The thread below shows an ebay radiator that came off a civic that was tracked in NA trim!

http://www.ek9.org/forum/engine/1772...or-review.html

Now i know a lot of us boosted guys got cheap towards the end of our build and got cheapo rads (guilty) if you plan to track your car (road race) think twice, if that happened on an NA setup, imagine what would happen if it was a boosted setup with all the heat coming off the turbine!

 

i've never had a problem. my friend has a cxracing one on his integra that he tracks, had no problem with it. $100 shipped.

i have a feeling there is something he didn't list that contributed to that.

 

Dude, nothing can contribute to that, while i agree not all chinese parts are created equal, it's clear that it is a gamble.

for example, i know a guy who has had an SSAC manifold on his supra for 4 years now, not a single crack and big heavy GT40R sits on it! Then there are people cracking chinese manifolds left and right, know what i mean?

Your friend with the CX rad, is he road racing or drag racing? keep in mind roadracing exposes everything to heat for a much longer period of time.

 

road race.

 

I think it's hilarious he said that ebay radiators are junk then he went and bought a mishimoto, which is a rebadged ebay radiator.

 

exactly!! mishimoto is not a "name" brand radiator, its an ebay brand

i had a cx racing radioator with the spal 13" fan and i NEVER had a problem

 

I have one in my D16 powered sandrail, that thing takes a huge beating with no problems what so ever. I jump it, it gets blasted with sand, all in all used not really in a intended fashion :-) IMO, $100 well spent....I'll buy another one if this one ***** on me.

 

That pic looked a little doctored.

 

Picture doesn't look real

 

true, but as mentioned not all ebay junk is equal, some stuff is half way decent.

come on guys really? Do you want me to ask the user to take more pics? I'm sure he will...

 

Do you know how much heat it would take to get aluminum to warp like that? Theres no way the rad would get that hot without something else in the engine catastrophically failing first.

 

This. At one point in time, Mishimoto radiators were 120 shipped to your door.

Koyo or Fluidyne are my choice.

 

x2

 

this is pointless..my boi's 750whp Civic did the same exact thing to a Fluidyne radiator..a radiator will not just expand like that..especially not without boost..something motorwise can cause that to happen..i will continue to run my ebay radiator and ebay intercooler without any issues...

 

ive seen an ebay radiator work well for years in an 800+ whp civic and ive seen a s2000 running a ebay civic radiator do just fine past 660+ whp...seems like he may be leaving out a detail like "oh yea the engine blew a headgasket."

 

I have seen a radiator just like that one do the same thing on a local kid's street car after multiple headgasket failures and a cracked sleeve. So I believe the pictures.. but it is hard to believe it was just after a normal session on the track or daily abuse.

BUT I have a Cx racing rad on my car and it has been fine for well over a year. I guess like most things it is hit or miss.

 

i 2nd.. and said he paid 300 for it. can almost buy a koyo for that..

 

my cars seen over 500whp with ebay rad and multiple 30min turbo track sessions no problems at 14 psi. around 350whp

 

I had the same "warpage" happen to my fullsize Mushimushi. ---only after blowing a headgasket and introducing boost pressure to my cooling system. It was fine until having a steam bath run through it. I would also suspect an overheating issue caused this: perhaps a boil over introduced an airpocket? Many conditions could cause this relating to the cooling system, boost or no boost. I wonder what Psi rad cap he used and if it opened properly?

 

It's a domino effect, probably started by the HG blowing.

1) allowing it to overheat with a retarded ebay 12" slimfan

2) running a crappy cap, allowing it to rise far above 2bar of pressure

3) continuing while overheating, pushing air into the coolant and overpressurizing it


It overheated, and him not letting up allowed HG blowby into the coolant system. The cap then allowed it to build enough pressure to nearly explode due to the air blowing past the HG. There's also the fact that most people will try to run these $10 slim fans that do less than a russian midget spinning a pinwheel. Add a thicker rad to the mix, and it's CFM rating drops to zero due to the pressure drop.


Think about it - they're just thin rectangular tubes. All radiator tubes are made with the same principal in mind. Overpressurize it, and ANY radiator tube will try to create a round shape. The fin on the far left succeeded.

 

a pic was added to the second page for the naysayers...

I understand what many of you are saying, but this happened on an NA car, the car does not have a blown headgasket. But that's fine, i really don't care if some of you don't believe this, i personally believe anything is possible.

And to the guy who was surprised he payed $300 for a mishi he does not live in USA so shipping+import tax adds up...

At the end believe it or not, i don't care, I'm simply trying to show people this "could" happen, not all this **** comes out of the same factory, if you all want to believe your chinese parts are all sick *** quality then go for it, its not my car that's on the line...

 

I'm running an eBay radiator as well, and it ballooned a little bit like that after I cracked a sleeve. The radiator expanded and one of the coolant hoses into the cabin exploded from the pressure.

Still running it. Too cheap to buy another one... it works fine... haha.

Doesn't matter how much you "think" it doesn't have a blown headgasket or some other problem, that radiator saw much more pressure than Honda ever intended a radiator to see.

 

i am also running an ebay rad in my DD 98 civic 4 dr. I am also running a CX racing rad in my built ls/vtec crx. Absolutely never had a problem with either.

That's a ****ing fisheye lens or looks like he edited it in photoshop anyway. I know guys making 300+ Hp on them for a couple years now.. No problems

 

I bought an ebay rad a few years back and it was perfectly fine besides the fact no one added a drain when it was put together lol. I mean it cooled well and all but I got rid of it after a few 1000 miles and went back to a dual core oem unit and never looked back.

 

lol thats hilarious Ian, i gotta check it out next time i see the car.


i was going to say, "how the hell did that happen to aluminum when there are feet and feet of rubber hose thats much weaker"