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I recently bought a 1979 rx7, it runs but hasn’t been regularly run in 5 years. Found the inside of the radiator is crystallized so wondering what radiator to get?
dude my car's rad just went. i had it cleaned and pressure tested, didn't even last 300 miles.. FML
Id say go stock but all my stock components are failing ( my oil cooler just went, my rad just went)
Will this one work with my automatic trans car? I'm really bummed out my radiator decided to start leaking about a week after my oil cooler, I haven't been able to enjoy my car after having it rebuilt due to this .
I only ask because sometimes they don't work as advertised. It does seem to have the correct fittings through My radiator leaked bad. I think it burst halfway home because I took it to the rad shop to get the cooler fixed ( no dice, the guy said he can't weld it). Got home and a guy told me on the stop sign my car was leaking badly.
I've used the aluminum GPI brand ebay radiators on several dirt bikes, and here in AZ, middle of the day, middle of the summer, there's no issues... GPI makes one for our cars, I wouldn't doubt it's the same quality as the smaller ones I've used in the past....
From my one-time experience I gotta say, you get what you pay for with these chinese rads. Mine leaked right out of the box, which could have been a one-off (since I hear no one complaining about this), but its really annoying that most of the mount points, be it the rad-to-frame, or esp the oil-cooler mounts, are "just" off enough you are either stretching OE rubber FMOC mounts (not a good, long-term plan) to match up, and re-drilling/enlarging frame mounts to correctly match car-holes. Crikey. How hard would it have been to spend and extra 10 min and get this sort of basic stuff right? And makes you wonder what other corners got cut to produce a $120 rad. Don't expect miracles. I ended up throwing mine out and going for the more standard, brass-style USA-made 2-core for about $230 (yes, will work with automatics). No shock: bolted in perfectly. Jeez...
Another option for SA owner's might be to upgrade to the beehive oil cooler and use an FB radiator, which may still be available in the copper/brass version (but check on this!)
AutoZone sells a radiator for the 79 that looks identical to the stock one, lifetime warranty, 350$.
Off topic .
Also, I'm kind of paranoid about my incident yesterday. As you all now my radiator began leaking from the top and basically spilled out tons of fluid. I drove my car for about half an hour from Downtown LA to my home in slow traffic. I know my coolant wasn't leaking when I took off from the radiator place because we looked under the hood to examine my oil cooler ( which got written off as unrepairable.. ) I got told about three blocks from my home that my car was leaking a lot of fluid. when I got home the car was indeed leaking a moderate amount of fluid from the rad, enough that there was a line of fluid creeping down my driveway and eventually a moderate soccer ball-sized pool under my car. As far as I know,, the temp gauge never went past 50% , my car was running normal, trans was shifting fine etc. Today I drained about 70% of an antifreeze jug out of the radiator. engine + everything it dripped out overnight .. my engine didn't overhead did it? I mean the temp never went up past 50% ( and id did the day the temp was 109 deg outside, it went up a notch over halfway ) , the rad leaks from the top bungs, not the bottom. The car never smoked, in fact when I opened the hood the engine didn't feel as hot but I could hear the coolant sizzling against the engine because the fan blew it everywhere.
How can I ever ensure my car notifies me when coolant is low, it has a " add coolant" sensor but afaik it never ever turned on , and the heat never went past 50% . I guess I'm just paranoid. hopefully, I didn't damage my newly rebuilt engine, and if I did. FML . Im going to find out by Tuesday.
Add an aftermarket temp gauge. The 1979's don't have one and even those that do can benefit from one. The key is to stop before that new gauge gets to the critical level. To add this new gauge, tap the top of the 1979 t-stat neck. I use a iEquus gauge. It has a 1/8 npt sensor. I drilled and tapped it. If you can't do this work, send it to me and I'll go it. I'll even powder coat it if you wish. Just pay shipping back.
I made a new dash panel for my 1979 to hold gauges and a single DIN radio.
Last edited by KansasCityREPU; Sep 20, 2020 at 10:14 AM.
When you say it leaks from the top bungs, where exactly are you talking about? The level-sensor bung at top center, or the inlet where the top hose connects, or...? Are these bungs cracked where they meet the rad or is the hose or threaded connection loose? Is your cap loose? The cap is set to open when the temp reaches a certain temp/pressure, and allow coolant to move over to the overflow bottle. As it cools it sucks it back to the rad. If the cap isn't working right it will keep the pressure in the rad, and it'll find another exit path. Or if the cap is "loose" due to being old it just not seal right and let coolant blow out.
Im just brain storming.... its hard to tell without seeing it happen. But if its leaking just sitting in the driveway, you got a leak son! Top it off and let it run in the driveway and watch where it comes out from.
It leaked like this. I looked at it when i filled it with water after
No steam , the gauge or whatever works fine, it goes from 0-45% and no different when the rad leaked .
Edit: I think the top chamber detached itself.
Add an aftermarket temp gauge. The 1979's don't have one and even those that do can benefit from one. The key is to stop before that new gauge gets to the critical level. To add this new gauge, tap the top of the 1979 t-stat neck. I use a iEquus gauge. It has a 1/8 npt sensor. I drilled and tapped it. If you can't do this work, send it to me and I'll go it. I'll even powder coat it if you wish. Just pay shipping back.
I made a new dash panel for my 1979 to hold gauges and a single DIN radio.
How much do you sell the custom dash panels for ( or can you make new ones) that's pretty dope! ( although you seem to be missing your cigarette lighter slot haha).
Also, what do you mean the 79's don't have a temp gauge? Mine does right above the fuel gauge, and it works too, i can visually see it climb up over the course of 15 mins to about 40%, and to half if i drive it hard/ drive more than half an hour on on a hot day . If i drive on the freeway above 60MPH it dips down to about 45% again. Iv only ever seen it go above half and that was the day the temp was 110 deg outside, and even then it was at around 55% . I have no idea where it measures the heat from though.
So did you ever order one? I was too scared to buy them so I just fixed mine up I paid 120$.. I could have risked it with the aluminum one, but I honestly don't have time to be dicking around with fitment. Honestly, Id says go OEM/ OEM clone. Aluminum is nice and all but if it ever leaks, fixing an aluminum rad cost upwards of 50$. the no-name stuff there start at 130$ , now if it comes to you with a small leak, that gonna cost you 20-50$. AutoZone charges 350.. but that's a lifetime warranty, if it ever springs a leak you just go to AutoZone and they order a new one .
Also to you guys askig why I paid so much, my radiator has 3 rows due to the auto trans, turns out you M/t trans guys only have 2 rows.
