fitting a koyo radiator issue

[MrBrad]

Hey Guys,

I'm doing the 100k service on my car with a mechanic mate.. when I bought it, it came with a new 37mm Koyorad so given everything is apart I thought i'd out that in.. has anyone had issues fitting these in? I've done a bit of a search and can't find any posts, but i'm sure i've seen people do this with stock fans and no issues.
Seems like the thermo fan brackets sit out a little further, given that the original radiator has a step in to sit flush... I've also got the NitroDann throttle body down pipe which looks like it's going to sit hard up against the fan shroud or not even fit once we put everything back together. It could be that now we have some more room we can make sure the gap between the throttle body inlet and down pipe is as small as possible and may get some space there. Or maybe move the down pipe on a bit of an angle, then get a elbow hows to connect the BOV to so it fits - but i'm not sure if that would create more issues? The top hose was leaning against the down pipe already but I was waiting to do this to cut and shorten that so it fixes that issue.


Cheers,
Brad

[Roadrunner]

I've got the koyo too and In my SE the fan shroud is very close to the intake elbow. Basically touching. From what I've seen this is somewhat normal for SE's.
I'm seriously considering getting the dremel out and taking a few mm off the fan arms to give more clearance. There's plenty of meat there.

Also remember to put some adhesive foam in the gap around the edges between the radiator and the shroud.

[MrBrad]

yeah I kno wwe were looking at that too but the problem is at the bottom of the fan shroud there is like a plug at the bottom so if you took some space off you would need to adjust that too - so maybe like a cut and re-weld..?

[NitroDann]

Yes its common.

Its interesting because one enthusiast will respond "This is not good neough its a faulty product etc", while another will report, "Its been like that 2 years and seems fine.".

Different strokes etc

[MrBrad]

Cool.

So does it make a big difference to how long the engine takes to warm up or not really noticeable etc? I not doing the exhaust or cpu/boost controller etc and prob won't.

[NitroDann]

Does what make a big difference.

[MrBrad]

The stock radiator vs the koyo. I know its bigger so it should take longer but because I'm not going far with performance mods (bigger intercooler soon though but chip etc prob not) is it going struggle to get up to temp and run at temp. I do run track days and with the 12 year old radiator i never saw the gauge move from where it is normal. I know they dont move until its really hot. But yeah... silly question i guess but yeah..

[MrBrad]

And i know im being pedantic haha

[NitroDann]

Yeah a huge difference

[MrBrad]

Hmm not sounding like its something i should put in then

[NitroDann]

Huge difference to cooling, no difference to anything else. Just how well it keeps a hot engine at the right temp.

[Okibi]

Brad, you're gonna end up putting in an ECU and making MOAR POWAH, so might as well have a more efficient cooling system.

[MrBrad]

Ahhhh ok i was thinking it would just make it hard to make temperature and then run like crap... its not happy when its cold...

Bad Okibi Bad.. bad influence...between you and Neil... next you'll be making comments about my wheels.......

[Nevyn72]

Same car, same radiator, same clearance issues......

Problems = None!

As for cooling effectiveness, it's actually only a little better than OEM as the factory SE radiator (thicker than the normal one) is a very good one.
The factory rad actually performs better than most cheaper aftermarket rads (42mm & 52mm) based on testing done in the US.

[StanTheMan]

I'll help Okibi.

You need to repaint your wheels.....The correct shade