Radiators!

[DataXUnknown]

So I bought a Mishimoto radiator about I'd say a year ago. Today it officially was leaking quite a bit. I'm confused because I thought Mishimoto was very good for it's price. I know a lot of people on here roll with Mishimoto radiators and track them just fine. Why did mine decide to take a dump.

My question is now I'm looking for a new radiator and am skeptical about the brands. Koyo, of course I heard was the best for your money but now they have like knock off Koyo and all that so it's hard to find an original Koyo. My radiator I had was also aluminum, should I be on the market for aluminum radiators or copper? Copper is much cheaper, the car will be used for both track and DD.

Any good recommendations or words I can get on brands of Radiators would be much appreciated. I've never had a problem with radiators until today. Also somone told me I should ground the radiator to the car:wtf:...had something to do with "electrolysis"...

[iHeartTheTouge]

Koyo and Koyorad are the same thing. buy one.

they were probably thinking of this. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrolysis#Electrolysis_of_water doesnt apply. electrocity is not a word.

edit: turns out it is a game though http://www.electrocity.co.nz/ hmm

[Chrischeezer]

lol.... electrolysis ? lol

where was ur rad. leaking from,

my friend just got a megan racing radiator for his supra, it huge, and good quality. I always thought the rad. is a place you can skimp to save some money ( because there is no moving parts)
.. i have a koyo (3 years strong)

[DataXUnknown]

Radiator was leaking from the bottom where the fins meet the big (core I think it would be called?). I'm having a guy look at it tonight to see if it is in fact leaking from the tubes inside of the radiator.

and yes Electrolysis was the word he used, my mistake lol.

recently (as in yesterday) I took it to a canyon. But all the fins are perfectly fine.

[S14DB]

Your radiator will be grounded by the water in it. Using a good mix of anti-freeze and replacing it every 3yrs will stop any electrochemical reactions.

[GSXRJJordan]

I'd look into having the leak welded shut - I've had a "knockoff" radiator for years now and had nothing but good experiences.

Remember when choosing radiator core thickness that thicker radiators will not let as much air pass through them as easily as thin ones - don't go buying a 4" Daytona core off Summit and thinking it'll be great because it's so big (you'll need 200mph air to pass through it to make it efficient lol) - stick to something like 1.5" to 2", like most of the aftermarket one are.

Also, search around for the "radiator test" that a couple guys did a couple years ago - there's not that much difference between all the top radiators in actual cooling temps.

[KingKong8247]

I had a mishimoto that started leaking as well. Just call them up they will replace it no problem. Great customer service.

I ended up going with a koyo though.

[DataXUnknown]

^Oh wow thanks, I will give them a call tomorrow. I bought it from Von (Momentum GT.com) a good friend of many people of Perris. I didn't keep the box nor any receipts.

And Jeff, I think mine is 3" core, should I go with a smaller core? I had the mindset of the bigger the core, the better cooling...but to my understanding now that is not the case. It just makes it a pain in the ass to put the shroud in. But yeah I'll keep looking for that thread you were talking about, no luck for what I've tried so far.

[GSXRJJordan]

3" is definitely on the big end.

http://home.satx.rr.com/nissanweb/RadTest/RadTest.htm is the original link - but it's dead now :/ Google has failed me at finding it again.

[kornaz]

As soon as i put the Mishimoto rad and fans in, i overheated 4 times. Blew a rad hose the last time. All my fault except when my water pump said "I QUIT!" and the belt snapped. Still running strong - go KA! :D

[qwikspool]

i have psm s14 radiator on my s13 for two years and still has no leaks. just get yours welded.

[DataXUnknown]

i have psm s14 radiator on my s13 for two years and still has no leaks. just get yours welded.

It can't be fixed, the leak is a lot of places on the inside tubing.

Just to update on this thread, Rod from Mishimoto said he will take care of the warranty for me even if it is outside of the one year limit! Mishimoto has excellent customer service and really fast email replys.

The only downside is I have to wait like probably a bit less than a week to get it. So I'm getting in shape now and making my parents happy by cleaning the house n shit hahaha.

Oh and I lost my bottom rubber mount things for the botoom of the radiator if anyone has any let me know i need them within the next week here...

[KingKong8247]

Just to update on this thread, Rod from Mishimoto said he will take care of the warranty for me even if it is outside of the one year limit! Mishimoto has excellent customer service and really fast email replys.


haha told ya they are awesome over there.

[Silverbullet]

not to pick on you but i wanted to comment a few things:


Remember when choosing radiator core thickness that thicker radiators will not let as much air pass through them as easily as thin ones - don't go buying a 4" Daytona core off Summit and thinking it'll be great because it's so big (you'll need 200mph air to pass through it to make it efficient lol) - stick to something like 1.5" to 2", like most of the aftermarket one are.


Does thickness really affect it that much? I'd like to see where you read that. Other than boundary layer of the air shearing on the fins of the radiator tubes, there is no resistive factor if your car is well ducted, which many 240sxs are not. I just can't imagine the air flowing through building enough pressure to be restrictive.




Also, search around for the "radiator test" that a couple guys did a couple years ago - there's not that much difference between all the top radiators in actual cooling temps.

This is the one where they use a copper vs alum vs stock vs whatever else and with different fan configurations correct?

I do not have the impression that there wasn't a big difference. Infact I recall learning that the stock clutch fan provided better flow than dual e-fans from that test. But since we are talking about just the radiators and not the fans, that is a little beside the point.

If the test resulted a small varience between just the radiators itself, that just means the engine used just simply didn't make enough power to transfer enough heat to the cooling system to make the test matter. The general heat transfer is a function of the material's thermal conductivity multiplied by the area and then multiplied again by the temp gradient about the thickness dimension. what you should be getting out of that is these numbers are being multiplied. Change one number larger and your result is multiplied.

When the setup gets more serious or if its insanely hot outside, these performance increases matter!

[GSXRJJordan]

^^^ core thickness definitely matters, as pressure is what's needed to push the air through the fins (which is what makes a radiator more efficient than a heat sink), and really good ducting is truly rare - it's not enough to have fast-moving air, it needs to have some pressure, and only ducting can provide that.

I remember that review saying that there were a definitely some differences in stop-and-go-traffic temps with the different fan setups, but I don't remember there being that much difference in 'on throttle' or 'highway cruise' temps - I could be wrong, it's been a while :)

[johngriff]

The mishimoto's are going to leak because they are brazed together, not welded.

They can keep the cost down b/c they are not "TIG" welding it together.

I would go with the koyo copper or a competition class aluminum like the PWR or Fluidyne. I have been using the PWR radiators for years with 0 problems, but you have to pay to play.

[cc4usmc]

I need to get my Fluidyne fixed lol

[Silverbullet]

^^^ core thickness definitely matters, as pressure is what's needed to push the air through the fins (which is what makes a radiator more efficient than a heat sink), and really good ducting is truly rare - it's not enough to have fast-moving air, it needs to have some pressure, and only ducting can provide that.

:)

There is something wrong with your statement, and you may want to revisit where you read what you think you know about this.

With out getting into an application of a specific ducting such as a 240sx radiator duct, velocity and pressure are related by Bernoulli's equation. The higher the velocity, the lower the pressure. The higher the pressure, the lower the velocity. Easiest way to picture this concept is by looking at a venturi.

This is a venturi:
http://www.lenntech.com/images/venturi3.gif
notice as when the fluid enters the smaller section, the pressure decreases but the velocity increases.

This is why cars generate lift at high speeds, why spoilers create down force, and why aeroplanes work: from the magic high velocity and low pressure air.


I'm totally going off topic. :spank:

[OutToWinPAHC]

Hmm I run a Misimoto radiator, with their fan should on my 5.7 S13... No issues run cool actually.

[johngriff]

Hmm I run a Misimoto radiator, with their fan should on my 5.7 S13... No issues run cool actually.

Yes, that is an NA motor, not a Forced induction.

[drift freaq]

Well I ran a Koyo on my RB car and the thing would heatsoak in 20 mins everytime. I swapped it for a Griffin and not only recorded 10 degree lower average cooling temps but it did not heatsoak.

For what its worth the Griffins are well worth the money and piece of mind. Cooling is not something to screw around with.

Oh I should add that a lot of people say Koyo's are fine because the do not normally put them in less than optimum cooling situations. I.E. a Koyo on a SR powered car with dual electric fans or even the stock clutch fan is going to function ok in average situations due to the amount of fan and ducting. Though take it to the track on a hot day it will most likely wind up getting into a possible heat soak situation.

There was a write up a few years ago on Drift Association with Taka's AE86 where he tested both the Koyo and the Griffin he got the same results on that car that I experienced on RB25det powered S13.

Take it for what its worth.

[GSXRJJordan]

There is something wrong with your statement, and you may want to revisit where you read what you think you know about this.

You want to take this to a very basic engineering level? Nothing with cars or aerodynamics is basic. As far as Bernoulli goes, there are a bunch of counter-acting things going on when high velocity air hits a radiator - check out:

Mulsanne's Corner, technical analysis of contemporary sports prototype racing cars (http://www.mulsannescorner.com/)

for engineering-level analysis of race ducting that actually works. I think my above comment about velocity/pressure is backwards from a strictly analytical view, but works in the practical sense (ducting required in front and behind ideally to move air through the radiator, so that it doesn't go hit the radiator and stop, or move around it) - thicker radiators require more help to get air to move through them.

[johngriff]

You want to take this to a very basic engineering level? Nothing with cars or aerodynamics is basic. As far as Bernoulli goes, there are a bunch of counter-acting things going on when high velocity air hits a radiator - check out:

Mulsanne's Corner, technical analysis of contemporary sports prototype racing cars (http://www.mulsannescorner.com/)

for engineering-level analysis of race ducting that actually works. I think my above comment about velocity/pressure is backwards from a strictly analytical view, but works in the practical sense (ducting required in front and behind ideally to move air through the radiator, so that it doesn't go hit the radiator and stop, or move around it) - thicker radiators require more help to get air to move through them.

pwnd

Go jeffy!

[OutToWinPAHC]

Yes, that is an NA motor, not a Forced induction.


This is true but smaller then the doner vehicles radiator and the engine 285% larger with more internal flow space. Regardless for a cheaper brand radiator the quality is great, customer service is great, great welds. I guess a few bad ones happen time to time though

[mishimoto]

Could you e-mail pictures and a detailed description of the problem to [email protected] ? We would like to review the issue for you (and the others that posted in here with a leak in the rad) and see if there is anything we can do to resolve the leak. I know that you already spoke with us and we sent out a replacement, but we like to see where the defect happened to prevent the problem from coming up again.