I hear ya. First, I trashed the AC and converted my power steering rack over to manual steering by disassembling the steering rack per Flyin Miata's web site. Manual steering on a Miata is the only way to go IMO, but keep in mind that I pretty much just beat on my car at race tracks and drive it when the weather is nice. So, as a result, I have more room than I did previously. That being said, it's still more than possible to perform a re-route on a loaded car, but it'll require a bit more patience. Working behind the head isn't that bad when you get used to it. You just need to pull the coils, disconnect your CAS and o2 sensors, and then pull everything to the side. The biggest PITA was removing the old gasket from the rear of the head when I installed the new stat housing. The old gasket was really on there. I just soaked it with gasket remover for a good 45 min and slowly chipped away at it. You will become very intimate with your fenders and intake manifold during this process. ;-)
1, The 1.6L stat is a factory mazda part and is very inexpensive. Less than 20 dollars. 2, Heat from the turbo should be shielded using some sort of stainless steel or aluminum heat shield. As long as it's shielded and you have thermal wrap protecting your heater lines and brake lines, you should be GTG. Under hood temps will be high without a NACA duct or heat extractor hood, but that really only effects intake temps, not so much coolant / head temps. 3, I have also fabricated an extensive under tray that forces air through my IC and radiator. I've also sealed the radiator from the upper core support to the top of the radiator. In addition, I have a Racing Beat type II nose fitted. 4, The coolant boss is located and the lower leftmost corner of the cylinder head when looking at the engine from the front. I removed the factory oil heater/cooler and throttle body heater circuit to free this up, but you could just as easily Tee into it of you wanted to keep it intact. One thing to note, the boss accepts a 3/8th hose and the heater core inlet is 5/8ths. So, you'll need to construct an adapter using a home depot brass coupler,1 3/8th hose barb, and 1 5/8th hose barb. A side benefit of this arrangement is that you will no longer roast your feet when driving hard because there is less coolant flow through the heater core and the coolant that does flow through it isn't super heated. 5, I plumbed the heater return directly into the new pipe that runs back to the radiator. To do this you need to remove the existing pipe that connects to the cold water inlet on the block, remove the cast aluminum manifold (it's just 2 bolts) and take it to someone that can TIG weld it closed. That step is required to close of the old hot coolant return that usually mixes with the cold coolant from the radiator. This def hurts cooling efficiency as the coolant that comes out of the heater core is super hot with the factory routing and just heats up the cool coolant that is coming from the radiator. Some guys have done different variations of this re-route, most of them are less work. However, I wanted something that was engineered, efficient, and didn't look hacked up. It was a def a PITA all said and done, but totally worth it to have a Miata that runs cool at 12 PSI WOT all day. I'll be sure to post some pictures soon. Shaun _____ From: Tony Cooper [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, August 18, 2008 4:29 PM To: Shaun Bogan Subject: Re: coolant reroute success! The overheating has taken all the fun out of driving my Miata. Temps keep creeping up and up till I turn off AC. Then they start dropping just as fast. How hard to put the Tstat in the back. Looks like a royal pain. Guess you need to buy a mazda part if you relocate the tstat back there. Does the heat generated from the turbo cause you any concern? Where is the coolant boss you mentioned for the heater input? And where do you route the heater return back? Questions questions... Thanks Tony Shaun Bogan wrote: Yeah, if your interested, I'll snap a photo or two. Essentially, it's the typical 1.6L stat housing on the back of the head toward the exhaust side running into a fabricated aluminum pipe/manifold that is used to transport heater core return and turbo coolant return directly into the radiator. This bypasses the hot/cool mixing action that usually takes place with the stock route. It looks just like this : http://www.flyinmiata.com/projects/OTC/images/OTC_motor_preinstall.jpg Except I have fittings for the heater return and turbo coolant lines on mine. I also ran the aluminum pipe a bit farther up toward the radiator. I can't tell you how nice it was to be able to endlessly beat on the car without having to worry about the temp. Serious fun. :-) Shaun _____ From: Tony Cooper [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, August 18, 2008 2:30 PM To: Shaun Bogan Cc: 'Miata Power List' Subject: Re: coolant reroute success! Shaun, Got any more details and pictures perhaps? Thermostat at the back of the head? Tony Shaun Bogan wrote: I'd just like to brag about my successful coolant reroute. After a few weeks of on and off fabrication, I came up with a nice aluminum pipe setup that has made an incredible difference in my coolant temperatures. I used to see about 108C on tight, slower race tracks; now it's down to 85C. I ended up bypassing the old heater core loop and feeding the heater core via the coolant boss that is normally used for the stock oil "cooler" and throttle body heater. Now all the hot coolant goes directly to the radiator, the car still makes good heat, and the operating temperatures are at thermostat temp during cruise and only a few degrees higher during heavy boost. Now it's time to install the new chip in the ECU and re-tune for cool running engine and my nicely balanced cylinder temps. Woohoo!! Shaun _____ _______________________________________________ Miatapower mailing list [email protected] http://list.miatapower.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/miatapower
_______________________________________________ Miatapower mailing list [email protected] http://list.miatapower.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/miatapower
