Does a BIGGER Radiator Actually Do Anything?

**Upgrading the Cooling System: A Crucial Upgrade for Your Ride**

As a car enthusiast and content creator at Donut Media, I'm excited to share with you my experience in upgrading the cooling system of my trusty Miata. In this article, we'll dive into the process of selecting the right mixture for our cooling system, bleeding out any air that might be stuck inside, and installing a new radiator cap.

**Choosing the Right Mixture**

When it comes to selecting the right coolant mixture, I've found that 50/50 is pretty common. However, water itself is better at dissipating heat than coolant, which means we need to find a balance between cooling performance and anti-corrosion properties. To achieve this, I decided to go with a 70/30 mix, which will help us dissipate heat while still retaining the lubrication and anti-corrosion properties of the coolant.

**Bleeding Out Air from the Cooling System**

Now that we've selected our mixture, it's time to bleed out any air that might be stuck inside the cooling system. I used a funnel system to ensure that no mess was made during this process. After letting the engine warm up and the thermostat open, I let the coolant flow through the system, allowing any remaining air to escape.

**Installing the Radiator Cap**

The radiator cap is an often-overlooked but crucial component of our cooling system. Its job is to keep pressure in the system, ensuring that our Miata stays cool even during those hot summer days. With the new cap installed, I'm confident that our car will be able to handle any heat it might encounter.

**Testing the Cooling System**

With all the upgrades complete, it's time to put our Miata through its paces. I've been letting the engine idle and bleeding out air from the system, ensuring that everything is working as it should. The temperatures have been creeping up to around 195 degrees, but with the fans kicking in, they bring temps right back down to about 190.

**Conclusion**

Upgrading the cooling system might not seem like the most exciting upgrade, but for me, it's a crucial step towards making my Miata more capable and reliable. With a potential turbocharger on the horizon, I'm glad that our car is now equipped to handle the increased heat. If you're in the process of upgrading your cooling system or have any questions, feel free to reach out. Don't forget to follow me on Instagram @zachjobe and Donut Media on all social media platforms @donutmedia. Until next week, stay cool!

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- If I wanna keep myself cool,I can just throw onthis hat for some shade.But if I wanna be even cooler,I can just put on a bigger hat.(whip cracking)So if I wanna keep my car cooler,can I just throw a bigger radiator in it?Well, kinda.There's actually a lotmore to it than that,but we'll talk about it.Today we're gonna revampthe entire cooling systemon the Miata, finally.I'm Zach and this is Money Pit.It's time to be cool, finally.(lightening crack)- Thank you to Constant Contactfor sponsoring this portionof this video.Let me talk to my team.I'll circle back.Oh, hey weird, didn't see you come inbecause I was busy doingall this business stuff.That's right.I'm a stone cold business man.Numbers, analytics, e-commerce, marketing.I don't mean to toot my own flute here,but I know all those words.And while Donut is lucky enoughto have a savvy businessman,such as myself,Constant Contact can be yourtrusted partner in emailand social marketing.They provide powerful, easy to use toolsto help anybody look professional.I mean, look at this professional deskin this professional office space.(phone ringing)Talk to me.Oh really?So the Duke has changed his tune, has he?Well tell him I'm stillnot interested in selling.(phone ringing)Oh, hello, Duke.I'm not interested.Constant Contact marketing expertisewe'll provide unmatchedguidance, support, and education,regardless of experience,to help your business,reach its goals and continue to grow.Constant Contact really has all the toolsto help you sell online.Whether you're justgetting started or not,they'll help you find newcustomers and sell more.So what are you smallbusiness owners waiting forstart growing your brand today.Go to constantcontact.comand try it for free.Thank you to Constant Contactfor sponsoring this portionof this video.Now back to the show.- As you guys may remembera few episodes ago,we took the Miata toWillow Springs race track,and it was almost super funexcept the car kept overheating.It was overheating all day.And that was when we knewthat we needed to upgradethe cooling system.So all my cooling systemparts are finally here.Everything showed up from Flyin' Miataand we're ready to install them.We're gonna make this carso that we can beat the everliving hell out of it on the racetrack,even if it's 110 degrees outand it won't overheat,that's the goal.But the first thing we need to doin order to make that happenis take out all this stock stuff.So that's where we're going to start.(upbeat music)All right.So here's the deal makinghorsepower means that you're goingto make a lot of heat.Your engine makes anenormous amount of heat,just trying to drive down the road.So if not for a cooling system,it would literally just melt itself.So a cooling system is superimportant to keeping your carrunning right.So that's why we're goingto be upgrading ours today.(upbeat music)You can see some rust colorwhen you look in the hosesand in the radiator.And that's one of the biggest killers ofa good functioning cooling system.The rust color is not abnormal.You just need to make sureyou're not getting a lot ofcorrosion and corrosion buildup.That'll clog your radiatorand just make your coolingsystem work pretty poorly.There's our stock radiatorand the stock fans,which is a little guy, but 25 years old.This is a Downflow radiator.The hot radiator juice comes in up hereand flows down these tubesas air flows across them,the heat is extractedand then it goes backto get some more heatand bring it back to the radiator.Now this is our normal fan,that runs when the thermostat is openand this is the fan that comes on.I think when things get really hotor when the air conditioning is on.We're going to replace thesetwo fans with one big fat fan,and we're going to control itwith our MegaSquirt hopefully,that should be pretty cool.So to replace our dinky stock,Downflow radiator Flyin'Miata sent us this nasty coil,rad Crossflow radiator,which a lot of peoplesay is better for coolingbecause since gravity isn'tworking to pull the coolant downthrough the vertical tubes,the coolant ends up spendingmore time in these tubes,and thus cools more.The tubes are also oftenlonger side to side,just because of how radiators are shaped.So you ended up gettingmore cooling, per tube.You also need to considergetting air through it.So for that Flyin' Miatasent me their stage twoairflow kit and it is nasty.So here's our shroud.You see all these little squares, well,we're going to put flaps in those spots,a fan, just kind of hangingout behind your radiatordoes okay.But it doesn't pull that much airdirectly through the radiatorbecause it's not forced to.Air is gonna take the easiest path it can.So by adding a shroud,you force air to be pulledthrough the radiator,since it, can't come through the shroud.So that's great at idlewhen you're sitting stilland you're relying on the fanto move air through your radiator.But once you start moving,you're driving down thestreet like on the highway.There's a lot of airflow just naturallybecause you're driving fast.So in those instances,shrouds can actually be harmfulbecause they block someof that natural airflow.That's where these squares come into play.We're gonna install awesome flapsthat Flyin' Miata included.And basically what those willdo is allow air to be directedthrough the radiator by theshroud when we're sittingand, just using the fan.But when we're driving down the streetand there's a bunch of natural airflow,those flaps will be blown open,and airflow can go rightthrough the shroud.So this is Flyin' Miatastage two Brushless kit,and it is killer.It uses this one gigantic spall fanand it's brushless, which is really cool.I'm also going to beable to wire this thinginto our new MegaSquirtand control it that way.So we'll get exactly as muchair flow through our radiatoras the ECU thinks we need at all times.So this is going to be asuper sick replacement for ourstock, radiator and fans,but this isn't all we're doing.There's an underlyingproblem with the Miataand the way that it's designed.You see the engine in theMiata is originally froma front wheel drive car,and everything was fine and dandywhen they were using it there.But when they decided to stickthat engine in the Miata,they needed to repackagesome things to make it fitthe way they want it to.And one of those thingsthat they repackagedis the cooling system.So on the Miata as things are,this is our thermostat housing.This is where a thermostat lives.We'll talk more about it in a little bit,but basically the hotcoolant comes out hereand into the radiator.And then it goes throughthe radiator cools offand comes back in to the engine over here,also at the front of the engine.So what ends up happeninghere is that the front of theengine stays really cool.And the back of the enginedoesn't get that much coolant flow.So what people do is what'scalled a coolant rerouteand it moves the thermostatto the back of the engine,Flyin' Miata sent metheir coolant reroute kit.And it is unsurprisingly, perfect.So we're going to install that too.I'm gonna tackle thecoolant reroute first,get that out of the way.Then we'll slam our new fancy fans in.Might bust some knuckles today.All right.So to get access to thearea that I need to get to,to install the coolant reroute,we're going to have toremove the coil packand the spark plug wires.Now we're gonna have to removea few connectors from theback of the headand we just basicallyneed to get back ontothe backside of the head,which is right up against the firewall.So it's going to be a little bit tight,but we should be able to make it work.We've got it.Basically, we're going toremove this factory cast piecethat has the coolant temp sensor in itand the heater core inlet,we're going to remove thatand replace it with the piecethat Flyin' Miata sent us.(upbeat music)And hear she is,not too bad.Oh, there you can see that's where the,coolant temp sensor that sendsthe temperature to the ECU.That's where it sits,just in that steadylittle stream of coolant.Oh, messy, messy messy.(upbeat music)Where that ranch at.Thinking ahead.All right.So we've got our rerouteready to go in the car.The old gasket is scraped off.New gasket is in place.You've got to trim it a little bit.Everything's great.The only thing I need to dois install our thermostat,clip this into place,and then this is ready to go on.But I think we need to talkabout the thermostat real quick.So first off,we've got to understand thatevery engine wants to run atits operating temperature.It doesn't want to run colder than that.It doesn't want to run hotter than that.Usually on most cars, most modern cars,that's gonna be around 195 to 210 degreessomewhere in that ballpark.So when we upgrade our cooling system,we're not trying to makethe engine run cooler.What we want is to give ourcooling system a little moreheadroom so that we canmake things a little hotter,but it can still keep thingsat our operating temperature.Every thermostat has atemperature at which it opens.This is 180 degrees Fahrenheit.It'll usually run a little bit over thatand an equalized system,but it's this that determinesour operating temperature.It's really simple.This thing just opens with heat.There's a little waxpellet in here that expandsand forces this thing open.We'll go do it on the stove.You can do it in a bucket of water.So with all that said,let's stick this thing in.And then we're installing stuff.That'll be we're on the way home.I should've thought aheadand bought new heater, core hoses.These are gross.And like wicked stretched out.It'll work for now,but I might have to geta different hose clamp.I hate putting old partsunder my new shiny parts.(upbeat music)Sensor is in.Since we've got the newreroute piece at the backwith our new thermostat,you're gonna remove this neck at the frontand remove the factory thermostat.(upbeat music)Alright, we've got ourold nasty thermostat out.And now all we need to do is clean upthis gasket surface here,put on our new block offplate with our new gasket.Then we can route our hosefrom the back to the front.Then we can put in our radiator and fans.(upbeat music)Alright, now we've got ourcoolant reroute in placewith the hose, all where it needs to be.It's time to focus on thenew radiator and fans.So I gotta take these bracketsoff the stock radiator,and they'll bolt right up toour new coil, rad radiator.And then we can put thefans on the new radiatorand then we should beable to drop it into placewithout much drama.We'll see.(upbeat music)All right, cool.So the radiator is prettymuch ready to go in,but I actually want to take aminute and do something else.So a lot of times when you get a radiatoror anything with fins like this,it'll show up with a littlebit of damage to the fins.It's really not uncommon.And it's also not that big of a dealsince we have it out and it's so easy,I'm gonna take a minuteand straighten up thesebent fins just to make surethe radiator is as efficient as possible.They make specific tools to do this with,and I think they all suck.So I just use a little,a straight tip to pickand the results are pretty good.It's super easy.It's just kind of time consuming.This is the kind of thingyou sit on your porchas the sun setsand you just straighten out your finsand watch the world go by.All right.Well, our fins are a pretty straight.I missed these ones.Our fins are pretty straight nowand the radiator is prettymuch ready to go in.Now we just need tobolt up our fan shroud,get our fans on here.And then we'll drop the whole unit in.These are those little flapsI was talking about earlier,the flaps that let airflow through the shroudwhen you're moving ata high rate of speed,but that keep the fan pullingair just through the radiatorwhen you're stopped.So when you're moving air comes through,but when you're notthere, they're suck, shut.'Cause the fan's trying to pullair from the side of things,this also comes with this kindof bulb seal that will helpseal the shroud against the radiator.So we gotta install this, cut it to fit,all these little ridges.And then I think that is all we gotta doto get the shroud ready.(soft music)Okay, a couple of fasteners down here.So there is a fan and shroud thenwe just gotta attach it to a radiator.All right.So we've got a series ofspacers that are gonna gobetween the radiator and theshroud to help us make surethings are accuratelyspaced, which is important.We get all these spacersin (mumbles) down,I don't think this thing'sready to drop into place.Let's see if it fits.Well, the picture on the frontmade it look like the fan wastotally, definitely mountedto the outside of the shroud,but I've got so much clearanceissue with the sway barthat it kind of feellike it should be mountedon the inside of the shroud.I debated this for like 10 minutesand then I just went based onwhat the picture looked like.We should be able to dropinto place without much drama.So after a quick assessment.It's pretty obvious that Ijust had the fan in backwards.We just need to flip it around.Makes a few things, makea lot more sense to me.And then I think we mightactually fit in place.We might have a littlesway bar clearance issue,but we also might not.She's in there.We're touching the swaybar just a tiny bit.And some of these AC lines andthe brackets will need benta little bit, but not bad.I think that's all I'mgonna do for tonight.We've got this in the reroute is greatand this is ready to justplug into our new radiator.We made some good progress.See you in the morning.All right, we're back in action.This thing is set.Now what we need to do isget our hoses trimmed to fitand meet up with the radiator just right.Then it's time to startwiring this thing up.We're gonna have to wire the fans.I don't think it's going to be too hard,but it's going to be a littlebit of a learning process.'Cause I'm gonna get thisfan wired into our MegaSquirtso we can control it that way.Might be a little confusing.We'll find out.(drum music)So we got our reroute hose kindof ran up next to the engineand we're up here at the front.Now it's time to trim it.One of the easiest ways to makea nice square cut on siliconeis with a sharp razor blade.And you just wrap a nice pieceof masking tape around itand use that as a guide.I'm gonna go a little biton the long side just to besafe, but that shouldbe about what we need.It looks great.Now I just need to puta hose clamp on there,tighten it up.And then the reroute is done.The radiator is all plumbed in.All right.So it's time to wire the fans in,but that shouldn't be a very big deal.Flyin' Miata includes thisreally nice jumper harnessand they are four wiresand we only have to use three.So it shouldn't be too bad.Basically, this plugsinto the fan right here,and then we need to ground the black wireto the chassis somewhere.So we'll find a nice ground.Then we need to get 12 volts to this.So we'll hook this up on the alternatorand then we need to getsignal to our white wire.So we're gonna wire thisin to the OEM fan wiring,and I should be able to controlthat with the MegaSquirt.So it seems like it'snot going to be too bad,but there's only one way to find out.(upbeat music)Alright, so we've gotour bleeder cracked openat the coolant rerouteand we've got a hose on the bleeder.So we're basically readyto put some antifreeze in this thingand get it started bleedthe cooling system.And then hopefully we're done.This kind of funnel isgoing to be your best friendin terms of bleeding a cooling system,because you can mount itto your cooling system,just like this.So it's sealed up no leaksand it raises the level.The level of this is higher thanany other part of your engine,which means it'll helppush air out of the system.All right.So we gotta decide what mixture to runin our cooling system.So 50 50 is pretty common.This comes premixed super convenient,but the fact is thatwater itself is better atdissipating heat than cooling is.But the thing is that coolant's jobisn't only to dissipate heat.It's also to prevent corrosion.We'll go about 70 30,and that'll help us dissipateheat a little bit better.And we'll still retain the anti corrosiveand lubrication properties of the coolant.So that's what we're gonna do.You just always need to makesure that you have enoughantifreeze for how coldit gets, where you live.Don't use tap water,don't use any other water just distilled.Alright, so we've got somefluid coming up out of our hose,which is good.That means the system'sfilling up with fluid.Alright.I think it's time to fire this hog up.(car engine roaring)That's just coolant burning off.So now we just need to letthis thing warm up to operatingtemperature so that that thermostat opensand we'll get full flowthrough the system.The radiator will be flowingand any air that's stillstuck in the systemcan come out then,and then we should be good, baby.This thing's looking great.We're in MegaSquirt here,in the tuner studio,and this is our fan control section.So what I just did was I setthe target for the fan ontemperature to 100 degrees Fahrenheit,which is really low.I just want to do that,to confirm that everything's workingand that I'm in control of it.And then we'll move that backup to about 180 590 degreesFahrenheit close to ouroperating temperature.All right.So I think we've gotten allthe air out of this thing thatwe're going to get.It's nice and bled.So we pop off our funnel system,see how much of a messI can keep from making.(upbeat music)All right.Now we can put the finishingpiece on this puzzle,which is actually a reallyimportant piece there.The radiator cap,something you don't reallythink too much about,but it's a really importantpiece of this whole puzzlebecause that is what keepspressure in the system.Alright, so that does it.That's a whole cooling system.I am excited.This thing is ready to be beaten onand she shouldn't overheat.So, with that said let's go beat on her.All right, we're ready togive this thing a drive.I am super excited.We've been letting it idle.We've been bleeding, the cooling system,and I'm pretty confident that we've gotall the air out of it.It is at a rock steady 185 to 190 degrees.And I just gonna go drive aroundmake sure nothing weird happens.We're just gonna go makesure everything's cool.Get it.(car engine roaring)Now, usually a car is not gonna overheatas easily when it's moving,because when it's moving,there's a lot of air flowthat's doing the job of the fan.Temperatures will creepup at idle to about 195.The fans kick on,you can barely even tell they're onand they bring temps rightback down to about 190.So it's perfect.I'm super excited aboutthis, to be honest,I know that a cooling system upgrademaybe doesn't seem that sexyor that cool.It doesn't add any horsepower,but the fact is the coolingsystem on this car has been oneof my biggest concerns withthe cooling system sorted out.I'm gonna feel so much betterabout this car in general.It just feels so much more capable to me.Sure, I can't put that muchheat in it on the streetsand it's not 110 degrees in the desert,but the fact is I'm planningon turbocharging this thing,and guess what a turbochargerbrings a lot of heat with it.The cooling system now can handle that.The cooling system as itwas, would have just died.It would have just looked at a turboand got...This is an exciting upgrade for me.The car's ready to deal with a turbo.The car is ready todeal with me driving it.So things are great in the Miata.I hope you guys hadfun watching the video.I had a good time making it.Don't forget to follow meon Instagram @zachjobe,follow Donut on allsocial media @donutmedia.And I will see you guys next week.Goodbye.