So. I've looked just about everywhere for my overheating issue. I Have a leaky heater core, but it does work, and doesn't leak alot just a little bit. Also the only think keeping me from overheating when I drive. I've notest that the coolent level sender/sensor had a leak and only freely spins wont tighten or come out. so I jb welded it for a temp fix. I also think i need a new fan cluch. it does blow plenty of air, and the air temp is fairly cool so I doubt thats the main issue. Radiator fins look like theve seen better days. also looks like the whole front bumper lights and sheet metel infront of hood have been replaced aswell as passanger fender. so mabey radiator was damaged??? I'm sure I need to replace that and the heatercore or repair heater core. aswell as the fan cluch.
Also the engine was rebuilt with new roterhousings and roters due to the previous owner overheating it and crumpling the roters. So I don't think its anything internal. such as waterpump. coolent seal. coolent hose. But if anyone may have any sugestions on what else to look at please speak up.

Now heres my main question. Since I need a new rad and fan cluch I might as well switch to an electic fan. and I've heard of people putting in honda radiators in fb's. What kind of radiators can I use and what is all required to do a swap. I understand I'll Have to modify mounting brakets,and run a fuse for a cooling fan. i really am stumped on this how do i make the fan turn on. do i just wire it to run constant or do I wire it to a tempature sensor or what????? I have a really good radiator and fans plus anything i need from doner vehicle. from a mitsubishi lancer. Its an aftermarket rad but it bolts up to stock brakets in my lancer. Will this work? I just want to know what will work. I'd rather upgrade than remain stock.

 

what year is your car? 12a or 13b? You can do a fc radiator upgrade and for electric fan for Taurus and MR2 fans are among the popular choices.

 

From the Honda radiators I've seen, you would need 2 of them to cool a rotary. Installing a 2nd gen rad takes conciderable mods since they are taller and would need to mounted at an angle along with fabbing up a new shroud. If you want to buy new, check with radiators.com, they have some decent prices.

For the fan clutch, check the fan with the engine cold, it should spin freely. When the engine is warm, it shouldn't. If you do decide to go with an electric fan, find one that pushes at least 2000 cfm. You can buy a thermo switch at the local parts store for around 25. Make sure it's adjustable and wire it in with a relay.

 

Ok so I bought a used fan clutch from an 85 for 13 dollars, it doesn't fit the 83's mounting bracket, of course the bracket is not availabe, so I went to town with the dremel, since it was only a couple mm off. That I did sucsessfully it fits perfect well its a little tight. But it is balenced nicely, so that part was a success,

I didn't use a scale, but the 85 model was notecably lighter than mine. more than a pound. but I'm not sure how much. also the fan itself looked to be a nicer desighn.

so I started the car and noticed that it was a whole lot quieter and seemed to still move quite a bit of air. so I got inside and nuetral reved and it seemed to be a lot quicker up the rpm and a bit more responsive.

But heres what stoped this from being a total success. Fan clutch was also bad

I know this is kind of a duh post, but I thought I'd atleast share my accomplishment/failure with u fine folks

 

wow thats a nice little hop up right for 13 bucks not bad at all!

 

i believe you might have got a 13b fan.

 

it was in the base model s i believe, but there was no engine so who knows

 

Another option, run a search for "mr2 efan". Might be an easy way out for you....

 

well I took some pics of the new fan installed, and the old fan out. the diamiter of the fan clutch itself is atleast and inch less than the original fan clutch. but the main differince is in the bracket that bolts to the other bracket. the new one is much thinner. its 1/4" max thick. and the original is like an inch

can someone identify the new fancluch. I'd like to replace it with this one since I already modded it to fit and it seems to make a noticable differnce

 

I thought about running a efan but my alt is kinda shitty at the moment, and so is my funds situation.

 

looks just like the one in my 85 GSL, maybe the fans are just different for i would guess 84-85, it's the way it is for most things

 

update well i found a used radiator but its a bit beat up, i should of looked it over more. I fixed the level sender in my rad no more leak, but now its started steaming from another spot ftw. I'm flat broke now. can i put the fins from mine onto the spare and use the good fins to relace all the bad and make a good rad? fyi the used rad is out of a 85 s and a bit differnt than my 83 gs such as temp sensor and radiator cap. but it will bolt up i think.

 

Sounds like your whole cooling system issue is from your radiator.

If you drive a car and the engine actually overheats while you are driving then the major contributors to that issue is the following.

1) Low fluid level
2) poor flowing radiator (blocked internally)
3) Bad radiator cap (not holding any pressure)
4) Bad Thermostat
5)collapsing lower hose
6) Bad engine seals
7)Lost the water pump belt


A bad fan clutch generally only affects a idling engine. Once you are moving you have the ram air effect that cools the radiator.

The only other times a fan clutch comes into play is when you run A/C or or driving up hills or mountain areas or are in stop and go traffic at low speeds or in very hot climates. Otherwise you can take the fan clutch and fan off and drive the car with no issues under normal driving conditions.

 

#4 is very common, I have that issue all the time.

 

+1, i've been running mine the last 2-3 months w/out a fan or fan clutch lol. of course it's winter so it's not so bad right now, but i can't let it sit and idle for more than 10 minutes or it'll start warming up like crazy. I am in the process of gathering funds for the e-fan install tho.

 

thermastats good. i replaced that first. what does it take to rebuild a radiator. I know little about them. I'm just trying to do a temp fix till I can afford to buy a new one. I still want to fix my fan clutch but I'm aware of how they work now. I've been doing alot of research on cooling issues. and the radiator is my last culprate. I have brand new rotor housings and it was rebuilt due to overheating so cooling seals aught to be good. I know I have enough good cooling fins between the two radiators I have. and 1 good core. so can i just swap cooling fins and have a good radiator?

again I still plan on buying a new radiator.