I am rebuilding a 93 and need a new radiator. All the places I call tell me they only have perormance ones for the manual tranny. KOYO offers an all alluminum one for 380, would this be a good route and then use a seperate trans cooler? The car will stay stock setup for now and be a daily driver, but the future will be 3 rotor. Any suggestions on the radiator options?

 

Well........there already IS a transmission cooler on the auto 3rd gen. It takes the place of the 2nd engine oil cooler on the R models.

 

Try searching there was a good thread on this subject several weeks back.

 

Go to the FLUIDYNE site - they recomend their rad and adding one of their trans coolers to replace the, in the tank, tans cooler of the stock radiator - It should be mounted such that it gets airflow from one of the fans.
The other alt. is to use a LARGER cooler (such as the 19 row MOCAL CWR uses in their oil cooler upgrade kits) in the Pass. side location of the stock auto trans cooler. You may need to add an oil Thermostat to prevent the Trans oil getting OVERCOOLED on cold days. - The stock in-tank "cooler" heat exchanger stablizes the temp of the trans fluid - actually HEATING the trans oil under some conditions, such as when cruising w/ the Torque Converter in lock-up mode on cold days or coasting down a long down.grade

 

I just bypassed mine. The trans cooler in the rad is just a set of coils at the bottow catch of the radiator (i.e. an economizer). Sure some heat exchange occurs...but not so sure that is that functional.

I let you know when my car is back together.

 

Bajaman: Well........there already IS a transmission cooler on the auto 3rd gen. It takes the place of the 2nd engine oil cooler on the R models.

I have six coolers and an intercooler on this thing! Are you talking about the two on the right bottom? I thought they were engine oil coolers...help

 

An Automatic Trans FD model RX-7 should have 1 each Radiator, Engine Oil Cooler, Trans Oil cooler, Intercooler, and AC condenser, the Engine Oil cooler is located under the Driver side headlight, the Trans Oil cooler is located under the Pass. side headlight there is also a Trans oil heat exchanger mounted in the bottom of the Radiator.

if you are looking at the front of your car and counting 5 openings they are as follows:
LARGE one in the center Center = Radiator, Condenser & intercooler,
Smaller ones on either side of Large center one = Oil Coolers (driver side is eng. oil, Pass side is trans fluid on Autos, Eng Oil on R models and Blanked on Non R manual models)
The two smallest openings below the Side openings (only on cars w/ the R style spoiler lip) are BRAKE cooling ducts.

I dont know how you count 6! coolers?

 

WOW ! ! ! I had to go look again, the two on the right are piggy backed abd connected using "T" fittings, then looping back into the bottom of the radiator. Does this mean I would be ok running them direct and using a manual rad?

 

That"s NOT the stock setup - Can you post up a PIC? the stock set up only has ONE oil cooler on each side!.

 

am at work now but will get pics in the morning, beware...this thing was bought wrecked and is still recovering.

 

go get em mike !!! hey members he,s a good guy who,s eager to build a nice 3rd gen he,s already got some fiberglass {front nose/side skirts}being dropped at my shop . Rx7,s are coming on in panama city theres not many yet but the ones that are here are decked out racing hart c5,s vellside kits ported mtrs etc. im glad im not the only dude in pc with a 3rd gen anymore of course i do own 3 of the 6 or 7 that are here. hell ya bring it on mike ps come see me at the shop.

 

Sorry I didn't post yesterday..got busy before work,\. Anyway, I pulled them apart so you could see both in the second picture. Appreciate any help , thanks Mike

 

why do my pics not post?

 

that one worked lets try again

 

The cooler in the back of the first Pic Bottom of the second Pic is the STOCK cooler - The other is an aftermarket add on - I would just replace them both with a larger unit like the MOCAL and since MONEY dose not seem to be a problem (you mentioned a 3 rotor conversion) call GRIFFIN and have them build you a custom rad w/ an AT heat exchanger built into it.

Ps the STOCK FD auto Trans WILL NOT handle the power of a 3 rotor - the stock FD AT is limited to about 350 FWHP

 

Don't know about the money not a problem, the three rotor is still down the road aways, probably back shop project for next six months or so, but plenty to do the other stuff right. Only mods now will be cosmetics and interior, the rest will be just to keep it strong and dependable till the conversion. I'm a little protective of the funds now so I can do the three rotor right as well. Anyway, I was looking at the thread: <Sold My Hood, Cool Buyers Pics> Since I do all my own welding and fabrication, I'm gonna check on some similar changes on mine Thanks for the info and I will get the single trans cooler for the side as well.

 

Thanks for the note on the AT, I spoke with Dave at Atkins Rotary and he told me to use the AT that comes with the three rotor engine, jus to have a shop rebuild it first for my specific uses. I will post pics of the car as it progresses on my web site. Thanks again