I recently came into possession of an AWR race spec radiator. Thought I would share some info, photos and ask for some advice also

This is a larger and thicker version of the one listed on their website. It is a nightmare to fit it could not be any physically tighter. The factory top radiator brackets can still be used but you need about 10 washers and a longer bolt which is what I did, not really happy with it but it will do for now until I get some better ones made up.

It not designed to have fans attached but if you do you will have trouble fitting the oem air box and battery box in place.

Also my top radiator hose is touching a metal bracket which holds the battery box in place under the PCM. The radiator sits about 15mm higher so it pushes everything up. More modification required.

I am curious if anyone else has this radiator and how did you overcome the fitment issues?

AWR accidentally sent me the race spec one instead of the street version.

Does anyone know what the difference between these two is? This one is 67mm thick and I believe the street version is about 28-30mm thick. So I'm guessing its quad core?

A few photos

Oh and AWR have terrible customer service, and are incredibly unorganised so gamble at your own risk, however their products do what their meant to do.

 

Sell it to me and get a better fitting one

 

Wow... that is one thick radiator. Strange, I got one from them that is "Dual Pass" and looks totally different than yours. Both the radiator inlet and outlet are on the side and a custom lower radiator hose has to be used (not hard to do). It too was so wide you can't use your AC consdensor (if you care about that on a race car!) and the fans had to be "trimmed" a little bit if you use the factor airbox. Other than that it was not very hard to install. However, I don't think it's quite as thick as yours.

In my experience only the "Dual Pass" style radiator did the trick for hot days at the track. I'd like to know how yours works out.

 

Sorry no can do, perhaps you will be lucky and they will accidentally make you the wrong one, I wonder how much extra it is for this item?


I find that interesting that you had troubles with the dual pass version as I have spoken to people who said fitment was great.

I expect temps to stay under 100C or 212F at a really hot day at the track.

Not sure if A/C can be retained as mine was already out.

Anyone else have this radiator?

I would like to know some more specs on it as AWR have decided to flat out ignore my e-mails after they realized they sent me the wrong item.

 

He didn't have problems with the dual-pass, just the opposite. That's what I'll probably end up with eventually.

 

The dual pass one is fun if you have a stock setup...there is a lot of stuff to cram into the same space Sure doesn't overheat though

It is a bit of a strange rad that one....I thought that they only did that core with the dual pass. It is likely a big dual core..there would be no need for a quad core because it is only flowing one direction

 

Interesting... too bad they don't have that one listed on their site.

I can also attest to the fact that they have garbage customer service, I've emailed them twice with simple questions and called once, no responses.

 

I have been e-mailing them daily to try and get a response and they flat out ignore me.

 

there's this old fashioned thing called a telephone see, and when you get someone on the phone it's not so easy to be ignored ...

 

I would if I was the USA

 

I heard that a really thick radiator can be detrimental for daily use as you need a lot of force to push the air through a thicker radiator.

Should be good for track use. It would be interesting to see before and after temps on your set up.

 

My bad, didn't know that you're not in the USA

It's only 2.7" thick, for a race radiator that's far from excessive. 3" is the norm for a race radiator.



.

 

Yes otherwise I would have probably sold it to you!

Shipping was a killer tho.

 

Thinking i will loosen it this weekend and grind away at the chassis so there is some clearance, avoid metal on metal rubbing and pre mature wear of the radiator.

Forgot to mention I used the samco 3 radiator hose kit and I had no issues fitting them.

 

Hmm... after talking to a friend I might have another radiator option from a new company available soon to add some more variety to the short list of competent RX-8 radiators.

 

Some making it fit modifications.


You can see where I cut the battery bracket under the ecu box that was hitting the radiator hose.

 

The height diffrence, as you can see its about 10mm I packed it out with washers and used a spring washes too.

We managed to get it pretty tight, so ill check it again in a few months and see how it is.

Other than that it's great.

 

Left side and right side.

 

AWR eventually got back to me and coverd the costs I had to make to have the radiator modified to fit the fans.

 

I guess you convinced AWR to quit selling RX8 radiators, congratulations

 

Just order it through ron davis......

 

Yeah, just kidding, but they build them to order so 2 - 3 weeks before shipping. I called them on behalf of someone else who wanted one now.

 

Yeah just hope they get better customer service than me, at one stage they told me that they lost my order and had yet to build it, a month after ordering it. Then they found it.

 

My car is over cooling now, struggling to get it over 77 deg C driving around town, will put the stock thermostat back in and see how it goes.

 

Wish I had overcooling then overheating.