Coolant reroute kits

I see we have some kits on the market.

Three of them are =>
M-tuned which was the one you bought unless you went the diy-way. Price about 330 usd.

Qmax as 949racing are promoting these days, big orange and good looking and better priced to about 250 usd.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGzj2KEQtD4

IL motorsport's kit which only come the NA6 at the moment. Priced to about 250 usd (at the ilmotorsport.de web-shop)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1y4Hf0B_cjk

Never installed one of these, but changed coolant hoses "back there" I'm cringing at the thought of installing the Qmax kit without removing the head or loosening the driveline.

Personally I like design of the IL kit best. Looks like a good solution and easier to mount than the others.
(Not that I think anything are easy doing "back there".)

The IL kit does only come for the NA6.

Asking about a NA8 version I got the following answer :
"I can't tell you an exact date now, too. But the date gets clearer. We expect to be able to offer it at the end of September/ beginning of October."



\\Stian

The IL kit seems really well thought out.

The IL is pretty well thought out. I do appreciate the ease of access for the t-stat and the coolant hose support.

Removing the gasket at the back of the head to install the new one will be an exercise in patience.

I use a custom re-route. It is basically a machined spacer with ports on the sides to accept a nipple for the heater hose, the water temp sensor, and an aftermarket temp sensor (if I use one) ($80). the cap is a stock water neck for a late 90's KIA ($15 on Amazon), 2 M12 bolts (each were different length ~$5), a machined front block off plate ($20), a moulded coolant hose from a 1500/2500 General Motors truck ($30, trimmed to length), two T-clamps (~$5), and 3 t-stat gaskets ($5-10). I like it for the off-the-shelf parts I can replace later as it ages.

One toast for Hyper Coolant Re-route. It's been a long time I do not talk about my re-route. The Holy Grail of re-routes is presently stored in a box for lifetime.
http://mazdaroadster.net/attachment....6&d=1389571040
http://mazdaroadster.net/attachment....4&d=1408847505
http://mazdaroadster.net/attachment....6&d=1389625774
http://mazdaroadster.net/attachment....5&d=1389625749
http://mazdaroadster.net/attachment....5&d=1424206918
http://mazdaroadster.net/attachment....3&d=1362362442

Just observations about the coolant reroute; the car comes to temp a lot quicker and stays. I noticed the fans don't come on as much as they did with the stock setup (I use a larger aftermarket radiator). With the reroute, accessing the hose at the back of the head isn't as difficult as I thought (1.6). T-bolt clamps are the way to go for access and clamping versus worm gear, just watch the orientation and direction the bolts point towards. Be aware where the started is and the lead from the battery. I put a towel over it when I work back there so I know where it is and tools wont touch it.

Hmm, would a re-route be easier to do while you were replacing engine mounts or will it still be really tight to get to the back?

It'd be even tighter. As replacing engine mounts with the engine in the car require you to jack the engine up, and it tilts back towards the firewall when you do so.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Slampen

The IL kit does only come for the NA6.

Asking about a NA8 version I got the following answer :
"I can't tell you an exact date now, too. But the date gets clearer. We expect to be able to offer it at the end of September/ beginning of October."

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I am very curious to see their NA8 solution. I know the NA6 reroute was intended to be for both, but the fitting for the hose that leads to the oil cooler on the back of the NA8 head was an unforeseen inteference. I.L.'s reroute looks the most OEM (besides the IL logo in the casting), so it is the most pleasing to the eye to me (even if it's going to go mostly unseen). So the response they gave you has me wanting to wait for them to release their NA8 solution.

Otherwise, I plan to go with 949's new QMax reroute.

You'd probably be better off getting a really good aftermarket radiator than doing the coolant reroute. I almost got an oil-filter relocation kit, thinking I needed it to make oil changes easier, but in the end it was just easier to reach down and deal with any mess. I'm convinced a lot of these projects are just a way to tinker with our cars while feeling like we're doing something positive. But I've read enough stories about many of these mods performing worse than stock or causing lots of trouble later that I've had to admit to myself that maybe the factory knows better and designed a lot of this stuff to work well from the start.

Yes, car companies may want to save production costs, but they also want to avoid recalls and lawsuits and preserve their reputation, so maybe they knew better than to add extra lines everywhere that would eventually leak, even if that means things are not always optimally located. In other words, sometimes durability trumps optimum performance, especially since most people don't want to be constantly repairing their cars.

Now I'm not telling you that a coolant reroute is a terrible idea, but only suggesting that there may be an easier solution, which you won't later regret.

Food for thought.

I like the cooling re-routes but only if they make sense for your application. I tracked and drove all over the west coast. Most of that is arid desert, 32*C + temps. I ran an aftermarket radiator and just kept the cooling system up to date. The southeast is a bit different. It might be a little cooler (not much) but it's much more humid. I also track the car a lot more and I run air conditioning more in daily driving, so I added the condenser back in front of the car when I moved out here. The cooling reroute made more sense to me, again for what I do with the car, when the opportunity presented itself.

Sure, I agree. I think one really needs to ask themselves if they really need certain mods for their application. I don't track my car at all, so I really didn't need slotted and vented brake rotors. To be entirely transparent, I just though they looked cool, but it really was a waste of money because stock replacements would have worked just fine for my Sunday driving. But of course, tinkering with these cats is part of the fun, so I just rationalize it to justify the cost, but in the end I just wanted to have fun.

A coolant reroute is something a bit more serious, because it not only can be a hassle to install, but it can lead to annoying leaks or other such issues down the road, which isn't so much fun. But as you said, if one's application warrants such a mod, the benefits may outweigh the risks. And at the end of the day, each person has to weigh those two for themselves.

On a similar topic, I thought I read on Adam's RevLimiter blog that he removed his coolant reroute and went back to stock, but I don't recall why he did so. You might want to check that out. Maybe his experience will provide helpful info on this issue.

I think you raise a valid questions.
For me personally I'm in this game because I got a good car I want to make better, and I think reroute makes the car better.
The risk It's there but since it's not my daily I have no problem taking the risk. :)

Aaaand, I can't use KFJ's argument since I live in Norway where a good summer can be compared to the winter in Northern California. :p

Adam did another great write-up about his route down the reroute lane.


\\Stian

“The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco,”

Used to go to San Francisco in late summer and early autumn to escape the dry heat of SOCAL. Never knew if we would need a jacket or not the way the fog rolls in. :) I loved it.

he he... Good point.

But summer temperature here in Norway can be about the same as winter temperature in SF.
And we have rain in the summer, I understand that is rare in California. :)


\\Stian.

True. It is more lush and wet in NORCAL. Rain is very common here in Atlanta in the summer. Latent heat usually creates strong thunderstorms in the afternoon. We also get a lot of tropical weather systems in late summer through the autumn. Autumn in California is usually very dry, very hot, and often windy.

http://revlimiter.net/blog/wp-conten...9/DSC_3408.jpg

Sharka's rerouted again. :)

949's kit looks very good.
But I don't like that you need to get a non-oem thermostat for the 949's kit.

I just read Adam's re-reroute post. Looks like a great unit. I can't wait to see how well it works for him in the long run. The unit he chose looks so good that I'm tempted to attempt it just for the fun of tinkering with the car... This is precisely the useless tinkering of which I spoke earlier, but I can't help wanting to have fun turning a wrench.

ako necro'ing but anyway.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JamieH

I am very curious to see their NA8 solution.

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Here is their kit for NA8 and NB's.

https://www.mx5parts.co.uk/coolant-r...25-p-4747.html

I see they recommend this EGR-hose with their reroute kit. https://www.ilmotorsport.de/en/mx-5-...n-18-6915/2299

I really like IL's kit; however, all of the current offerings have a shortcoming IMO. The one from IL, in particular, has a relatively large volume of stagnant water near the thermostat, which will lead to a delay in opening the thermostat (as the temperature of the stagnant water around it would be lower than the engine). I tried to solve this issue by designing my own version for my car, which will be printed in stainless at some point. Thought about making a product out of it, but that would require moving to casting, which no one is willing to do at small volumes for a reasonable price.

I currently have the M-tuned reroute that I modified with a custom hard pipe coolant return hose covered in fire sleeve insulation, as the long rubber hose supplied with the kit was not suitable for my application.

https://live.staticflickr.com/7139/2...5bec49b5_h.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...f40ce57a_h.jpg

If/ when I pull the motor again, I am probably going to do a “hot side” coolant reroute to get the coolant return pipe away from my intake and to make more room available for an airbox/ CAI for my ITBs. I also plan to do custom radiator and AC condenser (maybe 92-00 Honda Civic half-width units, maybe full custom) so that I have more room for cold air intake, inlets for brake cooling ducts and/ or oil cooler, and all the duct work.

It looks feasible, but has anyone tried flipping the 949/ SuperMiata QMax fitting so that the return exits towards the exhaust instead of the normal way towards the intake?