 PM
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Originally Posted by Joe Perez
Merely doing that defeats the operation of the thermostat.

The complicated part is getting good coolant flow through the block without compromising warmup.
I'm not Peter Pan, I know the t-stat would have to go to the back of the head.
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Old 01-06-2009, 08:21 PM
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Originally Posted by DammitBeavis
Which particular year/engine of Kia Sephia does that water neck come from?
95-97. And FWIW, I'm 99% positive that a 1.8L Protege has the same water neck.
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Old 01-09-2009, 04:16 PM
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Originally Posted by Joe Perez
IMO, the "best" approach for a street driven car (the best compromise of cooling efficiency and temperature stability vs. simplicity, warmup and heater operation) is to do exactly what Mazda did with the 323:
1- Block the front thermostat outlet, and in the case of the 1.8, install a fitting in the blocking plate to supply water to the oil cooler.
2- Relocate the thermostat to the back of the head, and route its output to the upper radiator hose.
3- Leave the heater core return routed to the mixing manifold as stock, and take the feed for the heater core from a pre-thermostat outlet at the back of the head, with a restrictive orifice in series.

In other words:
So for an off road (no heater core) version, just cap the heater lines?
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Old 01-09-2009, 04:19 PM
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Originally Posted by IcantDo55
So for an off road (no heater core) version, just cap the heater lines?
No. Loop them, preferably with a somewhat restrictive orifice in series. Otherwise you'll have little to no flow when the thermostat is closed.
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Old 01-10-2009, 08:25 PM
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Originally Posted by Joe Perez
No. Loop them, preferably with a somewhat restrictive orifice in series. Otherwise you'll have little to no flow when the thermostat is closed.
So got my head back from machine shop today and looked at it. I will not have a heater core so how about moving the thermostat to back (like spacerless reroute) and than hoking up the "cursed" water plug to the return line of the heater core that goes back to front of motor. There fore I would have flow and nothing to drill or tap. Seems too easy? What am I missing?
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Old 01-11-2009, 10:39 AM
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ttt
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