Unfortunately my car decided to take a CRAP almost a month ago. RX340 and I went out to MD to visit a fellow 7 owner when on the way home my car started smoking from the hood in 4 lanes of bumper-to-bumper traffic. There was no place to pull over, concrete barriers on either side of the 4 lanes. Temps were stable so I kept my fans on and milked it back home. The next morning I found coolant dripping all around the radiator and from checking the filler neck there wasn't all of the coolant gone but still it was leaking bad. The parts I will be putting in:

Koyo radiator
Evans coolant
Lower Rad. Hose
Aluminum AST
New Optima battery going to the hatch
Some of the stuff for a Rikki torque brace
K&N filters (thanks to Newbernd)
Just for kicks, 99' Spec Lip

I have had the Evans coolant for a while but just have been going through the steps before filling her up and waiting to buy an aluminum AST. This probably was the best time for a radiator that way I wouldn't loose any of the Evans. The lower radiator hose was just about the only hose I had not replaced so I decided to do it while I was in that area. I might take a few more pics during install, the radiator went in tonight with no problems. I also have a few chewed up wires on my fan harness so I will re-solder those before I start work again.

 

Ya pettit sure does make a nice AST

 

Is that one a pettit one? I've never seen a black one before..

 

7-sins,
Where'd you get the AST from? How much? thanks

 

Optima Battery, mmmm

 

AST he got from PFS.

 

Yeah I tossed Rikki a sale at PFS. Thanks man. $150 but no shipping or stuff cuz I live 5 minutes away. I have to order the cables for the optima but the Koyo went in last night. That and the fans went in no problems!!!! I will post some pics later.

 

Sounds good.. I need a AST too..

 

Koyo and fans

 

All back together... lets see list of things... The radiator is thicker making everything above the fans impossible to mount in the same spot. I was going to make a bracket for the relay box but washers worked just as good to clear the radiator. The IC duct and IC are not as straight as I would like but maybe I will work on that. I didn't use any washers for the duct maybe that will help it. I also cut off all the other duct crap so it only goes to the IC. When filling her up with coolant the Evans went in pretty good, I was able to squeeze the 2 gallons I had in after an hour or more of proper burping. I still have this feeling that when I turn the engine over the coolant level will drop and I will need a 3rd gallon. Oh well, now I get to wait for the battery hardware to come in.

 

Plastic endtank + heat =

 

Those K&N filters got beat up pretty good Good think you got some new ones. Have fun!

 

Those are the new ones, hehe. I had a litle trouble getting the top on to fit correctly. Oh well they were free and better than the stock airbox which wasnt sealing all the way where it sandwitches the filter.

 

Front lip half installed. It was a pain to install actually, The sides were the only thing you have to change really. There are a few things you need to cut off then you have to make 2 holes on either side. The drill bit I had wasnt going through easy. Later I had to enlarge one hole to fit right. I busted out the rotary air tool and it went through it like butter. I will also post the pic showing how it fits, It doesnt fit perfectly but it doesnt look bad at all.

 

fitting...

 

You need some new air filters!/

 

Everything WILL go back in place. You have to play with it a little. Some people flip the brackets upside down, and from side to side....

I just drilled out the hole that is used to mount the brackets to the radiator, so the brackets themselves would be adjustable on the radiator. This way I could get the radiator to go all the way down.

I don't have pictures to reference, but it's not too hard to figure out.

 

Oh, beautiful car BTW!

 

Unfair! Mine wasn't black either.

 

damn.. I need to find one.

 

hot car.

 

Ok the car is back on the road. I still need to order another gallon of coolant cuz my coolant light will come on every once in a while then go back off. She feels a lot better when driving my temps are solid 81-82º C. When stopped it jumped up to 88 or so but with the fans on it went back down. Battery fired right up and no hesitation problems as of now. I know you all dont really care but it might be nice for someone who searches for info, this should be it.

 

finally out

 

looking pretty sweet man! the lip + rims look great together