So the back story is, my car is a street car. My OEM radiator looks to be in great condition, and my typical water temps when I drive are 87-90C.

On a hotter day, if I idle too long it'll slowly creep up to 100C but I haven't had the fans turn on in a while since I've been driving.


So my question is, is it worth it to install the Fluidyne or should I just sell it? If I'm not going to see substantially lower temps, I'm not too eager to do it.

 

Its worth it, for piece of mind. My car came with a Koyo installed and I feel more comfortable with it in there. Stock rad has plastic end tanks, no thanks. Seen one burst, was a sad day.

 

I haven't personally experienced it, since my car came with a Koyo when I got it, but I've heard that the stock plastic radiators are prone to bursting. People have troubles all the time from original plastic parts breaking. The stock radiator has the plastic end tanks, so I'd be paranoid like crazy about those.

 

My car also came with a koyo, almost all the rx7 i see has a aftermarket rad. its one of those parts that you have to have. I've also heard stories of the plastic pieces cracking on AST and RAD. thats why i also deleted my AST.

 

Either get a koyo or slap the fluidyne on. Anything is better than the stocky with plastic end tanks.
You'll thank yourself for that peace of mind. Plus, both the fluidyne and koyo look sexier.

 

The stock radiator is pretty efficient IMO, as evidenced by your temps. And despite all the claims, my experience with plastic end-tanks on other cars (which seems to be industry standard now) is that they don't "burst", but simply develope a crack. Unless your planning a long trip from home, your probably fine with OEM. But you know Murphy's law....the minute you sell your Fluidyne, you'll see coolant on the ground.
You might consider a (series 5) FC Thermoswitch (with a threshold temp of 95 C.) too.

 

You're running a stock ecu or power fc? If the latter, have a tuner use the datalogit to lower your fan temp.

Also, I'd absolutely install the Fluidyne. That stocker WILL break on you. Not a question of if, but when. I guess it all depends on how much you like your coolant o-rings in one piece

 

I would keep the Fluidyne, and install it when you feel like doing it. At some point you will probably want to put it in. For your use, the Fluidyne is the best you can get.

 

I agree with SGTBlue and adam_c

Goodfella has a point though. Eventually the stocker will fail.

 

Think of it as cheap insurance

 

Why not install the fluidyne? The money you get selling it isn't much.

 

You already paid the money for the Fluidyne, it is an excellent radiator and easy to install in an afternoon; (change the hoses at the same time since you are in there).

Our cars are near fifteen years old; my stock radiator never cracked before i replaced it but someday they will, why wait.

 

Why did you buy it if your not sure if you want to install it?

 

It's more a reliability mod more than anything as everyone has already stated. I think there are some other areas you might focus on in your cooling system though.

It sounds like your fans may not be kicking into high if you are creeping to almost 100C. Also, by saying that(100C), I assume you have a PFC installed on the car. If you are constantly keeping an eye on your Water Temp(which it sounds like you are) and have a properly working coolant level sensor(buzzer kicks on when coolant is low), you should be fine. I've never seen a stock radiator end cap catastrophically fail(I'm sure someones has). I have seen them crack, but that isn't a huge issue if you develop a crack... just replace it with the Fluidyne I have seen the quick disconnect that is on the heater hose that connects to the block blow off and dump the coolant be the largest cause of epuipment catastrophic failure. The buzzer kicked on immediately, which then causes you to let off the throttle, say "oh S#%*!!" and start looking around. If it's a catastrophic failure, there will almost always be steam. That should alert you to pull over immediately. That is why I remove the quick disconnect from the nipple, and double clamp the hose directly onto the nipple(thanks DJSeven ).

 

just get that baby installed.. one less thing to fail on the car and leave you stranded.

 

I broke the stock end tank once, hit a nice sized rock...luckily it leaked slow enough I could nurse it home. So might as well go with Koyo or Fluidyne, they dont cost much, especially compared to a rebuild.

 

First mod I did to my FD back in 2002 was to install a Fluidyne radiator. Fit great, cooled great, was very happy with it. Unfortunately, it just started leaking somewhere around the bottom passenger side corner near the endtank, but I'm sure that's just due to wear and tear, age, etc.

 

IMO. there is nothing wrong with the OE radiator that replacing it with a fresh one won't fix. I did that with mine as preventive maintenance even though the original one was still OK, but it WAS 15 years old.

A huge number of cars use radiators with plastic end-tanks, and the failure rate is not that high to be considered a problem.

 

My stocker cracked and quickly overheated my car. If it not were for my analness about always checking gauges, I could have lost my motor. Get it.

 

But only a few are rotaries
Fluidyne for me!