Glazedham42

iTrader: (4)

Well...

This weekend I decided to replace all of the hoses in the "Rickshaw" and ran into a few problems. I changed every single hose left on that mother and have new upper and lower radiator hoses on the way as well. Everthing went smoothly except for the dumb water to oil cooler hoses. ('85 12A Stock Beehive Oil Cooler) I am using plain old straight hose and have had trouble with it kinking. I obviously need the molded hoses that are the correct part from the factory, but alas I am a tight@ss.

There are two or three hoses that have been giving me trouble and wanted to know if anyone had any alternative solutions to replacing them...


I think this is the one that comes from the firewall to the top outlet (or inlet???) on the beehive. Since I removed all the emissions and other un-needed junk this one ended up being a straight shot. Two feet of hose & Two hose clamps= done. Then came the two hoses on the bottom of the oil cooler on the driver side. I am planning on taking the oil cooler off and cleaning it up as part of the restoration, but I'm having trouble with those hoses.


This is the hose I can't get to work right. Goes from the firewall to the bottom of the cooler. Its about impossible to make the hose follow the 90s without kinking. This one was replaced once by the previous owner who used straight hose, but to keep the hose from kinking, he ran a bunch of extra and laid it on top of the trans. Are there any kind of fittings that would help me make the bends I need? I want to keep things clean and inexpensive.


This was the final one that was being a beotch. It is the one that comes out of the firewall and hooks up to the pipe that runs up the side of the engine bay. I can't find any conceivable way to make this thing work. Has anyone replaced this one? My old one cracked in half and Mazdatrix wants $12 for it. I know I can buy the hoses from Mazdatrix but I'm a pretty big cheapo, and I might switch to a front mount oil cooler soon. As a result I don't want to pay $10 for a dumb 2 inch hose that I'll probably end up throwing in the trash in a month anyway. Just wanted to know if anyone has any easy solutions to this, or If i'm going to end up shelling out the big cash to Mazdatrix. Thanks in advance guys!

Glazedham42

iTrader: (4)

Also, does anyone have a picture of these hoses correctly installed? I want to make sure I'm not forgetting which ones go where. I"m about 95% sure I'm putting them in the right places though. Just thought a picture would come in handy, but I haven't been able to find a good one...

Ludicrous

I had to replace the funky one with two 90s. Mine blew (damn near fried my engine because of it), and since I needed it asap, I ended up slicing two hoses together. I still haven't ordered a replacement, but according to the Mazdatrix website, that hose has a high failure rate - that must be why they charge $25 for it!

Glazedham42

iTrader: (4)

You have any pictures of how you rigged it up? I ended up using a bunch of 90 degree elbows but once I got done it was so @#% ugly I took it all back apart. I had about ten hose clamps just for that one stupid hose. I even thougt about buying some of the hose that they use on sink sprayers like this...



You CANNOT kink that stuff up no matter how hard you try, but I wasn't sure if it would be able to withstand the heat. Anyone think this is a good idea to use this hose? I'm starting to think that it would work pretty well in this instance...

Ludicrous

The reason for the high failure rate is that it gets drippage from the oil cooler. While I can see those hoses standing up to hot water, not sure they'd withstand the exterior dripping?

I don't have a pic, not sure I could get a clear one with it installed. But I cut it at the spot where the sleeve is in the pic you posted. I joined it with another hose that had a 90 = didn't care much about the small bends, as they didn't cause kinking.

31rx7

I would suggest sucking it up and spending the money on new hoses. I would not risk a jerry-rigged setup nor using a regular hose that might kink.

If you join Mazda Motorsports, you should be able to get it a bit cheaper. www.mazdamotorsports.com

KehoeAutomotive

If you are really cheap you can loop straight hoses into a circle. Does not look pretty but it works!

slashdawg00110

What I did was go to a parts store where someone was willing to just go back and look at the hoses they had in stock to find one that fit. If you get lucky, they'll just let you look around for one that fits.

Glazedham42

iTrader: (4)

What do you have to do to join mazda motorsports? Is it some kind of membership or something? I've never looked into it. How do you get the parts, is it like buying them straight from Mazda at a discount?

Rx7carl

Thats the way you do it. Take your old hoses with you and pick out that you need. The long hose from the firewall (heater) to oil cooler had to be made from 2 hoses.

RacerX7fb

Instructions are all on the site .. did you click on the link and read it

slashdawg00110

Yup. I got the idea from some guy with a banana fetish.

Hades12

The odd one from the fire wall is for the heater. my 79 had a straight peice kinked there and I had almost no heat. Buy the the correct hose but It is still hard to put it on.