Replacement of coolant tubes.

L

leox19

Daily Driver
Hi, the rot had got into the tubes of of newly arrived X including the heater pipes. I cut the rusted box open and repaired it with some L sections. New tubes are 32mm X 1.6mm alloy bent to shape. Insulated from chassis. I ran them straight back at the rear to simplify the bending and inverted the LH engine hose to accommodate this - it now runs to the starter motor side of the engine mount. I will be fitting an alloy radiator for Toyota MR2 - bigger and cheaper.

Cheers, Doug



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leox19 said:
Hi, the rot had got into the tubes of of newly arrived X including the heater pipes. I cut the rusted box open and repaired it with some L sections. New tubes are 32mm X 1.6mm alloy bent to shape. Insulated from chassis. I ran them straight back at the rear to simplify the bending and inverted the LH engine hose to accommodate this - it now runs to the starter motor side of the engine mount. I will be fitting an alloy radiator for Toyota MR2 - bigger and cheaper.

Cheers, Doug



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Nice job. I used aluminium on my track car. Nice gentle curves, did you have to anneal before bending?
 
Yes, nice job Doug. I'm in the process of replacing mine as well. I have copper tubes because that was what was readily available locally. Like you I'm re-routing them different from the factory, but at both ends. Both front tubes will terminate to the right to accommodate the VW radiator. Both rears will go to the left to avoid the starter and such.

There are a few options of VW radiators that will work with very minor mod to the mounting bracket. Also alloy and larger than the stock unit. Please tell us more about the MR2 rad and how it fits. I haven't heard of using it on the X but I imagine it might be an even better fit than the VW's.
 
Looks like a clean install. 32mm is about the same ID as factory pipes, or is that less? Not that it should make a major difference.
 
No annealing required. The bends are about on the radius limit for thin wall tube however.
Alloy is heaps cheaper than copper so that's why I used it. Here is the Rad. Looks like it has provision for the temp switch and a bleeder so I may be able to invert and make inlet/outlet at the bottom - wait till it turns up. Excellent value at $210 with the two cooling fans.
Overall dimensions are 755mm *345mm *50mm ..

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GregS said:
Doesn't the outlet have to be at the bottom & inlet at the top?
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For one that has top and bottom necks yes. But it also depends on how the radiator is designed internally. I'm guessing this one must be divided so it flows like a "S" before coming out the other side. In which case both necks can be up top.
 
It does not matter where the tubes are as long as the radiator is full without air being trapped.
The volume of fluid in the tanks is significantly large and has low flow resistance compared to the crossflow tubes so the water should flow evenly across the core. The header tank in the car will be higher however a bleed at the radiator top will ensure it may be filled completely.
I reckon the traditional inlet/outlet positions are more for convenience - ie water pump on block and thermostat on head at top.

Cheers
Doug
 
leox19 said:
Here is the Rad. Looks like it has provision for the temp switch and a bleeder so I may be able to invert and make inlet/outlet at the bottom - wait till it turns up. Excellent value at $210 with the two cooling fans.
Overall dimensions are 755mm *345mm *50mm ..

View attachment 63124

Dr.Jeff said:
I haven't heard of using it on the X but I imagine it might be an even better fit than the VW's.
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Hmmm..........I hope those are the dimensions of the box with packing the MR2 rad is being shipped in.....because 345mm is about 3" taller than an X1/9 rad which pretty much fills all the available height there in the nose.......

Unless you are planning a major mod of cutting up into the trunk above the rad....and lose the targa storage......tough to see this MR2 rad fitting at all...let alone being a better fit.....

Let us know how it fits.....
 
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