mx5cartalk.com

After some "spirited" twisties runs.......the radiator decided to retire

a 80mm long split near the top hose......and the sweet smell of boiling coolant in the air
So i looked on ebay and found an ASI 52 mm alloy rad for $300.....GG! (good game)
ASI rads have been proved to do the job very well by many nissan boys on the drift scene...... so i had no qualms about going the cheaper option,since i knew it was going to work fine.


So.....out with the old and in went the new.....
unplugged thermos, drained the coolant and pulled out the rad...




The thermos come off small first then big.....and go back on big then small, because they overlap....



The only annoying thing i can find with the rad it the drain plug is 25mm.....(not common in most spannner sets)

Everything fitted perfect with the ASI radiator....very happy with how smoothly the install went You can see the rubber locators that need to go onto the new rad.

There is an access hatch below the lower rad hose which makes it easy to undo.

There is also a hole where the drainage plug is for easy access. When draining the standard rad you need a large philips screw driver to undo the standard bung.


You have to pull the rubber locator bushes off the standard rad and fit them to the top of the new one so the brackets do their job properly.

52mm think is no joke, though still squeezed it in with the intake pipe still on..... duel core too
Check the difference in the core thickness!



Don't forget to plug in your thermo fans back in and fill it up with coolant again before you go off driving.

Thanks for the great writeup, i have been eyeing-off the ASI as a cheaper alternative to the Cooling pro. Looks like they are just as good.

Big thumbs up.

Fantastic write up. Thanks heaps.

Big thank you for this.

My wife just bought an NB, cooling was the only problem with it and this write up was just what I needed.

Did the job this morning and all now seems to be well


David

I just did this with a koyorad, but did the heater hoses too.
Oh my god, are they a pain to get to or what?!

Hey great write up,

I just swapped the same radiator into my '04 SE. pretty similar except the thermo fans on mine were one piece and a little less space because of the throttle body to intercooler piping. Also i had to cut a few sections out of the fan shroud. ( under the top hose and next to where the turbo to intercooler pipe runs.) just to make sure things werent too cramped.

Apart from that it was a very simple job to do and the new rad does its job just fine.