Searched and searched, didn't find much. I'm trying to find a well priced aluminum radiator that will fit the FB and possibly resemble the size of the stock one so that not so much fabrication has to be done when installing it. Any suggestions?

 

Go to AWR racing, they have a Ron Davis one that bolts in.

 

Thanks for your advice. Although, I'm still gonna look around/seek more opinions. Their radiator looks awesome and seems to be a direct fit, but it also costs $533 not including tax/shipping. Thats the same amount it'd cost me if I bought a nice Koyo off ebay, and hard it fabricated and fit to use. I want to see if it's possible to go less before I do it :P

 

I hope to get one of these some day.

http://store.summitracing.com/partde...5&autoview=sku

http://store.summitracing.com/partde...5&autoview=sku

 

I saw an all aluminum radiator specifically for the FB on ebay a couple of days ago, search for it, its probably still there

 

That price is a bit more like it, but I'd have to see how well the measurements stack up to a stock one.

 

I've got the Ron Davis one that AWR sells.

It's an awesome Rad, though you do have to drill your own holes in the mounting brackets, and trim the passenger side one a bit at the bottom to clear the swaybar mount. Nothing I couldn't do with a drill and a hacksaw.

Though for the price I was hoping it wouldn't need *any* modification to bolt in, I can't complain. It does a good job of cooling, won't corrode like the stock one and looks really badass too.

Jon

 

Wizard Products radiator, but you have to measure and drill your own holes in the side brackets for a custom fit...uses the same radiator hoses, top, bottom AND heater as stock in an FB and has provisions for the bottom temp sensor on the driver side and the coolant level on top plus a drain plug on the driver side...but it's also more expensive since they're built one at a time and no epoxy is involved.

 

Yea.. I was thinking about getting a Wizard Rad because I heard about it a while back, but the weird thing is, I went to their site http://www.wizardcooling.com and searched products, "Mazda" isn't even on the drop down list. Nor is "RX7" on the model list. Did they stop making them for Mazda vehicles??

 

Nope...they are made one-at-a-time...I still have the "spec" drawings they used to make mine if you're interested...though I'd like to clean it up and change just a couple of things that I discovered, as I massaged my unit into place, to make it a true "drop-in"...


The beast in question, note the bottom tube work...

 

Can you post your spec drawing, I would be interested in seeing it. Also what year was this for? Also, if you don't mind my asking, how much was it?

 

pics of ron davis installed?

 

Nice rad mar3, I'd be interested in some more info and the drawing you used.. I assume thats for a 83-85 tall radiator setup...

 

hey CBz...maybe its because I live so close to the "hood" but there are a million radiator shops that can just MAKE you a bad *** one from you old one.

A good shop can remove your tanks, clean them out make sure there are no leaks and then add all new fins, extra if you want and make all new tubing etc etc. Bringing in your stock one and getting it beefed up is an easy and cost effective solution.

I did this a few years back when I had my RX2. The stock radiator had a small leak, so I took it to a radiator place literally down the street in 3 days they redid the tanks and I wanted more cooling since I was dropping a st port etc...so they added more fins and instead of a 3 layer or core or whatever its called they added an extra one for more cooling. it was basically a brand new beefed up radiator once it was done and it was cheap. Perfect fit too of course!

 

Yea I was thinking about that but I definitely wouldn't want to use the one I have right now seeing as it has corrosion building up inside. To buy a like-new OEM radiator from my mechanic would be about $140, and then to do what you're saying might not end up costing that much.

I'm also looking into the one mazdatrix has seeing as it's not a OEM replacement but it's metal, and fits right in PERFECTLY. I spoke with a guy name Chris there and he put one of these in his 85 SE and it didn't require any cutting or fitting at all. A lot more cheaper as well.

 

Mar3:

Lets see those specs, after you worked out the kinks. That might be a good way to go too. Looks really great as well, nice job.

 

Yes, it's the '83 - '85 tall radiator...I can't remember if I posted the first version of the drawing in some old thread here or if it went to Carl...I'll have to dig in the old PC to see if the original scan was saved there, the actual drawing itself is gone now, I do believe...you don't want to know the price...this was the 'prototype'...I'm hoping they saved the jig, but I don't know for sure....heck, I haven't even sent them 'finished' pics like I was supposed to for their website....'course, the timeline for getting the the install done dragged out wwaaayyy longer than I wanted because of a lot of crazy things that were happening to me at the time...

The rebuild idea on a the original radiator is a very good idea but you may find yourself limited by the actual tank size you have...that was what I found out when I wanted to beef up the 1984 GS radiator when I pulled it from Tweety...all he could do was rod it and then re-assemble it...he said the tanks were too narrow to add another core.

 

Here you go:

https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...diator+drawing

 

Use the one you have, mine sat for 10 years and had no vanes in the unit at all, I had a reputable company do the job, they made it a 3 core and cleaned everything. It cost me less than $200 and fits great obviously. Ran for 25K with a mild 12a without an issue.

It is still being used now with my very modded 5.0 engine.

 

Yea, that's the drawing and I can see two things right off the bat I didn't like..one on my part and one on their part....On my part, one of the bracket "wings" needs to have its angular cut start earlier, but I can't remember which one and I sure ain't going outside to check right now while it's only 30 degrees F....the other one was the secondary temp sensor at the bottom...even though I thought I had suggested a good way to get a blind hole down there, they just welded a big old block of aluminum against the radiator down there and I then had to drill and tap that beast...actually, I could only start it, I had no tapping bits that big, so I took it to a machine-shop around the corner from me who did it...it's a one-off factory size hole and thread pitch...man, I wish I had written all that stuff down...they had never seen anything like it...thanks a lot Mazda...

I'll take a look Sunday and then redo that drawing with the corrections...they built the radiator from that drawing alone. The radiator hoses fit perfect...all factory PN for 83.

 

The reason I can't use/keep mine is because I'm in the process of doing a street port on my motor, and then a turbo setup, a stock radiator will DEFINITELY not help in that kind of setup. Every degrees counts in cooling when it comes to a turbo setup. Aluminum is what I'm going to need.

 

interesting link

http://www.koolance.com/technical/my...radiators.html

 

The link is "not valid, contact administrator" ...?

 

Im gonna be buying a PWR w/ a spal fan here soon....looks like it will be perfect for my setup.

 

I am verry happy with my Ron Davis radiator from AWR racing