I am in the process of gathering parts to upgrade my 1983 S 12a's cooling system. I've have the parts needed to complete a front mount oil cooler set up in the mail and I was interested in replacing the radiator at the same time. Now I searched and possible solutions that I found were: (1) Replace with stock 1st gen radiator, (2) Order aftermarket through radiators.com or the like, or (3) Use a 2nd gen radiator. Now a little about my application.. The car is stock right now but it is a project car that I am building up for atuocross and still needs to be driveable on the street, so I don't have anything too crazy planned for it. Budget: I would like to keep cost for a radiator <$200. Reading through the information that I found, it sounded like the second gen radiator was not the most liked swap-in because of its construction with some plastic parts. I have minimal knowledge about radiators and I am wondering if you guys feel if it is necessary to upgrade at all or if the stock unit works well enough.

 

I just swaped the 1 out of my 80 It was a OEM for the 80. Worked out good and I also used the front mount oil cooler.

 

Hey Nick, did you happen to see if you have that oil pedistal today?

 

I did the radiators.com rad and it's real nice. $129 shipped!

 

Yes It wasn t where i thought it was but it may be locked up In the cabnet and Dave has the key and he is out of town today.

 

Do you have a link to the one you purchased? I went to the web site and it has me talking to an automated employee...

 

www.radiator.com

 

Yeah, I got that far.. but once I get there It's all automated, there is no catalogue I can look through.

 

Do the automated stuff and someone will call you promptly. I just told them that I needed the shorter radiator for the Mazda Rx-7. It's for the 83-85 I think.

You need to make sure you get a short one if you're going to mount the Front mounted oil cooler in the stock position.

 

Yeah, they call you back real quick. They have wearhouses all over the place and shipping is like 3-4 days

 

I got my radiator the next morning.

 

The stocker will do fine. My friend runs a stock radiator for a S5 T2 engine with a T04B with no cooling issues......Make sure you get a Mazda OEM thermostat. It makes all the difference.

Good luck

 

You can get it for about the same price at rockauto.com.

I get a new OEM radcap and Thermostat from Mazdatrix.com at the same time.

For a car with the old (leaky) beehive also get a new heater hose ($42) that snakes under the beehive 'cause the dripping oil rots it.