Which Radiator to get???

D

dpancer

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So its been problem after problem with my car. I just ordered a reman motor which I will have have next week. Now I noticed that my stock radiator has a leak. I have been searching around it been such a pain to find a replacement. Ford and Ford racing no longer makes OEM rads.

I'm about to pull the trigger on the Mishimoto rad. It seems like its a new design with better brackets to prevent twisting which caused leaks in the previous models. The problem is it is not listed for a 03 cobra. However I have read on some older posts that the older model could be fit in with a little bit of fabrication (ABS module needs to be moved back and a few hard lines need to be relocated).

Mishimoto Radiator

Does anyone 03 Cobra owner have experience with this radiator (the new one)?!?!?!?!? I'm interested in fitment issues and functionality.

What else will work if not this?? I hope you guys can help.
 
racecougar

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I just went through this myself. I managed to damage the '03-04 Cobra radiator in my XR7, with only 6k miles on it, no less, just before Christmas. After calling/emailing every Ford parts counter I could find, I ended up picking up a used unit off Corral to get me by. If a local radiator shop can repair yours, that is the route I'd take. I plan to try to get my other one repaired to be kept as a spare, seeing as how difficult they are to come by now.

Mishimoto improved on their original design, but I'm still not a fan of their current design. Ford's method of securing the radiator brackets to the radiator body will be less likely to induce a stress-related leak than Mishimoto's method of bolting the radiator brackets to tapped pads welded on the endtanks.

Fluidyne is the only other option I heard about, and I only read about failures within a few years of installation.
 
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dpancer

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Well thats not the positive info I was hoping to hear. I ordered the mishimoto the other day. My old rad seems to be leaking in two places (still in the car so hard to tell for sure). But its not in the best shape and appears really brittle in some places. I'll take it to a shop and see what they can do to possibly have it as a spare.

I'll update this thread after I install mine to let other's know what the deal is with these newly revised Mishi rads.

In the mean time im still waiting to hear if anyone had success with their install
 
MalcolmV8

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When my stock unit started leaking I put in a Mishimoto. It's much thicker and required slotting the ABS unit mounting bracket and forcing it back.

The supercharger's reservoir container no longer cleared and I had to move it closer to the engine and drill new holes and use self tapping sheet metal screws to secure it.

The cooling fan didn't sit close enough to the radiator so it sucks air from the sides. I had to order some rubber weather stripping from online and custom seal it.

Doing a clutch job now and just realized I can no longer get a socket in the front of the crank to hold it while trying to remove the clutch. The thicker radiator puts the cooling fan to close to the crank. I now have to remove the cooling fan and coolant bottle above it to get access to the front of the crank.

My car runs hotter with the Mishimoto radiator than it did with stock. I'm told its because the air can't force through the thicker radiator and I need to build baffles around it to force air through it and also build an air dam below it.

In hind sight I should have just paid the extra money and got a stock replacement. I may still do it since this massive unit is nothing but more dead weight in an already heavy car.
 
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Jmonty6

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Got one on mine with the mishimoto slim fan. Once the fan kicks in i can see the temp needle drop. They get mixed reviews. I got my first one and it had a leak, but with the lifetime warranty they sent me a new one. Just had to send them a pic of the leak. I didnt even have to send mine back to them. So customer service for me was good and it seems to be working fine for me
 
MalcolmV8

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Tractionless1 said:
^^^ And is why I troll the market for a spare OE to have on hand should I need it.
Click to expand...

I should probably do the same. My concern there was buying another leaking one like I already had. I will eventually just pony up for the OEM I think.
 
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dpancer

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MalcolmV8 said:
When my stock unit started leaking I put in a Mishimoto. It's much thicker and required slotting the ABS unit mounting bracket and forcing it back.

The supercharger's reservoir container no longer cleared and I had to move it closer to the engine and drill new holes and use self tapping sheet metal screws to secure it.

The cooling fan didn't sit close enough to the radiator so it sucks air from the sides. I had to order some rubber weather stripping from online and custom seal it.

Doing a clutch job now and just realized I can no longer get a socket in the front of the crank to hold it while trying to remove the clutch. The thicker radiator puts the cooling fan to close to the crank. I now have to remove the cooling fan and coolant bottle above it to get access to the front of the crank.


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My car runs hotter with the Mishimoto radiator than it did with stock. I'm told its because the air can't force through the thicker radiator and I need to build baffles around it to force air through it and also build an air dam below it.

In hind sight I should have just paid the extra money and got a stock replacement. I may still do it since this massive unit is nothing but more dead weight in an already heavy car.
Click to expand...


I managed to get mine in by slotting the bottom radiator support brackets. The problem was that the AC condensor lines ran right behind where the radiator was sitting. I had to shift the radiator to the right (drivers side) about 1" and they cleared fine. My ABS bracket didnt need any slotting. Managed to get it in with still a small gab between the lines and the fan. However, now I will have to shift my upper brackets over as well. I havent put on my reservoir...thats going to be fun. I also put on the weather stripping to remove the gab between the fan and radiator.

I have also hear about some people saying it runs hotter than OEM. I hope I get lucky.

Maybe another sunday project comming up soon will be to build those baffles around the fan to push more air through it. I was also going to look into making a wider air dam, might do it at the same time.


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MalcolmV8

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I forgot about the A/C line interference. I had to bend some piping on the passenger's side myself. Nothing major just muscle it and twist stuff around to get it to clear.
 
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dpancer

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Just been browsing and saw a few more posts/ questions about this rad. I thought i would put in my experience with it over the last 2 months.

so we have already established it is not a direct fit into our 03/04 cobras like it is claimed to be. It involves a bit of work, but is not impossible.

Now the main issue is the cooling. In 85-90F weather, driving around with the AC on and not pushing the car the temperature stabilizes at 200-210. When bagging on the motor temps rise to 220. I havent seen them go over 223 so far.

I do have a 50/50 coolant mix right now. I'm going to try to dilute it down to a 70% water and 30% coolant mixture as this is suppose to help with cooling.
 
MalcolmV8

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I finally went back to a brand new OEM radiator I scored on ebay. Cooling is back down and in check. My car most definitely ran hotter with the Mishimoto radiator in it.
 
svtshadow

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MalcolmV8 said:
I finally went back to a brand new OEM radiator I scored on ebay. Cooling is back down and in check. My car most definitely ran hotter with the Mishimoto radiator in it.
Click to expand...

Do you have the name of the vendor on ebay selling it. Need one to stock for rainy day.
 

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