Thought I would share this with you since I'm kinda liking the concept:

Checked my radiator one day after racing (the temps were climbing). Found rotten radiator. Looked at choices and decided that my buddy with a turbo Integra may have the best choice for the NA guys (and possibly turbo).

http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=3233429

What I did was install a Integra/civic "race" radiator that was picked up from E-bay (yeah, that's right, E-bay. Around $90 shipped from E-bay. I got mine free from my buddy 'cause he got an extra one. Long story). The adaptation was pretty easy. I had to cut a bottom mount; I reused another bottom mount; I put some high temp foam pipe wrap around any area that might come in contact with the aluminum; and you can see the current top mount bracket I made until I make a cleaner one.

The inlet/oulets are a little smaller (1 1/4 to our 1 1/2) so I took some heater hose that I had in my junk box (that fit the Civic radiator) and cut to fit that around the outlets (top and bottom). Then I was able to slip on stock size hoses over those. The top hose was a stock upper hose and the bottom I had to actually buy a hose from NAPA (<$15) to get the full 90* bend from the water pipe side. But the other half of the hose was from the stock radiator hose (basically "making the plumbing work").

That's a 12" slim fan on there (they are $55 from a guy on a honda site) and I was able to just get it by the O2 sensor.

I put some miles on the set-up before I posted (just to be sure there weren't some unseen problems). I've put more than 400 miles on the set-up already. My coolant temps run a normal 195 to 205 range without any problems (stock 195(?) thermostat) on a 10.9 to 1 engine.

The reason I like this is obvious;

http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=3233427

You can see the opening that I now have to work with for my intake. I haven't quite decided what I am going to do there but I am leaning toward a front mounted "velocity stack" style opening (maybe 5-6") going right into the intake (I would love to hear options/opinions on what to do there. I kinda want to hear from others because all I've got is my own slanted opinion bouncing around in my head :nuts)

I know there is a lot that I have not addressed, but I wanted to keep this as short as possible.

MB

Here's my concerns:

Running a turbo your making more heat both in the engine compartment and the the engine itself, good to open up and help cool the engine compartment, bad if the smaller radiator can't cool the hotter engine.

Smaller diameter openings just invites less coolant flow in and out of it.

Having the opening in your front end is a bad thing with rain and debri coming into your engine bay.

One fan instead of two

Originally posted by xceler8
Here's my concerns: Running a turbo your making more heat both in the engine compartment and the the engine itself, good to open up and help cool the engine compartment, bad if the smaller radiator can't cool the hotter engine. Smaller diameter openings just invites less coolant flow in and out of it. Having the opening in your front end is a bad thing with rain and debri coming into your engine bay. One fan instead of two

Just FYI he's only NA.. He has only a long tube header on there. I'm not sure how great clearance would be for most of the turbo guys anyway. That radiator looks a bit thicker than stock.

I don't think this was a good idea at all. I understand you got a free rad so you wanted to make it work. You can get cheap alum rad's for our cars if you don't want to pay for a C&R or a fluidyne... That would have been the way to go. I'm glad it works for you, but this is not a "mod" that I would reccomend when there are direct fit cost effective options on the market. Good luck with this thing though...

If you can make it work, Mark, then I say have at it. :shrug

As for the intake set up, you could make something styled after a velocity stack in that opening that plumbed into a cold air box around the filter pick up. I would just install a duct after the opening to direct the air downward into this box so as to avoid anything colliding with your filter (like a Pigeon, perhaps). That could get ugly.

Dunno, man.

I like it. If it works, it works.

FYI, for the wonky ass lower radiator hose rig you've got there, try a Stratus or PT 2.4L lower water pipe. ity makes an almost dead 90* hook right off the block to the front of the car. Will reduce your route quite a bit, as well as not look like a sack of smashed assholes :)

Cool! Yeah, I don't know what kind of clearance issues the turbo boys would have. That's why I specified NA. As for the free radiator; yeah, it was nice that it costs me nothing (my kind of deal:thumbsup ), but I would have bought one anyway. Again, for the NA I want to get as much "outside air" into my intake as possible. This "1/2 long" radiator (as totaleklipse97 noticed, the radiator is twice as wide) has allowed me to put the radiator and fan to one side and leave a big ass hole to work with. Thus allowing me to not only isolate the outside air from the engine compartment's heated air, but I also have louvers cut into the top of my hood on the radiator side to help my "engine air" flow out.

xceler8, all good concerns. I thought about the coolant flow as well. Considering that throughout any coolant system there are smaller openings, I felt I would be OK. But I hear ya in that these are on the main lines. It appears to be OK due to the comfortable coolant temps. The only thing that I could think of in the long range would be possibly the water pump working harder :shrug .

The debris/water was also a concern. I cut down the ram intake a bit just to be on the safe side. The car has been driven in rainstorms (it is my DD) with no ill effects. The only thing that I have seen is the lower hose gets dirty.

And I ran this set-up for about 300 miles with NO fan. I figure if I was going to test it, I would test it! The only problem that I had was in stop and go traffic (which made sense). And I only turned the heater on once.

Brian, you're with me on this. It's that direct "cold air" that I want. I have a duct work set-up that I'm going to use for racing. I basically set up duct work from the opening directly into the intake. I'm using the old pantyhose trick for that just in case of a rock etc. But I'm really not fond of the opening. Duct work has sharp openings and for air flow you always want a smooth edge that directs it into your opening for velocity. That's where I'm looking for maybe a 6 inch velocity stack? I don't believe that the forced air at 90 mph is really going to generate ram air but it does definitely lower the intake temps.

And Goddamnit Dino! I purposely stayed out of that forever thread about you moving on because, honestly, I felt that I haven't been here long enough to have an opinion on YOUR wants and needs. It is ultimately your choice and your life so make the choice based on how YOU feel. BUT...... :rolleyes ....it is information like this that would be sorely missed. I scoured the parts books of the local NAPA. Advance Auto, Autozone etc. for a good hose to fit in that area. I asked the parts monkeys and nobody had any ideas (and I agree wholeheartedly about the (what did you call it?), "sack of smashed assholes" (heheh, I like that kind of shit!)) look. This kind of cross information is something that only experience can answer. I could actually learn to miss your sardonic replies :love .

I appreciate the input.

MB

couldnt a "velocity stack" be worked into the "moon" shaped opening in the 2gb bumbper, and even the triangles on the smiley, as the filter(CAI) sits right behind it?