I did a search and nothing came up. I have a 88 DX that I am transferring parts from my 89 Si/b18 that got hit last winter to. I thought that since I was planing on doing some HPDE at Thunderhill next summer, the extra cooling might not hurt and I purchased a new full width aluminum radiator on eBay. The seller is cxracing and the auction is 140602784020. The lower tank hits the factory cross member on one side and the other side hits the front sheet metal. The radiator can not go forward any more and will not drop down into place as is. I see they have sold a few and I can find no other person reporting a fitment problem here or anywhere else. I uploaded a picture below of the biggest problem, but even if these bosses were removed, there are other bosses that I do need for the cooling fan that look like they may hit too once the radiator was lowered more. I was hoping that someone with actual experience fitting this sellers product to their EF might see this and reply.

 

Cut them off and use radiator zip ties to secure the fan to the radiator

 

Cut them down about 1/2 way.

 

Thank you, but has either one of the people that replied actually purchased the aluminum radiator from this seller and fitted it to their car? If so please post some pictures of the final result. I can guess if it will fit with hacking as well as anyone else, but I was hoping to find feed back from someone that had actually fit the product to their Civic. Another trial fitting last night and this is my guess - I think its made all wrong, even with the nubs removed the lower tank will be rubbing on the cross members edges once it drops into place. Cheap is nice but I think this is going back uninstalled and I will buy a radiator that fits. Holes in the tank from rubbing against the car, and hacking up things will quickly out weigh any cooling advantage it might have had. I looked at other aluminum full width radiators on ebay and brands like Mishimoto have a drastically smaller tank and core thickness published.

 

Ive had your exact radiator installed with zero cutting, but I also have an aftermarket front crossmember, which it seems to be designed to be used with.

Youll likely have problems with any brand with a thicker core if trying to use with the stock front crossmember. Cutting off those nubs and using radiator zipties really isnt a big deal though if thats all its going to take to get it to fit. You can buy the special zipties for about $5 at most parts stores

 

Thank you, but you missed the point. Its not cutting off the nubs that is the deal breaker in this case. Its the fact that the over 2.5" (2.6" in some areas with the welds) tank will sit right against the sharp edge of the cross member, where the radius rods go. I don't like holes in my radiator... it sort of ruins the day. Yes, I could cut that too, but its getting silly. Its going back to the seller as it was advertised as a " Especially Designed, Made for the Application Stated - Fully Tested, Simple Easy Installation" on eBay. Its obviously not!

I found this thread on the skunk2 Radiator that seems to fit better and the measurements from the sellers on ebay seem to be a full 1/2" less. I will double check before ordering. I don't mind the extra cost as long as the product is not a hack fest. https://honda-tech.com/honda-crx-ef-...govan-3145844/

 

If you look at the last picture he posted in that thread those sure look like tubular polished radius rods hanging from the car meaning he aswell may have had an aftermarket crossmember to help in that perfect fitment

Also the Skunk2 radiator has 1.25" inlet/outlets for b/h series engine compared to the proper size in/out on your current radiator. If you think something is going to rub, put a simple pad there

Good luck getting your money back

 

I have the same radiator installed, with the stock factory crossmember. Even after shortening the bolt bosses, it is a TIGHT fit, but I havent seen any rubbing or anything else so far (2-3 months, 6k miles).

 

It looks like the sun hitting the lines in the concrete floor to me. I will pm him to get the answer.
I have a few B series engines now, including the one that's in the car. The 1.25 is an advantage not a drawback.
Thanks for the support. I have been buying on ebay since 2000 and I haven't been burned yet. Once eBay gets involved, sellers usually loose the arguments and do the right thing.

 

Thanks for the info. I think I will return it though and buy something that fits. I found a very old thread here where some people get away with cutting off the nubs and with others it still doesn't fit properly. As long as the radiator is new and not chopped on its returnable, so that seems to be the best choice.

 

The problem is that there really arent many options.... Anything thicker than the stock size and you will run into fitment issues. And no one offers a stock-size all alluminum radiator...

And so far it seems all of the aluminum radiators that you can buy for under ~$200 are all made exactly the same...

 

I will post a solution if I find one. There may be others that run into this problem too.

 

The best solution is an aftermarket front crossmember. Buuuttt, they are ~$300...

 

The only aftermarket cross member I have found is made by Innovative and hangs too low and I don't want to use a traction bar, so neither are good solutions in my opinion. I have found three radiators that seem to have a better chance of fitting. I will check them out and post the results.

 

I have this exact cx racing radiator and I had to cut off the nubs, and also had to trim my OEM crossmember right above the radius rod mounting points. It was only a little bit of material and you cannot even tell unless you know that it is grinded down or are actually looking for it.

I also have the Skunk2 half size installed on my 91 Si hatch and with an oem crossmember I couldn't get it to sit low enough to close the hood. I ended up cutting out a small portion of the webbing on my hood.

I honestly think I will stick with stock radiators from now on just to avoid any sort or cutting of anything. It gets irritating.

 

The skunk2 looks badass though if you don't mind cutting a small portion of the web. Maybe with a traction bar you don't have this problem.

 

And a pic of my CX Racing radiator in my sedan.

 

So why did you buy a radiator with 1.1" inlet/outlet in the first place if youre running a b-series?

There are a good 10 companies that make traction bars for our cars, you dont seem to great at putting more than 4 minutes of research into your own project. If you dug a little deeper youd also realize the innovative bar has the BEST ground clearance, literally hangs .3" lower than the stock crossmember, almost a full inch higher than the fullrace/etd/ebay style bar

 

There may be a good 10 companies, but out of those there are just a couple that took time to engineer them correctly.
Example: there should only be one heim joint. most traction bars use two which fails to hold the triangulated geometry that is supposed to be there. (Innovativemouts got this correct, fullrace did not)

 

You might start acting like an adult. If you actually read my posts instead of trolling you can read where I all ready stated I did not want to run a traction bar and I was talking about their cross member that hangs so low? Now for the radiator 1.12 outlets.. with a b series, it hasn't been a problem in over 7 years. They are called hose clamps you might want to try them sometime.

 

Thank you for the info, that helped. Yes the space for the radiator is way too small for even the tank to drop down. I would have had to cut where you did. The CX Racing Radiator is packaged and will be shipped back tomorrow.

 

There are only three radiators I have found so far, where the owners mentioned a true no hassle fit.
One is some obscure aftermarket copper DA Radiator that I cant seem to find anywhere.

The second is the Mishimoto MMRAD-CRX-88 Honda CRX Performance Aluminum Radiator 1988-1991, by Mishimoto Its not priced to bad, under $200 if you look. From the Tech page it looks to be about an inch smaller in tank width than the CX Racing Radiator. The core though is twice as thick as a stocker.

Third is the full width Skunk 2. I haven't received a reply back from their Tech Dept to verify any measurements. Its about the same price as the one above. I did find this review though. https://honda-tech.com/honda-crx-ef-...govan-3145844/

 

Feedback from a few sellers on the Skunk2 Full width radiator #349-05-1500.
After reading the review and hearing from the sellers that the tank is only 2" compared to the 2.5" plus on the CX Racing radiator, I ordered one for $187. I will report back on the fit later.

 

I'm sure the koyo radiators fit fine also.

 

Did they redesign it? https://honda-tech.com/honda-crx-ef-...89-crx-951364/