We had the same issue with that nipple on multiple cars with multiple different spacers (A Hawley, a Begi, and two Skou units). I'm not sure why people don't just make the spacer a touch thicker. I suspect the "original" was a certain thickness and possibly designed on a 1.6, and everyone else has just blindly been using that thickness since.

*doesn't answer my questions about clearancing head. Doesn't reply to my email. Doesn't change site to explain clearance issues with 99-00 heads*

Cut off the fitting.

*Buys a custom part to fit his car, complains that he had to do "work" to make it fit*
If you were really looking for a plug and play option, stick with stock.

P.S. I have a 99' and I also purchased this kit. I just cut that bung off, tapped it, and screwed a plug in there with J/B weld to seal it.

Note: If you want to keep that silly nipple for your "oil cooler" just install a -6 to 1/4" hose barb in there instead.
***Or you know, just delete the completely useless oil cooler instead***

I replied to you on this thread shortly after you sent an email and made the post on this thread. At that point, I didn't think I needed to send you an email with the same information. The information I gave to alleviate your problem was the same that most others have given. Either remove material from the fitting (aka clearance it) or remove it and plug it. This is a custom part that is designed to fit in a space not intended for it to be fit. It's tight in there, and that's beyond my ability to fix. I will make a special note on our eBay ad and our site to reflect this information. We've had a very small percentage of customers have any complaints with our products and I always do what I can to quickly respond. I'm sorry if you feel that expectation hasn't been met here.

Its honestly not a big deal. It will be a quick fix. But if youre going to sell me something that apparently hasnt even been test fitted on a bp4w head, at least tell me how to fix it in a little detail. Im just going to extend the kia barb so i dont have to modify the head

There's plenty of room back there for this to not be an issue. An extra 3-5mm spacer thickness would still make this supremely easy to install even with engine in the car, and would make the fitting and the resulting installation of the hose a non-issue.

I don't know that "always" being used in "i always quickly respond" is accurate either. You received an ebay message with the same feedback, no reply was received.

I also don't know that i'd be telling people to trim that fitting. The walls are not thick, and there IS coolant there. Seems maybe to be less liability to simply make the spacer a touch thicker and then advertise proudly that you have the only re-route spacer designed with NB fitment in mind. Rise above all imitators, or whatever phrase you choose to use.


Also to note: There's not going to be "less clearance than normal" when it comes to these heads. The heads all use the same fitting, and there's a "ridge" on them that stops them from being pressed in any further. They're all pressed in to the same amount, every NB head will have the same clearance. The only thing that determines clearance between the water neck and the fitting is the spacer and the gaskets.

Let's not take words out of context here. I have no problem backing my original statement.

We've had a very small percentage of customers have any complaints with our products and I always do what I can to quickly respond.

That doesn't mean that we're perfect, but we make effort to ensure our customers are happy to the best of our ability. Many times if I see a person asks the same question on eBay and in an email and on here I try to reply in one place that makes the most sense. I'll do some more investigation in seeing if we can make the spacer a little thicker in order to alleviate some of the issues you've ran into.

As always, I appreciate and do what I can to take into account customer feedback. I know that I can't be all things to all people, but im certainly willing to make an effort to make our products desirable and useful for the community.

That's fair, apologies for sounding like an attack. No response was received at all, though. It's not a question of "quickly" in this scenario.

Hope you can modify the design to be a little thicker, that would be awesome, and it would give me personally an option for a spacer that i'd be willing to purchase again. :)

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...3768886be5.jpg

I just want to add, this has been extensively tested on that specific head and it has worked great.

ARE YOU A WIZARD?

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...f79d05d85c.jpg
I am just a normal miata nerd!

attached is a side photo (super dirty sorry). I actually cut and tapped the barb location due to this being a racecar, and "full disclosure" I work with bandit on all parts. We appreciate all the feedback and are always looking to improve. Customers are #1.

Maybe having those gaskets in place makes all the difference to the stack height and clearance. Unlike the Lowslow's pictures several posts back.

That and maybe installing the hose with the clamp on it before snugging down the outlet housing.

Why would you try and install something before you ran to the internet to complain? That would be ridiculous.

Orrrrrrr.... instead of poking fun at a guy, maybe we could straighten coolant hoses so they don't fail prematurely, and then consider that a ridiculously minor design change would actually make this a part that could be easily serviced/worked around/installed without removing engine from the car or seeing any complaining about it on the internet. If i have to remove a water neck every time i want to remove a coolant hose when there's 25-30mm of extra space at the back of the head that could donate some real estate to the spacer, that's a design flaw. Period.

And then there wouldn't be whining on the internet about it.

I didnt install the gaskets because if im relying on them for the proper clearance, theres not enough clearance to begin with.

dirty or not, post that fitment picture on the website and youll probably lose a good amount of sales. concealer is right, that is a design flaw. Id never be confident running a rad hose like that in your picture

here is my $10 "fix"
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...719cb0dc1d.jpg

What did that come off from? I still haven't installed mine and I'd be up to do that before installation to make it easier to work on things in the future.

Is that just the picture or is the clamp only partially on in that picture? I.e. the picture makes it look like it's not square over the hose.

Who, me? Thats the stock barb cut off the front thermostat housing. Milled flat/square and welded on to the kia barb.

And by the looks of the 2 pictures he posted, thats a fully installed reroute setup. Probably cant get the clamp on there square because everything is hitting the nipple on the head

TomTom, those pictures are proving LownSlow's point. When I take a look at that hose, I wouldn't trust it to not leak, the hose is on there crooked and overlapping the end of the hose, pushing that corner down the barb.

When I do my reroute I'm deleting that fitting, so it doesn't matter to me, but there's obviously a clearance issue there. If I weren't deleting that fitting, I would find a good quality thick cut-to-fit gasket and see if it helps, but LownSlow's solution is a pretty good one.

Thanks! I might just have to steal that idea. I'm sure it's just going to be a few bucks to have a shop cut and weld it.