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Monday, July 4, 2011

94 Acura Integra Mizu Aluminum Rad, Shroud, and Hose Install

I got the MIZU aluminum rad, MIZU silicon rad hoses and MIZU dual rad fans W/shroud from... http://www.sparkplugs.com/
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Unfortunately the fan assembly was damaged in shipping
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I contacted sparkplugs.com and the apologized for the inconvenience and said they would send me new ones and return UPS "slips", by the weekend they were here
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They even sent me a new rad as I had mentioned the upper mount pins were off a little, but no biggie, I had made a minor mod to compensateAttachment 216834 hardly noticeable unless you look...

Started, obviously, by draining the cooling system...
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and removing the old rad, fan and hoses...
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A little cleaning was needed to insure new hoses would get a good seal..
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 The mounting tabs on the shroud were all bent a little. some more then others so a little persuasion in the vice, [wrapped tabs with paper shop towels to prevent marking them up] is all it took to get them nice and straight
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I also noticed the shroud was a little bent, on a flat surface I could "rock" it a little... 
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The rad also had a "flaw" due to my hasty unpacking...
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A little work with a set of needle nose pliers fixed that...
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I assembled the rad, and shroud on the bench...
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and because I am anal about chit like that, I had to make sure shroud sat flush/even all the way around the rad, so a little "prying' with plastic tool was in order...
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That done, it was looking pretty good...
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I am not sure I like the gap at the top and bottom of shroud, I would thing it would be easy for MIZU to design the shroud so it covered the whole rad core surface
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I also installed the lower hose and the stock plug bracket so I could use the stock rad plug...
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Some uninsulated crip connectors, solder, liquid tape and two layers of shrink tube will make the connections bulletproof...
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The stock plug and harness will "tuck" away nicely...
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With that out of the way, it's install time, you would think with a hole that big...
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It would be no problem, however with the stock exhaust and heat shield...
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That was a no go, so off with the heat shield, [wonder if this is going to be an issue with the new headers]...
Even then it is a problem...
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The top mounting brackets had to be modified a little, straightened out...
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It made installing the top brackets easy...
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I also had to shorten the top hose a little...
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It took a 30 mile trip at 80+ KPH and then stopping and letting car idle with a piece of cardboard in front of rad to get the fans running, this rad works great.

Temp. gauge has always gone to the center point, [normal temp.] with rad fan turning on intermittently as I stop at a light or something, now I can not get the gauge to go past 1/3...
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and that is after sitting and idling for 15min. after a a couple good burns around the parking lot, [autocross style].

I think I am going to like this MIZU stuff.

The exhaust manifold is going to be an issue, will work on that this weekend, I plan in making new top brackets so I can move top of rad forwards, [about 1/2 an inch] that will help, I will also mod the rad fan a little, get rid of spacers and trim the front edge a little and get another 1/2 inch.

Maybe a heat shield on back of rad fan motor, replace the thin aluminum MIZU name plate on the back of the motor with a thicker plate and stand it off the back of the motor a little to give it an airgap. 94



OK, today started OK and ended shitty.

Got to work on the top rad brackets to move the rad ahead a little, started with some scrap aluminum that I drilled holes in to bolt together so I could make two identical pieces, no metal shear so I had to hack saw them...Name:  car 082.jpg
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Once the where the same size, [about 1"X3"] I bent them into shape...
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Then drilled out the mounting holes and with a hole saw holes for the rubber grommet...
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That got me about 1/4"...
Before
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After
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Does not look like it but there is almost a 1/4" clearance now, will maybe do the fan mod tomorrow for more clearance, a buddy was going to clay-bar and polish the car, but that was the shitty ending of today.

Two years of restoring the car and I get hit by a little old lady turning left, she was stopped waiting for traffic to clear and as I was going past her, see drives into me...
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Because of the accident I am not driving the car right now, [suspension damage] so I have not been able to do a lot of testing with the new rad other then running the engine on hot days.

So far the engine temp has not gone up enough to trigger rad fans, it goes to about the 1/3 way point on the gauge...
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and stays there, if I block the rad, [cardboard] for a few min. the temp will go to the center of gauge and the rad fans will turn on, for 10sec. or so and the temp. drops to the 1/3 way point right away.

Car goes into body shop on Mon. and IU should have it back by the end of the week. so more "rigorous" testing of the rad and rad fans can be done, got a fresh bottle of nitrous oxide today, I got to like the guys at the shop I get the bottle filled at, they freeze the bottle over night and then fill it from a frozen charge cylinder, it gets you a "full" bottle, lots of spraying.
More to come. 94
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