I'm curious how the FB radiator changed over the years. As I understand it, the SA started with the shorty with standalone oil cooler hung underneath. Once 83.5 hit, they went to a tall radiator and moved the cooler to the beehive, but what about the SE? When the motor grew by 3/4" and a standalone was needed, did Mazda go back to a shorty? Is it a tall, thinner radiator with the cooler mounted ahead of it?

Just curious to get the full story.

 

I believe the SE's had the tall radiator that was the same as the GSL models and the oil cooler was moved in front of the radiator

 

So the core support is different? I know it's got an air hole for the intake, but I guess they could add tabs to the front for the oil cooler.

Are the lines the same, just stretched a bit?

 

Yep. The SEs have the tall rad with the OC mounted in front of the rad. Lines are a bit longer. The fittings on the OC are also angled.

The SE OC is the one in the middle. The '79-'82 OC is on top. 2nd gen on the bottom.

 

1/83, Crit. Not 6/83. Percent's white '83 GSL was built on 1/83 and it had a tall radiator and beehive.

 

Exactly. January is right in the middle of the run. They were ready to retool on 6/83 The SE cooler shown by additct looks like it's still suspended from above. Are their brackets on the sides of the core support that go forward to hang it from? I've also noticed in doing e-fan conversions that an 82 12A still doesn't leave a LOT of room ahead of the fan. Is the SE radiator any thinner or have a different number of cores?

 

The rad is the same. Mounted the same. The SE OC, mounts from the top (like the others), but is placed in front of the rad (at/near the bottom of the rad). I can get you a couple pics tonight if you want.

 

Not a big deal, just curious where it hangs from. The earlier 12As let it hang from the radiator support, but it's no longer underneath on an SE.

 

so what are you trying to do Crit? install a short radiator in your RX-2???

 

I have a spare 84/85 if you want to give it a try Crit, can bring it into work (near Spaghetti Junction) early next week (going to CA tomorrow, back on Sunday).

Hey Wacky, you live near Monterey? If so I can stop in for a visit (rental car, not the 7).

Ray

 

no, Im down south in LA near Dodger Stadium. I would like to invite you but Im heading to Vegas for a seminar this weekend.

 

I think all of the series 3 RX7's had mounts up front for the GSL-SE FMOC's even if they were not GSL-SE's

 

Correct.
All 84-85 cars had the SE oil cooler mounts,it was part of the chassis that was installed/welded before the car got far enough along on the assembely line to be given a trim level.

The larger 83-85 radiator is thinner,but has more surface area so it cools better.This was done because the radiator now has to handle the extra BTU's that the water/oil cooler is pumping into the coolant.About 30% of the rotaries heat is drawn away by the oil,but in the 83-85 cars 100% of it is handled by the water in the end,so a larger radiator was needed.
So the SE has,in essence,a bigger radiator.Since the oil is handled by a dedicated cooler,the radiator has less work to do,save for the slightly larger size of the 13B.

 

what kind of aftermarket radiators can we use in the s3's?

 

You can use 2nd gens if you lean it.

 

Thanks, Steve. Very helpful.