So having finished my first major upgrade on the stock 2002 car, a FM happy meal clutch kit, I am looking at the next step - cooling. I will likely be doing engine and maybe diff mounts this weekend (depending on how much of a pain the engine mounts are), but since my stock radiator is starting to turn brown, and since I manage to get the car nice and hot on my 60+ mile commute, and since I may go turbo at some point, I'm looking for major cooling system improvements in the near future.

I've tried to do a fair amount of reading to catch up on things, and at this point it seems like I should most certainly do:

• reroute
• airflow improvements such as sealing off openings around front of radiator (no hood vents for now, it's a DD with maybe some autocross in its future)
• new/better radiator
• maybe new shroud/fan(s)?

Ideally, I'd like things to be as plug-and-play as possible in terms of radiator, fan(s), and shroud. I've got AC and I intend to keep it. No sustained track use in this car's future, 90%+ of its time will be spent cruising at 80mph on highways.
36mm Koyo hypercore? Supermiata? FM crossflow?
From what I've read so far, it seems that the lowest hanging fruit lies in reroute and airflow improvements, so it seems I should be willing to compromise a bit on radiator performance/efficiency for my mild intended usage if that makes things a bit more easy to install, tidy, and intercooler-piping friendly.
Thanks!

 

 

Stock radiator until the budget allows for a Supermiata crossflow or the Trackspeed radiator.

 

He said the stock rad is turning brown. That's when they start to crack. He needs something now.

The rads you're suggesting are total overkill for a street car which is what OP has.

I'm with schroedinger on the rad choice. I did a crap ton of research before deciding not to do a reroute on my car which is 100% street only.

 

Supermiata crossflow. Easily one of the best radiators available today, both in build quality and cooling capacity, and not profanely expensive.

Hell, I put one on my street car after I got fed up with shitty aftermarket radiators cracking.

 

Budget for a radiator like Supermiata is not an issue in this case. Would rather buy one now that will be good for a turbo setup with occasional autocross later on down the road, and long highway commutes with AC blasting in 100F summer weather with strong winds. I don't need an all out track setup, but as this is my daily commuter car, I would rather be a little overly cautious and ready for longer-term power-adding upgrades. Based on the throttle usage on the driveto work currently, if I go with a turbo and taller diff ratio later on, I imagine I'll be close to low- or zero-vaccuum highway cruising with the turbo doing a little bit of work.

I'm not terribly worried about my current radiator blowing up in the next couple days/weeks, it's much closer to black than light brown/yellow, and it has been holding up for 65 mile drives home from work in 80+ degree weather (at ~6000' altitude for what that is worth). I will be doing reroute and radiator sometime in the next 2-3 weeks I imagine.

 

For low power, KoyoRad 36mm Hypercore, or the lower end unit that Supermiata has. Emilio sells it, so that means he endorses it.

 

If budget is not an issue Supermiata Crossflow is the ticket especially because you want to boost in the future. That's what I run and it works great at our elevation using AC and boosting through the mountains.

 

Emilio has specifically stated, the Supermiata Crossflow IS NOT for a turbo street car. It was designed for a shrouded, ducted, racecar without air conditioning. Street car with a turbo, air conditioning, and little/no/oem ducting he recmmended the Trackspeed radiator.

 

Well this is what it says on the website: "Suitable for any power output from stock to the most heavily taxed 300whp turbo track Miatas running factory A/C."

 

Was just about to say: TSE and never have to touch the radiator ever again. Ever

 

Im still rocking the csf radiator! Turbo street ducting and no a/c

 

How timely of me to start this thread today. Noticed a strong gasoline smell in the garage a couple hours after I got home, while looking for a leak I found a nice puddle of coolant and an empty overflow tank... Seems like it may have just boiled over. I had been keeping an eye on the temp gauge all the way home (it was pretty warm out). Gauge stayed slightly below the halfway mark, but last week my OBD scan tool told me the coolant temp was 108C when the gauge was in the same spot, so I suppose it's not out of the question that it got a little too hot. Still gotta figure out the gas smell though...

 

Is the bottom of the fuel tank shielded from your exhaust? It is on the factory exhaust but often forgotten by first timers adding aftermarket exhausts. I actually heard the fuel boiling without my shielding and the tank was pushing fumes out.

 

 

Uh, no. Never made that explicit statement. If quoting me, I prefer cut/paste of actual stuff I wrote.

The Supermiata Crossflow (32mm) does just fine on street turbo cars with A/C. Where larger capacity cores help is in cars with inadequate ducting and airflow for stop and go driving. A larger core is bit of a band-aid in this scenario. Even with a huge 50-70mm crossflow, if you have bad ducting and venting, your car will overheat once moving. We have seen this and that's the reason we built our Crossflow to 32mm. When everything is right, you don't need band-aids. Bullet, running 30 minute w2w races at 400whp in 90° at 85% humidity never strayed above 210° clt with our Crossflow.

 

I'll have to double check - I'm not sure if anything is missing in my car, this being my first Miata - I'll get some pictures tomorrow. That said, it's a stock exhaust setup. I think the only aftermarket stuff on the car is the clutch I just installed.
The gas smell dissipated and did not return this morning, so I'm guessing it was heat-related. I'll start with simple/obvious/easy stuff like gas cap (it takes a bunch of torque and two hands to get it to click), and I'll inspect the fill neck and see if I can get the canister out.

 

This is the type of approach I like! Your stickied threads are great reads.
Does your crossflow radiator require much trimming to fit a stock car? I'm guessing I'll need to move the condenser forward. If you've got a link to install instructions that would be super helpful!

 

The link is on the product page.

http://949racing.com/supermiata/CF_R...uctions_G2.pdf

 

Excellent, thank you.