Which radatior? and themostat housing.

[vrooom]

my imported mx5 needed new radatior. rad's top plastic bit has cracked, letting bubbles leak away. 1 day of hard driving loose about 1 pint of water (approx).

on ebay I see those shiney Alloy rads for -/+ £130

Is those any good? or i am better off sticking with slightly cheaper OEM rads ?

2nd thing. My bottom themostat housing's pipe broken away, i has been using JBweld to stick the pipe on. those themostat housing are quite pricey for what it is.
Can i drill and tap new thread for a threaded pipe to screw in the themostat?


Jay

[bluetone]

Hi Jay,

I don't have any experience with swapping rads (thankfully! ) but if I were in your position, I'd be tempted by a cost-effective non-Mazda one like this:

http://www.mx5parts.co.uk/product_info.php/product...

- check out the comments under 'reviews' for customer feedback on the product and some fitting tips etc

The Mazda part is twice the price

http://www.mx5parts.co.uk/product_info.php/product...

Good luck, I hope the fix turns out to be straight-forward

[anonymous-user]

I fitted one of those MX5 Parts rads to my mk1 ages ago and it's been fine. The swap is very easy to do, just a few things to unbolt so you can lift the rad out. Might be worth renewing the top and bottom hoses at the same time if they look old.

[Herman Toothrot]

vrooom said:

my imported mx5 needed new radatior. rad's top plastic bit has cracked, letting bubbles leak away. 1 day of hard driving loose about 1 pint of water (approx).

on ebay I see those shiney Alloy rads for -/+ £130

Is those any good? or i am better off sticking with slightly cheaper OEM rads ?

2nd thing. My bottom themostat housing's pipe broken away, i has been using JBweld to stick the pipe on. those themostat housing are quite pricey for what it is.
Can i drill and tap new thread for a threaded pipe to screw in the themostat?


Jay

Get an alloy rad, no risk of the plastic cracking again and they work better than OEM.

[maz8062]

I've got a Koyo 37mm ali rad in my Turbo 1.6 and it's fantastic compared to stock. Even in the current heat wave temps rarely get above 90C and that's without an under tray. For non fi cars or for those not seeing track action the stock rad is plenty good enough mind.

[franv8]

I put in an MX5Parts rad for around £70, due to the same failure (crack in top tank) - needle never shifts past the half way mark (2-3mm to the left in fact) - that's on a stock manual 1.6 Eunos.

Wouldn't bother going for an all alloy rad unless you're seriously tuning up. (or really want shiny stuff)

[MX-5 Lazza]

franv8 said:

I put in an MX5Parts rad for around £70, due to the same failure (crack in top tank) - needle never shifts past the half way mark (2-3mm to the left in fact) - that's on a stock manual 1.6 Eunos.

Wouldn't bother going for an all alloy rad unless you're seriously tuning up. (or really want shiny stuff)

I agree

You can fit an alloy rad if you really want to, just as you can run on super unleaded if you want to. you can even convince yourself that it's worth it but in reality you are just spending more money than you really need to for no practical benefit whatsoever.

[Herman Toothrot]

MX-5 Lazza said:

franv8 said:

I put in an MX5Parts rad for around £70, due to the same failure (crack in top tank) - needle never shifts past the half way mark (2-3mm to the left in fact) - that's on a stock manual 1.6 Eunos.

Wouldn't bother going for an all alloy rad unless you're seriously tuning up. (or really want shiny stuff)

I agree

You can fit an alloy rad if you really want to, just as you can run on super unleaded if you want to. you can even convince yourself that it's worth it but in reality you are just spending more money than you really need to for no practical benefit whatsoever.

I suspect my car would have suffered engine failure by now if it didn't have an uprated rad

[MX-5 Lazza]

mine too but ours are examples of cars that do need updated radiators