I'm having a bit of a nightmare, I need to get my rad swapped on friday and have my mishimoto aluminium rad arriving tomorrow, I bought it ages ago and wasn't planning to fit it until I get some kind of engine conversion or buy a tubby, but since mine is knackered I may as well fit it now. After enquiring with mishimoto about several things it nows seems it may not fit (despite their own website saying it does). At the time I bought it their website stated I would need a certain plug for non turbo application, which I have now tracked down, but since I purchased the rad back in Aug 09 their website has been changed and states that a non-turbo model will require 2 x 10" universal fans :confused1: :confused1:
I emailed them about this and have now gotten this response:
Dave,
After doing a lot of research lately on the MR2, we have found out that the Turbo radiator is much bigger than the Non-turbo radiator. The difference is roughly 3-4 inches in length (the turbo radiator is bigger). This also explains why you cannot use your factory fan shroud on the radiator.
This radiator will not fit you vehicle. I wanted to contact you prior to you attempting installation to prevent additional downtime. At this time, I would highly suggest to return the radiator to the seller. Are you able to contact him/her?
Great :no: . So now they are saying it wont fit at all?? Why would their website say a non turbo needs X when it actually doesnt even fit?
However, after looking at standard radiators, there appears to be two - one with a 672mm core and one with a 572mm core. The ebay ads for these seem to say that the 572mm core rad is for an import NA, and the 672mm core is for a UK car or turbo - so should I in theory be ok?
I dont see how it can not fit, given that the turbo chassis is quite obviously not any different to the NA, so 3-4 inches longer should still fit in the space - is it something to do with the fan shroud? I dont see how that affects the length though. As far as I was aware I could fit a 2nd factory fan from a tubby to my NA, and the tubby/UK NA radiators are interchangeable it seems, so if the rad with fit a tubby it should fit my car?
Or should I bite the bullet, order a standard rad today and see which will fit on friday (and have to try and offload the other without losing too much money).