REVIEW Mishimoto radiator (Initial impressions)

[kayot1k]

Hi all,

thought i would share some thoughts on my new Mishimoto radiator + fan combo i recieved early last week.

First off, out of the box radiator looked well designed. Welds were looking good making me more impressed by the minute.
After trying to take the cap off i found it really hard to take the cap off as i soon realised from factory the cap was probably forced on or the tabs under the cap was bent in way to much.

took me a good 15mins of mucking around but i soon got that shit off. Cap had scored the inlet the cap screwed on and then i realised the cap was actually really sketchy. Tightens cockeyed i.e it sits vertically with the sticker side on instead of the oem style horizontally also. i dont know if this is normal.

After realising this i searched around for issues relating to the radiator cap for this brand, found quite a few yanks were not impressed by the cap design either, even quite a fair few needing replacements right after. Funny enough mishimoto made their cap very specific i.e that oem wont fit so dont alot of aftermarket caps.
Furthermore, yanks were claiming cheap ebay copies (no brand) one were working just as good and looking just the same quality wise.

i have yet to fit this on the car yet as its been raining like a bitch and im due for a major service soon so i dont wanna change coolant twice.

Overall, it was cheap, way cheaper than koyo but probably got what i paid for in the end :thumbdwn:. My opinion to anyone after i cheap but better than oem upgrade look for ebay copies. atleast if it shats itself you can buy anotherone.

i'd also like to add, what i've been told is 90 percent of the full aluminium radiators on the market nowadays are made from the same china manufacturer with some people just branding it as their own. so becareful what radidator you buy.

[Limbo]

its the same with all caps as they use the same fitting to weld onto the core.
I've seen this on quite a few different brands

[kayot1k]

hmmm, i've actually seen other brand with caps fitting propley oem style no problems, a good example koyo.
and other generic brands.
i also have knowledge that mishimoto had redesigned their cap and/or fitting cus they were failing to do its job.
im more concerned with the radiator cap more than anything.


again this is my first experience with aftermarket radiators.

[Limbo]

it all comes down to the generic fitting they used. You can get that replaced, i was too lazy to cut it and replace it.
End of the day so long as it does not leak and is working properly then its fine. It just a core to cool down the car

[crispy]

i have a mishimoto radiator on my da and really i cant be more happy with its performance. A couple of things though, the pins for the radiator stays didnt line up, so i had to modify my original stays to fit, and also the a/c fan didnt fit as there werent any brackets to bolt to, also the original radiator fan doesnt fit too well either, and finally the radiator cap i got with it was shit as, and i was able to use my original one without any problems and it uses the overflow bottle as the stock one does.

So really it was a cheap reasonable quality choice even though a little bit of modification was required and limbo is absolutely correct, if it doesnt leak and works properly then its fine

[kayot1k]

if you ran into so much trouble for a "OEM" fit radiator i for one wouldnt be so happy.

shows you how much effort they put into producing these.