shred

Well, to add to the adventure, I did finally find the problem. I am taking my digi camera out there so everyone can see this freak occurance. Seems that sorry Japanese plastic on the radiator finally gave.

Not even in a stress area but then again, with all the heat under the hood, everything is a stress area. But anyhow, reason that I couldn't find the leak was because there was a fracture in the top plastic half of the stock radiator!!

Really getting sick and tired of all these problems. So overall, I get to replace the radiator and learned how to take it all out in less then an hour. Intially I thought that it was metal, had a yellowish color under the black paint but it was just the plastic, had a friend that said if I could get it out before he closed and it was metal that he would weld it up and pressure test it. So much for that idea.

Word to the wise, these radiators are actually very crappy. Not very good construction and the fins below the AC radiator get crushed. Why, I don't know as I still have my lower deflector.

Lots of room in these things once you take the cooling stuff out of the front.

Also found a cool thing with the AST, when I drained it out, I saw some interesting crud come out of it. Seems that in addition to skimming out all the bubbles, it also skimms out all the crap. Good reason to keep that little piece of plastic (until next week when mine will be aluminum) there!!

I pray that nobody else has the problems with their car that I have, but I will say that I can pratically tear the car apart without a manual now.

Anybody know a good radiator brand to replace this one with?? Good fit is on the top of my list but better cooling capacity/less restrictive flow is also on my high hitter list.

Well, at least I learned that my coolant caps were in the right places!!

spurvo

Welcome to my world, baby!! Recieved the Fluidyne on Friday, was all giddy with anticipation. The Fed-Ex gorillas got to it first. So now I get to play ship it back and forth games. I HATE that part.

So I did a fan mod today. Allows me to directly ground fan relays 2 and 4, for low speed. Even works with the car off. I also pulled a wire for the relay 3 for med speed, but don't have a switch for it yet. Works sooo nice in traffic. But...

The tach doesn't work now, nor do the turn signals nor hazard. Gremlins... I totally understand how the "joy of ownership" can get a little thin, huh?

The Fluidyne is KILLER looking BTW. They say it drops right in, too. Just need one that isn't bent to **** first...

Good luck! At least you found the problem. Are you replacing hoses while you're at it?

shred

Overall I think that the part find has been the worst. I can't find a decent part store anywhere. Although Summit Racing is now carrying the Fluidyne Raidator, actually cheaper then rx7.com, plus they do free shipping (had to throw that in there).

I don't think that I will go with the Fluidyne unless that is the only one in stock. I ended up breaking my air box taking the radiator out so I need to get that replaced also now. So I am getting the Koyo, almost $100 cheaper and looks about the same. All metal construction so unless someone tells me otherwise, on my list for Monday.

Switches, goto Radio Shack, they got the coolest ones for wicked cheap prices. Do most of my electrical shopping there. All my trick custom wiring starts at Radio Shack. Personal favorite is the black three position toggle switch. presses into anything with the right size hole. Get a drill with a file, pass your wires through, solder up, press in and presto, done.

My fan mod is next week after I get the radiator and the exhaust in. I still have my stock DP, it is comming out and then going to the firing range for execution.

Has anyone tried to order from this place?

URL stuff is not working with me so-the site is kinda like below if I can keep the editor from killing it.

->www<-->rx7<>trix<-->com<-

Any good?? They have more then one thing that I want and the consolidated shipping is a plus for all the crap that I need to get (not to mention that they aern't in Texas so I don't have to pay taxes!).

maxcooper

Glad you found the problem. That (plastic rad end tank cracked) happened to me, too. I had the radiator cleaned during a rebuild and I think they removed the end tanks to clean it out and then crimped them back on. Perhaps the stress of the crimping contributed to the cracking.

The Koyo radiator is huge (thick, 2+", 2-row core), but it is supposed to be a little harder to install than the thinner ones. I got one to replace a thinner aluminum radiator in hopes that the increased coolant capacity would help prevent overheating. The reports I have read say that you have to play with the mounts a bit to get it to fit in there. It will likely push my M2 IC duct up a bit, too, so I'll have to make some room there. So, you might have some installation challenges to deal with, but it seems worth it to me. The Koyo should offer the greatest cooling capacity of any of the "stock-fit" radiators.

-Max