Was changing out my radiator hoses...I have to add, they were a...BITCH...

Anyway, after I finnaly finish installing them...I was going to put my resovor back on...Looked down at the top of my radiator, where the hose from the right side of the resovor was suppose to be...and the cast fiber material nipple was broke off in the hose.....******* bullshit...well, looks like I won't be driving it for alittle while...ordering a cheap alluminum radiator...might as well upgrade it...somthing so small and simple ruins the entire thing...

sigh....its going to be such a bitch to change them out...

Just giving everyone a heads up, be careful working on a mazda with 80k miles...things tend to break pretty easily..

Getting RB screens while i'm at it...

 

BHR radiator upgrade time?

 

More like, no name ebay brand for like 200 bucks

 

ebay radiator? Hope it works, good luck!

 

um.. what.. are you kidding?

get a used OEM radiator before you get a "no name" eBay radiator..

Even some well established brands offer radiators for this car that are WORSE then stock.

 

hmmmm good info. So i should just get like a 90 dolor oem replacement? Or spend like 300 and get a koyo? Or does the factory mazda radiator work better than oem replacements?

 

you mean upgraded....

PM the vendors who actually developped radiators.

 

Hmmm, I think I'm going to try a Koyo out. Because I dont wanna swap radiators for no reason, I wanna upgrade.

So heres the question. On the koyo design for the rx8, dose it eliminate the coolant resovor?

If thats the case, how much coolant do I know to put in the radiator without over filling it?

 

I would get the radiator from BHR, if you want to upgrade your radiator.

 

Koyo is an upgrade ONLY if you remove all the stuff behind it, meaning nothing blocks the airflow.

the problem with Koyo is that it will dissipate so much heat that if something is blocking the airflow, all the heat will be trap around that area = not good.

No, in fact, none of the RX-8 aftermarket radiator gets rid of the coolant overflow tank (reservoir). the tank is there to bleed the air out really.

see above.

Radiator that has been tested and works for this car ---- Mazmart/Ron Davis, BHR/Griffin, Mazda Competition Radiator.

I will test another Radiator soon .... that I believe no one on this forum ever has it

 

thanks lot nycgps, knowledge is power!

So, how much would an eletric fan help then?

And, would all those radiators perform about the same or is one better than the other?

 

Okay, heres my new game plan, I'm just going to get a used oem for now, and if I still want to upgrade it, ill do that later down the road.

Because I need a new throw out bearing, and my clutch is starting to getting alittle weak, so I'm going to upgrade to a stage 1 and get a lighter flywheel.

SO, if anyone has a 04-05 oem radiator for a manual trans. let me know.

 

for the record, we are running electric fan already

if you wanna improve the cooling, you need to modify the "Fan turn on Temperature" from the ECU, to do that, you need either 3rd Party ECU reflash like RB flash, or Complete rewrite like AccessPort from MM (with his Tune)

There are "wired" solutions out there, but for the price (cost over 100) I would suggest you to save a bit more and go ECU route.

people on this forum test the radiators above with real data.

The Radiator Im about to get/test will come from Japan. wanna guess which one is it ?
(Hint: It will be a 3 layer Radiator )

it should be cheap.

I do have a used Koyo thats collecting dust, Koyo is mostly ok if you're not going to race it(so its ok for street use) or you can race with it but u gotta remove the stuff behind the rad (battery box and air box tray) . but u need to remove the foam from the side of the stock radiator and stick it onto this one. pm me if you interest.

 

Yeah I knew it was already eletric, I was just wondering if others had somthing differnt done to them to effect it more.

Yeah, im going with cobb tuning access port with MM tuning after I get everything done to it that I want.

Meh, thanks for the offer, but I just need somthing to get me by for awhile.

really helpful info though =)

nycgps is a rotary beast, and 2 thumbs up on the fc.

 

Hmmm, I was just thinking, lets say I wanted to buy like a 100 dolor brand new (replacement) radiator. Would it still perform like a genuine oem mazda radiator? Or are the replacements junk?

 

Nope

most of the time Ebay Radiator has fitment issue. you will probably spend more time pissing off than anything. most of the time it will perform worst than OE.

you can get probably get a OE rad from a Junk yard for cheap.

 

http://www.go-part.com/0407-mazda-ko...5-p-24019.html

and the diagram --> http://www.go-part.com/0407-mazda-ko...5-p-24019.html

what about somthing like this, not ebay stuff. Just replacement part stores.

koyo seems to make an oe replacement. Whats your thought on this?

And if all else fails, is that nozzle repairable?

 

err ... hmm ...

I dont think u should get that. each to their own tho.

 

So whats the differnce between the genuine radiator and a replacement anyway? Why won't it perform as well?

And what is the purpose of the black foam surrounding the radiator?

=) sorry for so many questions.

 

material, welding, the direction of the fins, etc. all matters.

the foam is there to prevent air from escaping from left & right sides of the radiator. in the other words, it forces the air to either go under the radiator (which is important to prevent the air lifting the car at high speed) and THROUGH the radiator for cooling.

 

very intresting =] well the bottem foam peice came off after coolant soaked it when I pulled off the lower hose, but that dosnt matter anymore anyway, its ruined.

I bet I can take my radiator out and take it to a radiator repair shop, and let them fix that nozzle, I wonder how much somthing that simple would cost though.

 

Once a radiator has a leak, its best to replace it with another known working unit (if not new). cuz when you have a leak at spot A, chances are you will get another leak somewhere else real soon.

so ... you might want to find a replacement somewhere else, junk yard is a good place to start, u can probably get one for less than 100 bux.

 

I've been doing alot of research all day long, and the best thing i've come across is the (Replacement) OEM radiator. It's about 150 bucks.

Everywhere I look and read on them, It says, It is the OEM design and fitment. It's a dirrect replacement apposed to the factory radiator.

You think its lagit?

(just an example) --> http://www.familycar.com/store/?Ntt=...iator&oes=true

 

sorry to hear ... get an upgrade since your switching it anyway

 

there are a lot of so called "OE/Direct Fit" replacement radiators out there, but in the end, its just another one of the brand "x" company that "tries" to make their radiator to look like OE replacement.

only place u get real OE radiator is thru Mazda, or get it from a wrecked RX-8(junk yard)